The year 2012 will be a momentous one for Great Britain, for London is to host the Olympic Games and the Queen will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. Not only is Greenwich to be the site of the Olympic equestrian events, but one of the highlights of the Diamond Jubliee celebrations is the granting of royal status to the Borough of Greenwich, which has long had royal associations. What better time to publish an account of Greenwich and the London River? Paul Tempest's timely book covers the past, present and future of an area rich in history and a key to the City's safety and success. The River Thames is the lifeblood of London, and on its southern shore lies the jewel that is Greenwich - a World Heritage Site, man's agreed base-point of time and space, home of the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum, the Cutty Sark and so much more. Paul Tempest has lived in Greenwich for more than 50 years, and has researched it in loving detail. His book, which is greatly enhanced by the beautiful drawings by Peter Kent (another longstanding Greenwich resident and a well-known artist) and the photographs by his son Stephen, captures the spirit of the place and of the people who live and work in the Borough. It is, as he says in the Preface, "not so much a formal guidebook as a drawing together of disparate threads, an expression of affection and love". The author also offers his assessment of how the River has changed over the last 50 years, and what might lie in store in the coming decades.