Although I hide it well, I have been a little obsessed with London for decades. I don’t know why, maybe it was my love for British Invasion music from the 60s or a childhood crush on Marianne Faithfull . Who knows, but it all culminated in a travel guidebook that I wrote way back in the early 80s called London for Free. Sadly, the book is long out of print, however my fascination with all things London continues. So, it will come as no surprise that I love the animated video below. Ollie Bye has created the animated time lapse of the growth of London from a small Roman town in 47 ACE to the largest city in the world (during the Victorian era) to the massive, sprawling city it is today. Trust me, it’s neat.