Bloomsbury

This Week in London – Lee Miller at the Tate; the Hallelujah Chorus’ origins and impact, and conkers on Hampstead Heath…

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• The UK’s largest retrospective of trail-blazing 20th century surrealist photographer Lee Miller opens at Tate Britain today. Lee Miller features around 230 vintage and modern prints, some of which are on display for the first time, which reveal how her approach pushed boundaries and led to the creation of some of the most iconic images of last century. Highlights include the newly discovered solarisation exemplar, Sirène (Nimet Eloui Bey) (c1930-32), her celebrated surrealist image of Egypt’s Siwa Oasis, Portrait􏰊of Space (1937), London-based works such as You will not lunch in Charlotte Street today (1940) and Fire Masks􏰘(1941) which convey the “pathos and absurdity” of the city in wartime, and war-related images including portraits of Miller and David E Scherman in Hitler’s private bath in April, 1945, as well as a rare 1950 self-portrait showing Miller posed in Oskar Kokoschka’s London studio flanked by artworks. Runs until 15th February. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/lee-miller

• The initial and enduring impact of the Hallelujah Chorus is the subject of a new display at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. A Grand Chorus explores the profound impact music can have on listeners and performers and brings together musical scores, librettos, and musical instruments as well as paintings, photographs, audio, video, personal testimonies􏰞, and other archival material spanning three centuries. Originally􏰞composed as part of his famous Messiah oratorio, George Frideric Handel later incorporated the Hallelujah Chorus into an anthem he created specially􏰞for the Foundling Hospital that premiered in 1749 as a fund-raising exercise. The exhibition also showcases a major sound and video installation by􏰞Mikhail Karikis – We are Together􏰈 Because (2025), described as a modern counterpart to the Hallelujah Chorus. Runs until 29th March. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/a-grand-chorus-the-power-of-music/.

• Swing a conker at the Hampstead Heath Conker Championships this Sunday. People are all ages are invited to join in, whether a conker veteran or a newcomer, with competitions held in a range of age categories. The competition is being held near the Parliament Hill Bandstand from 1pm to 4pm. Entry is free. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/events/go-conkers-on-hampstead-heath-5-october.

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This Week in London – Showtime! at the Charles Dickens Museum; the ‘Future of Food’; and, Peter Rabbit hops to Hampton Court…

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PICTURE: VV Shots/iStockphoto

• The enduring appeal of Charles Dickens’ works and how they have been adapted for the stage, screen and radio is the focus of a new exhibition at the Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury. Showtime! looks at productions starting from as far back as 1837 and including such classics as The Muppets Christmas Carol and Oliver! the musical with objects on show including original playbills, posters, programmes, photographs and props. There’s also the opportunity to hear from actors and writers about what makes Dickens so adaptable and see Dickens’ own works which he annotated with stage directions. The display can be seen until 26th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dickensmuseum.com.

• A major new exhibition on the future of food – how science is creating more sustainable ways of producing and consuming food – opens at the Science Museum today. Future of Food reveals how the way we grow food and eat impacts the climate, nature, and society. Among the more than 100 objects on show are cricket burgers and cell-grown salmon as well as 3,500-year-old fermented sourdough bread, the first Quorn burger dating from 1981 and the first beef steak grown outside a cow. There is also the chance to join a multiplayer interactive game and create your own “future for food”. Runs until 4th January. Admission is free. For more, see https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/future-of-food.

The Peter Rabbit Adventure at Hampton Court Palace. PICTURE: Courtesy of Historic Royal Palaces.

• Peter Rabbit is hopping over to Hampton Court Palace to take part in a new family trail that brings Beatrix Potter’s beloved characters to life in the palace gardens from tomorrow. The Peter Rabbit Adventure, included as part of the palace admission, is spread over the Kitchen Garden, Tiltyard, and Wilderness and the activities on the trail will introduce little ones to the plants, vegetables and wildlife that inhabit the gardens. These include the chance to use Mrs Tiggy-winkle’s washing equipment to make music among the trees, to join in a search for Peter Rabbit under wheelbarrows and flowerpots in the Tiltyard, and to try to hop, skip and jump as high as Peter and his friends. A larger-than-life Peter Rabbit will be greeting families in the Kitchen Gardens. Runs until 7th September. For more, see https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/the-peter-rabbit-adventure/.

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This Week in London – London’s transport history captured; Sir Quentin Blake’s foundling portraits; and, the history of prison healthcare…

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Some of London’s iconic red buses (not one of the images in the exhibition). PICTURE: Dele Oke/Unsplash

• A new photographic display featuring a mix of historical and newly commissioned images has gone on show at the London Transport Museum. The exhibition – Then and now: London’s transport in photographs – marks the 25th anniversary of Transport for London and more than 160 years of transport history within the capital and features 40 photographs exploring how public transport in London has evolved amid social change. As well as historical images drawn from the collection, the display features images taken by photographer and train driver, Anne Maningas. Runs until spring, 2026. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk/visit/museum-guide/then-and-now-londons-transport-photographs.

