ROUTEMASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

50 Uses of a Classic London Bus

Harry Rosehill

The last Routemaster to ply a proper London bus route retired to the garage back in 2005. But over 15 years later, this indestructible bus still pops up everywhere!  

It’s just that nowadays merely in London Routemasters are wedding buses, Ghost Buses, afternoon tea buses, mobile yoghurt stalls on the South Bank… And elsewhere, all over the world, they have found new homes and been put to the most unlikely but serendipitous uses.

So now, Harry Rosehill catalogues 50 of the most ingenious and endearing uses of a Routemaster bus, from a tea room in Essex to a promotional vehicle for a circus in Moscow to a McDonald’s in Germany, and from a bra-fitting showroom to explaining the life-cycle of a potato, not to mention making history during the Iraq War as a Human Shield in Baghdad. Along the way he explains how Routemasters were built to last so long, why they’ve become so cherished, and why footbrake valves are now in such short supply.

Routemasters of the Universe is an alternative history of a true London icon, and a celebration of ingenuity, determination and the sheer variety of human life.      

Harry Rosehill has written many pieces for The Londonist website.

November 2021
128pp
978 1 8384051 1 3
160 x 160mm
full-colour throughout
paperback
Transport/London                  

‘The sort of book to share your bus interests with “normal” people’, Alan Millar, Buses magazine

‘Probably three-quarters of the stories are ones that you wouldn’t expect, and quite a few will have you sitting up in surprise. In that, it’s an informative and at times, an uplifting tale of how people will find the most unexpected ways of using what they have available to them,’ IanVisits

‘A perfect Christmas pressie!’ Geoff Marshall

‘A great little book. Buy it!’ Sir Peter Hendy

‘This little book is really great fun, showing Routemasters converted for this, that and the other - normal, quirky and bizarre. There’s lots of background stuff to put it all into context, and it’s an amazing offbeat tribute to a legendary bus type. Well done, Harry - very enjoyable!’ Classic Bus