Children of Light: How Electricity Changed Britain Forever
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In the early 1870s a night-time view over Britain would have revealed towns lit by the warm glow of gas and oil lamps and a much darker countryside, the only light emanating from the fiery sparks of late running steam trains. However, by the end of this same decade that Victorian Britons would experience a new brilliance in their streets, town halls and other public places. Electricity had come to town.
In Children of Light, Gavin Weightman brings to life not just the most celebrated electrical pioneers, such as Thomas Edison, but also the men such as Rookes Crompton who lit Henley Regatta in 1879; Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, a direct descendant of one of the Venetian Doges, who built Britain's first major power station on the Thames at Deptford; and Anglo-Irish aristocrat, Charles Parsons inventor of the steam turbine, which revolutionised the generating of electricity.
Children of Light takes in the electrification of the tramways and the London Underground, the transformation of the home with 'labour saving' devices, the vital modernising of industry during two world wars, and the battles between environmentalists and the promoters of electric power, which began in earnest when the first pylons went up. As Children of Light shows, the electric revolution has brought us luxury that would have astonished the Victorians, but at a price we are still having to pay.
Gavin Weightman
Gavin Weightman is an experienced television documentary-maker (producer/director/writer), journalist and author of many books such as The Making of Modern London: 1815–1914, The Making of Modern London: 1914–1939, London River, Picture Post Britain and Rescue: A History of the British Emergency Services (Boxtree).
Read more from Gavin Weightman
The Frozen Water Trade (Text Only) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Signor Marconi’s Magic Box: The invention that sparked the radio revolution (Text Only) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Children of Light: How Electricity Changed Britain Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Children of Light
Related ebooks
Adrian Shooter: A Life in Engineering and Railways Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Making of Americans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetween the Two Rivers: A Story of the Armenian Genocide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfessions of a Thug Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The St. Petersburg Connection: Russian-American Friendship from Revolution to Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReflections: Conversations with Politicians Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeoul Glow: The Story Behind Britain's First Olympic Hockey Gold Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAsquith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Jason Goodwin's Lords of the Horizons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlenty Under the Counter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr Balfour's Poodle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Equality and the British Left: A study in progressive political thought, 1900–64 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat We Have Lost: The Dismantling of Great Britain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before Action: William Noel Hodgdon and the 9th Devons, A Story of the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tube: Station to Station on the London Underground Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeople, places and identities: Themes in British social and cultural history, 1700s–1980s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCathedral Cities of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Perspectives on Welsh Industrial History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiterature Companion: Ordinary People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWork in a Modern Society: The German Historical Experience in Comparative Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCelebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World, 1776–1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLondon's Industrial Heritage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvesting the Air: Windmill Pioneers in Twelfth-Century England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ingenious Victorians: Weird and Wonderful Ideas from the Age of Innovation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lancashire Mining Disasters 1835-1910 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen in Welsh Coal Mining: Tip Girls at Work in a Men’s World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Exhibition, 1851: A sourcebook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNarrow Windows, Narrow Lives: The Industrial Revolution in Lancashire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Physics For You
Vibration and Frequency: How to Get What You Want in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reality Revolution: The Mind-Blowing Movement to Hack Your Reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Physics: A Beginners Guide to How Quantum Physics Affects Everything around Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Physics and Music: The Science of Musical Sound Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Physics I For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Moving Through Parallel Worlds To Achieve Your Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Physics Essentials For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Physics for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Step By Step Mixing: How to Create Great Mixes Using Only 5 Plug-ins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Quantum Spirituality: Science, Gnostic Mysticism, and Connecting with Source Consciousness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Introducing Quantum Theory: A Graphic Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feynman Lectures Simplified 1A: Basics of Physics & Newton's Laws Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Effect: Quantum Entanglement, Science's Strangest Phenomenon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unlocking Spanish with Paul Noble Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5String Theory For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flatland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brief Welcome to the Universe: A Pocket-Sized Tour Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Theory of Relativity: And Other Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World According to Physics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First War of Physics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Children of Light
3 ratings0 reviews