Kingston may have been the point of crossing for Caesar in his expedition to conquer Britain. It is the town where some Saxon kings were crowned, and it is one of only four royal boroughs in the country. The author describes Kingston`s unusual role in cinema, aircraft manufacture and boat making. However, she does not neglect to record that the town acquired at one time an unwanted notoriety for being `malodorous`. June Sampson has devoted much of her journalistic life to the history of the area.