A pyramid on Trafalgar Square, an airport at King's Cross, an Eiffel Tower at Wembley, suspended monorails in central London and to Heathrow, a sixties-style Piccadilly Circus, a diverted Thames, a remodelled Westminster, a very different South Bank and three six-lane orbital motorways. These are among the bold but unrealised proposals for London covered in this book. Its author, Antony Badsey-Ellis, has gathered together a fascinating set of facts and illustrations for plans ranging from some that would have had little chance of going ahead to ones that came close to execution.

This is the story of a now-disused branch of the Underground between Holborn and Aldwych. Although just a quarter of a mile long, it was a hopeless enterprise from the early 20th century beginnings and never covered its costs. For such a small stretch of railway, it has a surprisingly colourful history, especially during wartime and when its lengthy disused spaces have been used for experimental design work and film jobs. In an attempt to make something more of it, extension of the branch frequently beckoned but never came. The station at Aldwych and the running line to Holborn remain today, but not for passengers.