STRICTLY Come Dancing judge and Dartford dance school owner Len Goodman has put his name to a coffee table book about the capital since the war.

The dance expert, who lives in Greenhithe, will sign My Lost London at from 4pm at Waterstone's in Bluewater on Thursday (October 10).

Len told Vibe: “It’s basically a pictorial story of London and how it has changed since the war, every aspect of life from policemen to architecture to the docks to ballroom dancing.”

As well as Len’s own reminiscences, the inviting book is stuffed full of great pictures from the archives of the Daily Mirror.

And the 69-year-old said he loved working on it. He said: “I liked going around with a photographer.

“I worked for quite a while in north Woolwich on the docks.

“I hadn’t been back for 40 years. I would not be able to tell you where all those factories with thousands of people working in them were.

“It’s amazing how it has all gone and all changed, and that’s just one little aspect of things.

“The whole structure and infrastructure of London has changed so it was really fascinating for me to do it.”

Though he was born just down the road in Farnborough, Len spent the first few years of his life in Bethnal Green and his family had strong East End routes.

But when he was five, Len moved out to Blackfen and later moved to Welling and Bexley.

He said: “I’ve always lived with five miles of Dartford, really.

“I live in Blackfen and went to school in Welling. From five years old I used to walk to school so I would walk across the A2.

“You can’t even imagine it now.

“There was no bridge over the top, you just walked across the A2.

“Now you would take your life in your hands if you tried to do that.

“My mum had a shop in Falconwood Parade and that was a lovely little community. There was about 25 shops – all different and privately owned. I’ve not been round there for ages but I imagine that’s all changed.”

After the signing on Thursday, it’ll be back to the day job for the Strictly judge, who was positive about how the show has gone so far.

He said: “I think it’s going terrifically. I think the show’s lovely, I think we’ve got a really diverse group of celebrities on it.

“We’ve got some really good ones and some really bizarre ones so it’s nice.

“I’ve been a bit surprised by virtually all of them.

“Mark Benson, I thought he would be terrible, but he has got such a terrific personality and he embraces the spirit of the show and he comes out and has a real old go at it. He’s terrific fun.

“Sophie Ellis Bextor’s done very well. She got four nines. Craig giving a nine out, blimey you’re lucky if you get a four in week two and here he is dishing out the nines.”

My Lost London by Len Goodman (£18.99) is published by Trinity Mirror Media