Stretching along the Thames from Blackfiars Bridge in the east to Vauxhall Bridge in the west, and taking in Bermondsey, the Globe Theatre, National Theatre, BFI, the Southbank Centre, the old Greater London Council, the London Aquarium, the London Eye, Lambeth Palace and the MI6 building, Londons South Bank has a long history as varied as Westminster, across the river. Poet Chris McCabe walks these few square miles and contemplates how its merchant, dockland past, has evolved into the place today, and how the people around him brush shoulders with historical figures like Brunel, Dickens, Shakespeare, Blake, Rimbaud, Dali and Florence Nightingale. Full of insight and drawing on personal experiences, Real South Bank is a book, rich in surprise associations.