Peter Ackroyd: 'Rioting has been a london tradition for centuries'
The Monday Interview: The capital's greatest chronicler tells Andy McSmith why upsurges of violence are part of the city's texture
ENLARGEPeter Ackroyd is the greatest living chronicler of London, particularly its seamy, violent underside. In an age when historians and novelists are encouraged to be pundits and personalities, you would think he would be in demand after recent troubles.
But for 24-hour news, Ackroyd is a wash-out. The author of mighty studies of both London and of the River Thames has a watching-paint-dry view of history. He is struck how slowly and imperceptibly real history unfolds, and intrigued by the aspects of human life that endure for centuries. The rest, by and large, is stuff that happens.
Speaking in a book-lined office near King's Cross, London, within walking distance of where the rioting began, Mr Ackroyd resolutely refused to see a new epoch dawning. "I can't get at all worked up about these most recent phenomena," he said. "They simply show a pattern of activity in the city that will endure as long as the city itself endures...
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