London Places to Go
From major cities to the off-the-beaten-track destinations, we’ve got this place covered. We’ll share the hidden gems that only a local can discover.
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a very busy junction in the heart of central London, an iconic place that you’ll see on a thousand postcards of London or in stock photographs, similar to the way Times Square is seen as an image of New York.
Its where the major streets of Piccadilly, Regent Street, Shaftesbury Avenue and Haymarket meet and means that within easy walking distance are the entertainment areas of Soho and Leicester Square, Chinatown, many West End theatres and the shopping on Regent and Oxford Street’s.
Date: May 5th, 2008 |
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Speaker's Corner
In modern London with its vast growing web of cctv cameras on almost every major street and expanding police powers, anyone spontaneously gathering a crowd to lecture them about what whatever’s exercising your mind that day will pretty soon be brought to a halt by law enforcement, offered the chance to donate some DNA and probably quizzed about any terrorist connections.
One place where those with the desire to address the masses can still do so almost unhindered is the famous Speaker’s Corner on the northeast side of London’s Hyde Park where Park Lane meets Cumberland Gate.
Date: April 27th, 2008 |
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For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond
London’s Imperial War Museum has a major exhibition starting this week celebrating 100 years since the birth of author Ian Fleming and his most famous creation, James Bond 007. For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond, on from 17 April 2008–1 March 2009, looks at Fleming’s life and how his earlier experiences led to the creation of the world’s most well known secret agent.
Ian Fleming was the son of a Conservative MP who was killed fighting in World War One. The young Ian went to Eton, Britain’s top public(private) school, and then on to Sandhurst the UK’s equivalent of West Point. He worked as a journalist for Reuters
Date: April 16th, 2008 |
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The American Scene at the British Museum
The British Museum opens a new exhibition today called The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock which runs until 7 September 2008. It features around 150 prints from 74 different artists painted between 1900-1960 which reflect the changes in American society and culture during that period.
Themes covered include the changing urban landscape, the Jazz Age, the Depression and America in World War Two. The museum is using its extensive collection of prints to bring the exhibition together and John Sloan, Edward Hopper, Josef Albers, Louise Bourgeois, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock are some of the artists whose work is featured.
Date: April 11th, 2008 |
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April Film Premieres in London
2 April - Shine a Light Director Martin Scorsese is a longtime Rolling Stones fan having used their songs in many of his movies over the last four decades, Gimme Shelter was used in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and The Departed. Shine A Light is a concert documentary filmed in late 2006 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City with the Stones performing with guests including Jack White from The White Stripes and Christina Aguilera. The London premiere is at the Odeon Leicester Square and the band and Martin Scorsese should be in attendence.
8 April - Leatherheads A romantic sports comedy set around a 1920s American football team starring and directed by George Clooney and co-starring Renee Zellweger,
Date: April 2nd, 2008 |
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Harrods
Harrods is the most famous department store in London, ‘the top people’s shop’, frequented by royalty, the wealthy as well as the ordinary shopper.
Located on the Brompton Road in the fashionable Knightsbridge area of west London just to the south of Hyde Park, Harrods has made its reputation over more than 150 years by selling the finest quality products and providing the highest standard of service with the store’s motto being ‘Everything for Everybody Everywhere’.
Date: April 30th, 2008 |
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Real Food Festival
Food lovers and anyone who enjoys cooking should get along to Earls Court this week for the Real Food Festival 2008. The event has invited 500 of the best small food and drink producers from the UK and around the world who will on hand to explain and answer questions about their produce as well as sell it.
Among the other show attractions are the biggest farmer’s market in Britain, food workshops and tastings, sustainable food guru Barny Houghton running a cookery school, and top chefs giving demonstrations in the Real Food Theatre where sessions are free on a first come, first served basis.
Date: April 20th, 2008 |
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East End Film Festival
The eighth East End Film Festival starts this week, running from 17-24 April at a number of cinemas and other venues around the East End of London including the Cineworld West India Quay, the Genesis Mile End Cinema, the Rich Mix cinema in Shoreditch, the Stratford Picture House and the Rio Cinema.
The festival started out as a way to showcase the talents of local filmmakers and has gone on to include independent films from around the world as well as locally produced and developed ones.
Date: April 14th, 2008 |
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Expo New Zealand
If you’ve found yourself getting a bit tired of the charms of London or maybe just the prices and felt like starting over somewhere completely new you might be interested in the Opportunities New Zealand Expo taking place this weekend, 5-6 April 2008, at Olympia in West London.
The expo is aimed at people who might be thinking of emigrating Down Under and provides information on the type of skilled people New Zealand is looking to encourage to move. Immigration New Zealand will have a stand at the expo to explain and answer any questions on visas as well as hosting a series of migration seminars throughout the weekend.
Date: April 4th, 2008 |
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Olympic Torch Relay London
China recieved the Olympic flame from Greece yesterday in a ceremony in Athens. It will travel to Beijing for a welcoming ceremony in Tiananmen Square before leaving to visit 21 cities on six continents, one of them being London. The flame will arrive in London next Sunday, 6 April, and be taken on a Torch Relay from Wembley Stadium through 10 London boroughs to the O2 Arena in Greenwich.
80 torchbearers have been invited to take turns carrying the flame including former British Olympic champions, non-Olympic sportsmen and well known celebrities. The Torch Relay will start at Wembley Stadium at 10.30am heading down the Harow Road to Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill, then on along Oxford Street, pass the British Museum, back to Chinatown and down through Trafalgar Square before it criss-crosses the River Thames four times
Date: March 31st, 2008 |
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