This non-technical, readable book traces the history of North Thames Gas from the nationalization of the gas industry in 1949 until privatization in 1986, a period which saw the industry change form a position in the 1950s where its survival was threatened.North Thames Gas - history and tradition; the new enterprise; the struggle for survival; new technology and new markets; the Canvey experiment and the beginnings of conversion; the conversion of central London; organizational change and the time of troubles; a headquarters at last; the Staines era - renaissance and reformation.