Day out: Hatfield House

One of my favourite periods of English history is the time of Elizabeth I. It was a time when Englishmen were exploring the world, when scientific discoveries were being made, when great drama and poetry were being written – and when modern England was being born out of the husk of the Middle Ages. Hatfield House - a superb vision of the English Renaissance It was also a period when the strong traditions of English medieval art and architecture gained new life from an influx of Renaissance...

June 5th, 2010 | Baby Boomers, London | Read More

Message in a bottle in Trafalgar Square

The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square [map] seems to have become one of the most interesting modern art venues in London. Every few months we get a new art work on the plinth – so much more interesting than the dull generals and field marshals you see everywhere else. And the latest sculpture is really, I think, quite amusing – a huge ship in a bottle which commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Nelson will be able to gaze down from his column and see a one-thirtieth scale model...

June 1st, 2010 | London | Read More

Coming up: Greenwich and Docklands International Festival

The Greenwich and Docklands Festival brings modern dance to East London at the end of June, using some of the area’s most famous buildings and green spaces as the theatre for spectacular events. An Italian dance company set the Royal Naval College on fire... This year the theme is ‘earth’, opening with ‘Gravity’, an event which will see the Queen’s House, Greenwich, taken over by dancers. The mix of modern dance with the calm Renaissance lines of Inigo Jones’s...

May 30th, 2010 | London | Read More

The City of London Festival

Watch out when you visit your stockbroker, or you might get stung. That’s good advice at any time, but particularly this year when there are going to be bee-hives all the way round the Square Mile – as part of the City of London Festival. There’s a Portuguese flavour to the festival, with a film on Fado (you could call it ‘Portuguese flamenco’ and give a rough gist of what Fado is – but it’s much more than that with its tendency to melancholy and wistfulness),...

May 28th, 2010 | London | Read More

Coming up for folkies – Cropredy Convention

If you’re a folkie, and if you love folk rock, the Cropredy Convention is a must. Started by Fairport Convention thirty years ago, it’s been going strong ever since. This year’s convention has a wonderfully eclectic mix of acts. There are great rockers Status Quo on Thursday. There’s a folk-metal band, Leatherat, and modern folkies Bellowhead (who headline Friday). Then of course Fairport themselves play the Saturday gig, with Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble, so...

May 26th, 2010 | London | Read More

Tottenham’s historic buildings saved

In the struggle for the soul of London’s built heritage I’m glad to report one success – historic buildings on Tottenham High Road have been saved from demolition. Lancaster House - not one of the four saved buildings but a good example of Tottenham's fine Georgian heritage Enter the villains: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, a.k.a. Spurs. The club’s plans for a new stadium involved demolishing the buildings on the High Road, in order to create a huge plaza. (Otherwise...

May 24th, 2010 | London | Read More

Boris’s new cycleways

Boris Johnson is well known as one of London’s cyclists, as well as its mayor. He nearly faced death some time ago when a lorry door swung open just as he approached on his bike – now he’s opening a huge network of new cycle lanes. Or is he? The Cyclists’ Touring club is not impressed. Apparently much of Boris’s new cycle network is already there – he’s just panning to repaint the lines on the road. It’s legitimate, I think, to ask how painting a narrow...

May 23rd, 2010 | London | Read More

The new Red Bus!

I’ve just been looking at the new London bus – the mayor’s office has posted a video tour of it on Youtube. The gleaming red vision that was Routemaster I’m not quite sure what to make of it. It’s certainly an improvement on the dreadfully uninspired boxes-on-wheels that represent ninety percent of the London bus fleet, and the detested-by-all bendybuses. I like the curves – they feel both elegant and friendly. On a practical level, with three doors and two staircases,...

May 22nd, 2010 | London | Read More

India portrayed

There’s a fascinating exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery at the moment. It focuses on Indian portraits from 1560 – the heyday of the Mughal courts – to 1860 under the British Raj. A more modern style of Indian portrait - the Bollywood icon For me, one of the interesting things about these paintings is the way western influence gradually creeps in – the Mughal emperors certainly knew a number of western sources, as there’s even a copy of a Cranach engraving....

May 20th, 2010 | London | Read More

Manuscript heaven

Lambeth Palace is where the Archbishop of Canterbury lives when he’s in London. The Archbishops have lived there for hundreds of years – and many of them have been scholars and book-collectors. Not surprising then that the Palace is putting on an exhibition of books from the Archbishop’s library, including many rare manuscripts. The great gateway of Lambeth Palace There’s the twelfth century Lambeth Bible, for instance, a superb illuminated manuscript that Thomas Becket...

May 18th, 2010 | London | Read More

Craft it yourself!

