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Mrs P's A-Z

Episode 7 of 8

Nicholas Crane travels across eight British historical maps. He follows the trail of Mrs Phyllis Pearsall, who created the London A-Z map almost singlehandedly in 1936.

Nicholas Crane travels across eight maps that changed the face of Britain. After getting lost in London using a map that hadn't been updated since 1918, Phyllis Pearsall decided to map the whole of London herself. She claimed to have set out at 5.00am each day and worked 18 hours a day, walking all 23,000 of London's streets. Her map, the London A-Z, was completed in 1936 and has been one of the most successful maps of all time.

Nick tries to follow Mrs P's trail. Can he use his explorer's knowledge to find his way? Can he find the famous 'phantom' roads, or do they only exist in the imagination of the A to Z mapmakers? Nick has only Phyllis Pearsall's street-by-street maps as his guide.

29 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Nicholas Crane
Producer Richard Klein
Executive Producer Andrew Snowball
Series Editor Caroline Davidson

Broadcasts