大象传媒

Brown's Hotel in Mayfair has been a fixture of London society since 1832.

Now, a definitive history has been written of the hotel, and stepping through its doorway over the years is a cast of characters more intriguing than those in a novel by frequent guest Agatha Christie.

There are stories about royalty and rulers, lords and ladies, politicians and presidents, diplomats and bureaucrats, heroes and heroines, writers and publishers, con artists and crooks, spies and war criminals, actors and journalists, bartenders and waiters, friends and foes, members of the armed forces, doctors, religious leaders, entrepreneurs, explorers, businesspeople, inventors, scientists and newly-weds.

大象传媒 Radio London's Robert Elms has been finding out.

(Image credit: Getty Images)