"As an actress, I spent a great deal of time in England, especially while raising my children with Roald Dahl. Several of London's grand luxury hotels have been part of my life for decades. Ward Morehouse III's beautifully written book highlights the best of the best, reminding me of the glorious times I have spent in several of these glamorous hotels and piquing my curiosity to visit those I haven't yet had the pleasure to experience."- Patricia Neal, Academy Award and Tony Award-winning actress

Ward Morehouse III's love affair with grand hotels began long before his first, landmark book The Waldorf-Astoria: America's Gilded Dream. His father, the late drama critic Ward Morehouse (who requested "Room Service, please!" on his tombstone), lovingly indoctrinated his young son into the glamorous life of luxurious hotels in New York and elsewhere, teaching him that a great hotel is made up of more than fine linens and fancy uniforms.

It's the staff, the people, who make any hotel special. So London's Grand Hotels -- Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Service, in the World's Cultural Capital, to be published by BearManor Media on August 15, 2010, concerns itself not just with the physical grandeur of London's top hotels, but with all the grand people working in - and staying at - these real-life palaces. Checking into any one of them is like taking part in a grand opera. London boasts the greatest collection of grand hotels of any city. England's legendary empire truly lives on through its greatest inns.

Mr. Morehouse's book also include as series of exclusive celebrity photographs of current of theater, film and business stars who are devotees of London's grand hotels such as Sienna Miller, Jude Law, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Richard Branson.

Here's a sampling of exclusive stories from some of those who own and run these hotels and the stars who have stayed in them included in London's Grand Hotels -- Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Service in the World's Cultural Capitol":

* Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh first met at The Savoy. One night my father took his wife Rebecca Morehouse, who worked for The Atlanta Journal, Time Magazine and Playbill, to dinner with the world's most famous lovers one night at their place in Christ Church Street. "They knew the pain of separation," she said. "He was on Broadway in a play when she was playing Scarlett in California," Mrs. Morehouse told me. "Her impatience to finish the picture was all about him, being with him. When they could arrange it, it wasn't easy, they got on planes and met in the middle of the country, some place with an airport, where didn't matter. 'We did terrible things all over your beautiful country,' Vivian says cheerfully, with no apparent regret ... What terrible things!?"

* When Richard Harris stayed at The Savoy he paid his bill erratically. And he would only even talk about paying it over "a Guinness" at the Cole Hole Pub next door. The last time that former Savoy general manager Michael Shepard saw Harris he had had a heart attack in his suite. While waiting in the lobby for an ambulance, he told Mr. Shepard, "Mr. Shepard, blame the food! Blame the food!"


For some Broadway stars, the task of choosing a London hotel may be even as daunting as getting a starring role on Broadway. James Barbour, who starred in the mega-musical "Tale of Two Cities," shot the PBS special on the musical in London. "There are so many great hotels in London, how do you pick a favorite?!" he asked rhetorically.