one of many first elected workplaces within the sleek international, London’s Lord Mayors have represented and supported the town and its humans for greater than 800 years. yet simply how influential have their activities been and precisely what half have they performed in shaping London – a wealthy, mercantile urban with its personal powers and customs? via 8 centuries of plague, fireplace, uprising and warfare, this publication unearths the compelling characters and infrequently brave activities of London’s Lord Mayors as they reply to the most dramatic occasions within the City’s historical past. because the dreadful plague ravaged London in 1664, Sir John Lawrence bravely opened his condo to swathes of discharged servants … whilst the flames of the nice fireplace swept indiscriminately in the course of the capital, Sir Thomas Bludworth held his head in his fingers and was once heard to desperately shout, ‘Lord, what am i able to do?’ Set opposed to a backdrop of the extravagant pomp and rite of the fabled Lord Mayor’s convey, whereas highlighting the extreme calls for of place of work, this can be a tale of responsibility, treason, deception and betrayal. From those that exceptional themselves in place of work, to people who ended up within the Tower, London’s Lord Mayors shines a different mild at the personalities and judgements, successes and screw ups of the spectacle makers, fishmongers, drapers and goldsmiths who rose to carry the most profitable civic workplaces within the world.