The Great Palace: The Story of Parliament [Hardback], Christopher Jones

The Great Palace is the story not just of the institution of Parliament itself, but a sumptuously-illustrated guide to the buildings and architecture of historic Westminster. The author is Christopher Jones who has been the BBC's Parliamentary Correspondent for twenty years; he has made use of his unique insider's view to write of the Great Palace with verve and

The book takes us right back to the very beginnin

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the site, and its importance grew so that when the first Parliaments were called, they naturally came to Westminster.

It has never lost its pre-eminence - a look at the history of Westminster is a window into the principal events of Britain's heritage.

Westminster Hall, the only part of the original alace to survive has, for instance, a prodigious cale to tell. The trials of Sir Thomas More Charles I, Guy Fawkes and Warren Hastings took place there and coronation state banquets were held there until the nineteenth century.

Its magnificent oak hammerbeam roof is a masterpiece of mediaeval craftsmanship

The Houses of Commons and Lords were rebuilt after the terrible conflagration of 1834 by the Victorian architects, Barry and Pugin.

The book shows, in detail, the splendid interior of the Palace and includes photographs of areas not normally seen by the public. The Palace consists of 1,160 rooms, 130 staircases, 11 courtyards and two miles of corridors and took over twenty years to build - and is a supreme example of Victorian Gothic art.

Away from the grandeur, Christopher Jones xamines the more everyday problems which have beset Parliament through the years: the constant difficulty of ventilation; the proximity of the River Thames - known as the 'Great Stink; the financial difficulties; the worries of keeping order within the House and maintaining its security; what the Members of Parliament thought of the presence of women on the premises (betore they got the Vote) and how the Press gallery and its reporting of Parliament was managed. He also explains the procedure of debates and how the legislative machinery works today.

Written to accompany the BBC-TV series, The Great Palace: The Story of Parliament has a wealth of archive photographs plus many specially commissioned ones in full colour.