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Today we take water for granted. Turn a tap and the stuff gushes out. But for centuries London struggled to supply its citizens with reliable, clean drinking water.

Nick Higham tells the story of London’s water from the Tudor era to the 20th century. It’s a tale of remarkable technological, scientific and organisational breakthroughs, but also one of greed and complacency, high finance and low politics. London’s 19th century water companies operated a cartel which worked in their interests, not their customers’. The water they supplied was overpriced, deficient in quantity and frequently filthy – described by one scientist as “diluted sewage”. It took the best part of a century of campaigning to bring the water companies to heel.

About the Speaker

Nick Higham is a writer and former journalist who is passionate about history. His first book, The Mercenary River, a history of London’s water supply, was published to excellent reviews in 2022: The Telegraph gave it five stars, The Mail called it “fascinating”, Andrew Marr found it “original and gripping”. The book has made a timely contribution to the current debate about Britain’s water industry and the scandal of untreated sewage discharges, and has been praised by figures as diverse as the campaigner Feargal Sharkey and the chairman of Thames Water.

His second book, Mavericks: Empire, Oil, Revolution and the Forgotten Battle of World War One, is published by Bloomsbury in October 2025.

Nick spent nearly 30 years as a BBC correspondent, whenever possible smuggling history onto the airwaves in the guise of news.