Great Railway Journeys: London to Oxford and London to Cambridge is the fourth in Roger Mason’s Great Railway Journeys series. It is a fascinating record of things that can be seen from trains running from London to the two great university cities.

The London to Oxford line includes Brunel’s wonderful bridge over the Thames at Maidenhead and the Didcot Railway Centre, which is a living museum of the Great Western Railway. Included here is the story of how the author of a world famous book left the manuscript in a cafe at Reading Station. He had not kept a copy so he went home and wrote it again.

The London to Cambridge line includes Mountfitchet Castle, a fabulous copy of the one that stood on the site shortly after the reign of William the Conqueror. There is also the Eleanor Cross at Waltham Cross, erected by Edward I in the 1290s as a tribute to his late wife, Eleanor of Castile.