• A display of portraits by acclaimed artist Sir Quentin Blake has gone on show at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. The Foundling Portraits: Quentin Blake features a series of 10 Stabilo watercolour pencil on paper artworks which depict imaginary children created by Blake during a period of self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The images are among a collection of 45 which were gifted to the museum by Sir Quentin. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/the-foundling-portraits-quentin-blake/.

• On Now: Prison Nursing Unlocked – A History of Care and Justice. This exhibition at the Royal College of Nursing Library and Museum in Cavendish Square looks at the role of health care in prisons, from the work of early reformers like Elizabeth Fry to the role nurses play today. Co-created with Royal College of Nursing members, it tells the story of the suffragettes who were force-fed in Holloway Prison, the formation of secure hospitals like Broadmoor, and features artwork created by prisoners and nurses at HM Prison Eastwood Park and HM Prison Warren Hill. Runs until 19th December. For more (and a link to the exhibition online), see www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-events/news/prison-nursing-unlocked-exhibition.

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This Week in London – New V&A East Storehouse opens this weekend; novelist Barbara Pym honoured with a Blue Plaque; and, new children’s mudlarking trail at London Museum Docklands…

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Visitors in the central Weston Collections Hall at V&A East Storehouse, a working store and new visitor attraction from the V&A located in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, opening this Saturday, 31st May. PICTURE: David Parry/PA Media Ass

• The V&A East Storehouse opens to the public for the first time in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park this Saturday. The venue features more than 100 mini-displays centred on the themes of ‘Collecting Stories’, ‘Sourcebook for Design’ and ‘The Working Museum’ and boasting more than 1,500 items from across the V&A’s collections with works by Hew Locke, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Liebskind and Thomas Heatherwick’s London 2012 Olympic cauldron model among those featured. A massive 11-metre-wide stage cloth designed by Pablo Picasso for the Ballets Russes’ 1924 production, Le Train Bleu, will be displayed for first time in more than 10 years while among large scale objects are a section of the now-demolished housing estate, Robin Hood Gardens, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office – the only Frank Lloyd Wright interior outside of the US. Anyone can book access to any object in the storehouse for free via the ‘Order an Object’ process and the venue is also hosting a series of live events including back2back: Archival Bodies, and new programming strand, A Life in the Work of Others – featuring Turner-Prize-winning artist, Jasleen Kaur. Admission to the Storehouse at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, is free. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk/east.

Visitors looking at a two-storey section of Robin Hood Gardens, at V&A East Storehouse, a working store and new visitor attraction from the V&A located in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, opening this Saturday, 31st May. PICTURE: David Parry/PA Media Assignme

• The home where novelist Barbara Pym began writing her celebrated 1952 novel Excellent Women has been given an English Heritage Blue Plaque. Pym lived at the second floor flat at 108 Cambridge Street in Pimlico with her sister Hilary between November 1945 to autumn 1949. It was from a corner room, overlooking Warwick Square and St Gabriel’s Church, that she meticulously recorded her observations, and laid the groundwork for her distinctive literary voice. Her work during this period also included revising the text for her first published novel, Some Tame Gazelle (1950). In March, three more Blue Plaques were unveiled commemorating women: Una Marson (1905–1965), the BBC’s first Black woman producer at The Mansions, Mill Lane in West Hampstead where she lived from at least 1939 to 1943; and, Rhoda Garrett (1841–1882) and Agnes Garrett (1845–1935), at 2 Gower Street in Bloomsbury where they founded Britain’s first female-run interior-decorating business. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

• A free family trail inspired by Jessie Burton’s new children’s book, Hidden Treasure, has launched at the London Museum Docklands. Inspired by the tale of two young mudlarks, the trail takes families on a journey around the museum’s galleries to learn more about centuries of life by the river. It’s aimed at children under 12-years-old, who also have free entry into the museum’s mudlarking exhibition, Secrets of the Thames. For more, see www.londonmuseum.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Sexual violence in conflict; Indian religions at the British Museum; and, the circus comes to Hampton Court…

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• A first-of-its-kind exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth aims to shed light on sexual violence in conflicts. Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict features case studies which span the period from the World War I to today and examines how and why sexual violence is perpetrated, its impact on victims and survivors and the pursuit of justice and reconciliation. The exhibition features some 162 objects, including never-before-seen items, as well as testimonies and interviews with experts such as Christina Lamb, journalist and author of Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women, and Sarah Sands, journalist and former chair of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council. The display also highlights the ongoing work of four NGOs working in the field of sexual violence: Women for Women International, All Survivors Project, Free Yezidi Foundation and Waging Peace. The free display opens on Friday and runs until 2nd November. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/events/unsilenced-sexual-violence-in-conflict.