I’ve featured a number of craft workshops on this blog, and I’ve just found out about some new ones, which are being offered by Craft Central in Clerkenwell. Learn to make a sexy fascinator like this one! There are workshops for making handbags, hats,and a super Pimp your wardrobe’ session – all held on weekday evenings, from 6pm. I’m particularly interested by the hat workshop, since the leader has not only worked for well known fashion milliner Stephen Jones, but...

May 17th, 2010 | London | Read More

Coming up: Greenwich Beer & Jazz Festival

Most beer festivals just highlight beer. At the end of May, though, Greenwich wll be going one better, and adding jazz music to the mix. Happy festival goers in front of the classical buildings at Greenwich The Greenwich Beer and Jazz Festival is held in a marvellous setting, on the lawns of the Royal Naval College. While as you might expect from a Greenwich festival the local Meantime Brewery is contributing a large number of its beers, there will be real ales from as far afield as Cornwall (Skinner’s)...

May 15th, 2010 | London | Read More

Days out: Chatham

Though Rochester has been one of my favourite day trips for many years, I didn’t know Chatham till comparatively recently. They’re five minutes apart on the railway – but they’re like two different worlds. Chatham's naval dockyard Rochester, with its castle, cathedral and town houses, is like a cross between the best aspects of a large village and a small city. It turns its back on the River Medway. Chatham, on the other hand, is defined by the river – it’s...

May 12th, 2010 | London | Read More

Days out: Rochester

Rochester is a funny old place. It’s not gracious or olde-world exactly, it’s not a tourist honey-pot or a great city of culture, but it’s got a distinct character. Rochester High Street during the Rochester Sweeps festival Rochester was one of the strategic strongholds for the Normans when they took over England, and it still has its Norman castle – a foursquare, four-turretted great keep, the highest in England – which dominates the town. It has its Norman cathedral,...

May 11th, 2010 | London | Read More

Magnificent maps!

The blockbuster exhibitions at our major museums get a lot of press – and they’re always thronged. But sometimes, it’s the free exhibitions that really impress – and there’s a great one on at the moment, one I’m particularly interested in as it’s all about maps. Presumably this little fellow on the Hereford Mappa Mundi is an inhabitant of France? We take maps for granted, rather. But we shouldn’t. Behind every map there ae a whole load of assumptions;...

May 10th, 2010 | London | Read More

Museums – late night special

‘Museums at night’ will be bringing special events to London next week. Not only are museums going to be opening late on Friday 14th, they’ll also be hosting activities ranging from music to sleepovers, from lectures to workshops. The British Museum at night There’s a talk at the Horniman Museum about Shiva and Kali, the Indian goddess of death and destruction, featuring a statue of Kali dancing on Shiva’s body. Having a taste for the gruesome, I might try to get along...

May 6th, 2010 | London | Read More

Veeraswamy’s

Until very recently, Indian restaurants in the UK were cheap and cheerful. But there was always one big exception – Veeraswamy’s in Covent Garden. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but a recent visit to Holborn enabled me to renew my acquaintance. Veeraswamy's is quite a lot more tasteful than this! An Indian restaurant in Pimlico does what it says on the tin Veeraswamy’s was founded in 1926. It wasn’t by any means the first Indian restaurant in London – that...

May 5th, 2010 | London | Read More

Day trip – Sandwich

In between the rain showers we’ve had a bit of sunshine and I’ve been thinking about day trips out from London. Heading south, Kent seems a good idea, and to avoid having to give the secret details of my favourite bluebell wood, I thought I might look at Sandwich – one of the Cinque Ports and a rather charming town. One of Sandwich's twisty medieval streets Sandwich has some fine medieval buildings, mainly in local flint – the Fisher Gate on the quayside, and St Thomas’s...

May 4th, 2010 | London | Read More

Coming up: May Day

May Day in Moscow is an excuse to parade your military hardware. In England, it’s the day for taking your baldric and bells, your stick and hanky, your blackface and your silly hat. No idea what I’m talking about? Morris Dancing, of course. This is Bristol's Jack-in-the-Green - welcoming in the spring There will be Morris dancers out all over Britain to welcome the May Day sunrise. Probably most celebrated of the events is the Hastings [map] celebration, featuring the ‘Jack...

April 27th, 2010 | London | Read More

Vietnamese food in Broadway Market

There’s quite a thriving Vietnamese community in East London. I’ve always patronised the Vietnamese restaurants along Kingsland Road, but there’s a fast food option too - Banh Mi 11 in Broadway Market [map]. Banh Mi 11 serves filled baguettes – with a difference. The filling is hot, and it’s Vietnamese. The basic ingredients are marinaded pork, or vegetables, and there are additional good things like honey-roasted chicken. The pickles are home made, and provide authentic...

April 26th, 2010 | London | Read More