Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion: A Journey Around A Cabbie's Capital

Interesting book for anyone interested in London cab trade

Husband is a cabbie and could totally relate to it. Great memories when he did knowledge

A great, witty, pacy read for two groups of people…1; Londoners, and, 2; non-Londoners! A fascinating insight into some history, and secrets, of the fabulous city of London. Having read it, and thoroughly enjoyed it, I’ve bought more copies to give as gifts.

Perfect gift for my father in law who grew up in London. He was really pleased to receive it.

An enjoyable read giving a great insight into doing the Knowledge. Unfortunately let down by a few annoying factual errors (e.g. TfL was formed 3 July 2000, not 1 January; Mr Howells was Mr Howell) which could easily have been avoided. At times it felt like a lot of blog posts knitted together which could have benefitted from some better editing. But these are minor criticisms!

You should always engage your taxi driver in conversation -- you'll find out lots of unexpected information. David Styles, a long-time London cabbie, writes one side here of a long chat.The book is structured around "The Knowledge", the course of study taxi drivers have to undergo before they can qualify to pick up passengers in London. This involves 468 Central London runs which have to be memorized, along with all possible points of interest along the way and nearby. Mr Styles will entertain you as well as educate you in his excellent book.

The author David Styles is a retired London black cab driver who over nearly 5 years learned ‘The Knowledge’ while at the same time holding down a day job. He had to memorise 468 routes and around 30,000 landmarks within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross and undergo frequent oral examinations in order to qualify for a licence to operate a black cab.He gives us a glimpse into his time as a ‘Knowledge Boy’ when learning the routes back in the 1990s, together with interesting facts about many London landmarks that I was completely unaware of. For example, I lived within a few minutes’ walk of Chrisp Street market for 6 years, yet do not ever remember ever seeing the ‘Burton-Tailor mosaic’. I was also not aware that one of the lamp posts along Tower Bridge is in fact a chimney (a flue for a guard house underneath one of the bridge piers). I also had no idea that The Mayflower pub along the Thames is the only pub licensed to sell UK and American stamps. Mr Styles’ dry humour is apparent throughout the book, which was another reason I enjoyed turning the pages.During my travels along David’s routes I also learned about the London Stone, the surprising police outpost in Trafalgar Square, a revelation about the bullion room of the Bank of England, and some cabbies’ jargon. I was amazed to find the word ‘Leatherarse’, a term my grandmother often used, which in cabby language is one who works long hours. I also gained insight to some of the passengers who had hailed David’s cab over the years.I give this book 5 stars. There were a couple of typos, and I would have preferred all the fonts to be the same, but that’s just my opinion and they did not detract this book from being an entertaining read. I won a free copy of ‘Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion’, as I came closest to choosing the correct amount of time that it took David Styles to complete ‘The Knowledge’.

Like so many others I have travelled in black cabs for years. But I have never really given any thought to what its like to be a driver of a London cab? This books was absolutely fascinating, informative, funny and tells of life behind the steering wheel by a London cab driver. Highly recommended.