Clifton-Taylor's book on the parish church as a work of art is superb.

I take the Clifton Taylor books with me often on multiple visits. Looking at mathematical tiles in Lewes for example. He might be too ‘Antiques Roadshow’ to be cool. He is also on YouTube. Warwick, for example, which we visited though the church closed early so we missed it. He makes interesting points regarding the authenticity of black and white timber frame buildings.

Derby still has the Joseph Wright of Derby paintings and - for drinkers - Bass from the jug. Though Bass is a shadow of what it was and is mostly of nostalgic interest.

Yet Ian Nairn hated the Munich Octoberfest. He was almost moved to violence. See YouTube.

I love Munich. Never been to Octoberfest but they have some magnificent beer gardens (and beer halls of course).

Nuremberg was also great for pubs on our brief stop and Bamberg was splendid.

Much wrecking was done in the name of 'progress' as the late Gavin Stamp reminds us in the majority of his books.  London, Glasgow, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne - the list goes on and on.  Fashionable ideas (mostly nonsensical) and car culture were partly to blame.  Also a lethal combination of spite, stupidity and greed. 
Nairn's heart was basically in the right place, but anyone interested in London should read Geoffrey Fletcher: 'The London Nobody Knows' etc.  Then, of course, there is the incomparable Pevsner.  Betj? - often too much of a good thing.  But his daughter, posing naked for 'Private Eye'...  I keep it by the side of my chair...

^ Right.  And one about Lambeth? 
Talking of Wright Of Derby (who tried his luck in Liverpool, I think), handling his sketch-books back in 1993 was a highlight of my life.  I did six months voluntary work at the museum and art gallery, beginning in Fine Art before moving onto Antiquities.  I had to wear white gloves and use a soft pencil for note-taking.  The door was locked behind me, the visiting public not allowed near.  Something of a trial as I happened to be a heavy smoker at the time!

John Rogers on You Tube is worth watching for his walks in and around London. He often seems to go unprepared except for old maps but the films are interesting nonetheless. He has covered areas that people living just a mile or two away don't know about.

I'll take a look at those, Robbie.
On TRSs recommendation, last year, I took a look at footage of NYC in the 1960s.  Excellent.
Most people live in places but know nothing about what's happening in the next street let alone a couple of miles away.  Passive viewing has long since replaced any curiosity about the world around us, let alone - in Peter Laslett's words - the world we have lost.

How can I express this politely?  TRS is clearly talking out of his backside here.  Many places that were untouched by bombing nonetheless were senselessly knocked about.  Point one.  Much that was dire came in the wake of the Festival Of Britain.  Point two.  Much Victoriana was admittedly tedious but many fine medieval, classical and Regency buildings went too. 
In Newcastle, T.Dan Smith, as has been said, aimed at remodelling the city into something like Milan.  It's reckoned to be somewhat more like Croydon. 
TRS have crossed swords before over this.  The debate is not acrimonious.  It's not even very personal.  But, as I say, he's talking out of his arse.

Actually, to be fair, a good many of the problems faced by British towns and cities pre-dated even 1914.  Then, between the wars, slum clearance programmes were often carried out very tardily.  A change of political complexion on the corporation and you were often back at square one.  My parents were unable to sell their house in 1970 because the entire area was due for demolition.  Most of it still stands today - forlorn, but it still stands.  There was some meddling and tinkering around the edges but nothing more drastic until a major new road was put through. 
TRS, even avowed Modernists like the Smithsons held the Euston Arch in high regard - demolished under the instructions of that old fraud McMillan.

… and let’s not forget the impact made by roadbuilding in the 60s and 70s. The rail system was decimated and freight shifted onto the roads, car ownership mushroomed. Local authorities rushed to carve fast roads and roundabouts through town and cities with the vision that private car use would bring about a utopia of personal mobility and freedom. Where the local road layout didn’t lend itself to these ideas whole swathes of buildings were razed in pursuit of the ideal. The damage wasn’t just in cities, the characters of quiet little towns were completely altered by a dual carriageway running through their centre cutting off neighbourhoods. Then they realised that the more roads you build the more unnecessary journeys people make, all looks pretty silly now.

Few places are as bad as Croydon. Certainly not Newcastle. Two huge office buildings I used to visit in Croydon have now been repurposed as accommodation - which seems pointless if the jobs are not there now. The Croydon shopping centres are also in trouble. Croydon also has plans for even taller skyscrapers.

I think the Milan/Croydon comment was by way of a joke.  Possibly Stamp.