Bimaran casket, about 1st century © The Trustees of the British Museum.
This gold reliquary might represent the earliest dateable image of the Buddha shown as a man, as coins found with it could date to the late 1st century AD. The Buddha stands with his right hand raised in the gesture of reassurance and is flanked by the gods Indra (right) and Brahma (left).

• The origins of three of the world’s major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – and their practice today are explored through a new exhibition of sacred art at the British Museum. Ancient India: living traditions features more than 180 objects including sculptures, paintings, drawings, and manuscripts. Among the objects on show is a statue of the elephant-headed god Ganesh made of in Java from volcanic stone, dating from about AD 1000–1200, while among the stories told in the display are how depictions of Buddha have changed over time while those of Hindu goddess Lakshmi have remained relatively unchanged. Runs until 19th October in The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• The circus and street performance are coming to Hampton Court Palace this weekend for a three day family-friendly festival featuring live music, acrobatics and physical theatre. Featuring performers from Cirque Bijou, the Big Bahooey will, as well as breathtaking stunts, slapstick comedy and interactive performances, feature hands-on workshops where you can learn skills such as juggling, wire walking or spinning plates. Entrance is included in palace admission. Runs from 24th to 26th May. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/the-big-bahooey/.

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This Week in London – Hiroshige at the British Museum; poppies return to Tower for VE Day commemoration; and, Do Ho Suh at the Tate Modern…

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Ferry on the Fuji River. From Famous Places in Japan, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858). Colour -woodblock print, about 1832. © The Trustees of the British Museum

• An exhibition exploring the art and legacy of Japanese artist Hiroshige opens at the British Museum today. Hiroshige: artist of the open road takes visitors on a “lyrical journey” through Edo-period Japan, exploring both natural landscapes and urban life as well as considering Utagawa Hiroshige’s (1797– 1858) lasting influence on modern and contemporary art. The display marks the major gift of 35 Hiroshige prints to the American Friends of the British Museum from the collection of Alan Medaugh, a leading US collector of the artist’s work with these works being shown alongside 82 Hiroshige prints loaned by Medaugh and other works. Among them are the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Highway (1833–35), One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856–58) and Eight Views of Stations along the Main and Secondary Roads (about 1839) as well as examples of his famous bird-and-flower prints Runs in the Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery (Room 35) until 7th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see britishmuseum.org/hiroshige.

• The 80th anniversary of World War II is being marked with a new display of ceramic poppies in the Tower of London. Almost 30,000 poppies, previously seen in Paul Cummins’ 2014 artwork, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, are being used in the new installation designed by Tom Piper. Opens on 6th May in advance of the 80th anniversary of VE Day, marking the official end of the World War II in Europe, on 8th May. Included in admission with a small section visible from the public footpath. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/tower-remembers-2025.

Do Ho Suh, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, 2013-2022. Installation view at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia. Photography by Sebastian Mrugalski Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro. © Do Ho Suh

• The large-scale installations, sculptures, videos and drawings of artist Do Ho Suh are going on show at the Tate Modern from today. The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, the title of which comes from a Korean expression referring to the hanok – a house that could theoretically be disassembled, transported and reassembled at a new site, includes works from across three decades. They include the new installation Nest/s (2024) and Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul (2024), Who Am We? (2000_ – a mosaic of tens of thousands of tiny portrait photographs collected from sources including school yearbooks, and his major Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home (2013-22) project. Runs at the Bankside institution until 19th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see tate.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Of livery companies and pancakes; Museum of the Home celebrates East Enders; and, the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ at the Foundling Museum…

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Guildhall Yard where the annual Inter-Livery Pancake Race is held. PICTURE: David Adams

• Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, takes place this coming Tuesday and to mark the event, representatives from the City of London’s livery companies are coming in their annual Inter-Livery Pancake Race around Guildhall Yard. The event is organised by the Worshipful Company of Poulters while the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers provide the starting gun, the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers time the races and the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers provide lemons to accompany the pancakes. The starter’s gun fires at noon. Entry is free.

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• East Enders is celebrating its 40th anniversary and to mark the occasion, the Museum of the Home in Hoxton is featuring props and costumes from the show in its displays. EastEnders at 40: Icons of Home and Drama features props and costumes including the costumes from Syed and Amira’s wedding in 2010, Kat Slater’s leopard print coat and Frank Butcher’s spinning bow tie. Runs until 22nd June. Admission is free. For more, see www.museumofthehome.org.uk.

