Edgware, in the year 1717. The rain pelts down relentlessly. Seeking shelter, the young composer George Frederick Handel ducks into a mysterious shed in the middle of Edgware High Street and finds himself in a blacksmith's forge.

Entranced by the sound of hammer on anvil, Handel found the inspiration for his famous piano solo The Harmonious Blacksmith.

The rest is history, and Edgware historian Alf Porter has made it his business to put it - along with many other stories this corner of north-west London has thrown up through the ages - down in writing.

Mr Porter, of Elizabeth Gardens, was born in 1913. He went to the Edgware School, then in Edgware High Street, and married one of his schoomates, Jessie. Through his lifetime, he has seen Edgware grow and change in character.

As a child he frequently heard tales of times when, before the tram lines were built in 1904, cows and other farmyard animals roamed the High Street.

Edgware originally developed during the coaching age, says Mr Porter. "The essence then, as now, was speed. Stagecoach horses would run for eight to ten miles and this made Edgware an ideal place to change horses, both on the way into and out of London," he says.

Its status as a coach stop explained the number of pubs which were found in Edgware High Street. But, by the early 1930s, dramatic changes were afoot as the Tube arrived.

"Commuters moved to the area to escape the city, but there was a paradox in their doing so - they destroyed the countryside they had come to live in," says Mr Porter.

From this point on, urbanisation was relentless and Edgware today is very different from the town Mr Porter knew as a boy.

Mr Porter's interest in Edgware's history has led him to amass a fantastic collection of photographs, which have been published in three books. His bestseller is called Edgware and the Stanmores in Camera - a Nostalgic Record, and he is currently compiling a fourth.

He has joined forces with Edgware estate agents Leslie Leigh to appeal for residents to come forward with more old pictures of the area.

In return, he promises to satisfy their questions about Edgware's heritage.

Anyone who can help is asked to visit Leslie Leigh & Co, 129 High Street, Edgware, or call 020 8952 4491.