April 30th

Denizens of London Below,

As I promised, here is the legend that inspired the Great Beast of London, and the origin of Richard Mayhew's name.

This particular section, quoted from an editorial in the Daily Telegraph from Oct 10, 1859, seemed particularly appropriate for Neverwhere:

"This London is an amalgam of worlds within worlds, and the occurrences of every day convince us that there is not one of these worlds but has its special mysteries and its generic crimes. Exaggeration and ridicule often attach to the vastness of London, and the ignorance of its penetralia common to us who dwell therein. It has been said that beasts of chase still roam in the verdant fastnesses of Grosvenor Square, that there are undiscovered patches of primaeval forest in Hyde Park and that Hampstead sewers shelter a monstrous breed of black swine, which have propagated and run wild among the slimy feculence, and whose ferocious snouts will one day up-root Highgate archway, while they make Holloway intolerable with their grunting."

Neil Gaiman has said he named Richard Mayhew after the social reformer Henry Meyhew, who recounts the story of the wild pigs in his book London Labour and the London Poor (see the blog post for the text).

Please let me know if you have questions or lines if inquiry you wish me to pursue!

.