Sweet Thames, run softly til I end my video clip

British historian/biographer Peter Ackroyd speaking (and boating) on the Thames and on his new book about the river, something of a sequel to his wonderfully rich "biography" of London. The Thames: Sacred River is being released in October.

"There in a meadow by the river's side
A flock of nymphs I chancéd to espy,
All lovely daughters of the flood thereby,
With goodly greenish locks all loose untied
As each had been a bride ...
"Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song."
-- "Prothalamion," by Edmund Spenser (the Greek title is the name for a wedding song)