• The origins of the Hallelujah Chorus and its special connecting to the Foundling Hospital is the subject of a new display at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. Composer George Frideric Handel first held a benefit concert at the venue in 1749 in which he premiered his Foundling Hospital Anthem. He returned the following year to perform the Messiah, which had made its debut in Dublin in 1742, and this event proved so popular it was held annually until the 1770s. The display can be seen until 29th March, 2026. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/hallelujah-display/.

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This Week in London – The Charles Dickens Museum celebrates 100 years; activist Olive Morris commemorated; and, ‘The Story of Soldier Magazine’…

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The Charles Dickens Museum. PICTURE: Courtesy of Google Maps

• The Charles Dickens Museum, located in the author’s former home at 48 Doughty Street in Bloomsbury, is marking its centenary this year, and to celebrate the occasion, it’s holding a special exhibition of highlights from its collection. The museum, which first opened its doors on 9th June, 1925, has brought together everything from Dickens’ hairbrush, walking stick and only surviving suit through to portraits and photographs made during his lifetime as well as original manuscripts, letters to his family and friends and rare first editions. The exhibition runs on 29th June. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://dickensmuseum.com/.

• Housing rights campaigner and activist Olive Morris has been commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque in Brixton. Jamaican-born Morris (1952-1979), who dedicated her life to helping the oppressed and exploited, hosted Black women’s study groups and lived as a squatter at the three storey property at 121 Ralston Road in the 1970s. She was a significant figure in the British Black Panther movement, co-founded the Brixton Black Women’s Group and the Organization of Women of African and Asian Descent in 1978, and was one of the “Old Bailey three” who were acquitted after being prosecuted over a protest outside the Old Bailey, winning the right to a fair representation of Black people on the jury during the court proceedings. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

• Soldier magazine, the official magazine of the British Army, is marking its 80th anniversary with an exhibition ay the National Army Museum. The Story of Soldier Magazine charts the publication’s history from March, 1945, when it was launched by Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, through the role it’s played in covering every major conflict since as well as the issues shaping military life. Runs until 6th July. Admission is free. For more, see https://www.nam.ac.uk.

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This Week in London – London homes at Christmas; Christmas Eve at the Dickens’; and, ‘Women & Freud’…

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A Christmas Tree (not part of the Museum of the Home). PICTURE: Tj Holowaychuk/Unsplash

• The Museum of the Home in Shoreditch has once again redressed its ‘Rooms through Time’ display for the festive season. Located in the Grade I-listed Almshouses and adjoining Branson Coates Wing, the display spans the some 400 years and explores how seasonal festivals, culture and personal traditions” have shaped our lives at home during the winter months. This year the redressing also includes seven new period homes which reflecting the stories of East London. See everything from a Midwinter Celebration in 1630 to a Midnight Mass in 1956, a Christmas Party in 1978, and a futuristic New Year’s Eve in 2049. Runs until 12th January. Admission is free. For more, see www.museumofthehome.org.uk/whats-on/rooms-through-time/winter-past-2024-2025/.

• Join the Dickens family for Christmas. The Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury is holding a special Christmas Eve opening with the house decorated in a traditional Victorian style. Guests, who each receive a free mince pie and mulled wine or soft drink alternative, will be able to watch adaptations of A Christmas Carol, including The Muppet Christmas Carol, throughout the day in ‘The Smallest Theatre in the World.’ Admission charge applies. To book, head to https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events/christmas-eve-at-the-charles-dickens-museum.

On Now: Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists. This display at the Freud Museum in South Hampstead draws on manuscripts, images, objects, visuals, and film footage to bring to life the many women who shaped Freud’s life including everyone from the early “hysterics”, who Freud called “his teachers” to later patients such as Princesse Marie Bonaparte (who went on to become an analyst) through to his daughter Anna Freud and her partner Dorothy Burlingham, to artists such as Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, Louise Bourgeois, Paula Rego, Alice Anderson and Tracey Emin. The exhibition also celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Sigmund Freud’s work by Hogarth Press, founded and owned by Virginia and Leonard Woolf and a key feature in Bloomsbury life. Admission charge applies. Runs until 5th May. For more, see www.freud.org.uk/exhibitions/freuds-women/

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This Week in London – Christmas at Kew; Picasso’s prints; and, the T rex dons its Christmas jumper…

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• World premiere installations Ombre by TILT – which takes the “form of a series of giant plants in bloom springing up from the landscape in a spectrum of vibrant shades” – and Threshold by Studio Vertigo – an “illuminated helix-like shape, bathed in golden yellow light to evoke the warmth and joy of the festive season” are at the centre of this year’s Christmas light trail at Kew Gardens. Other highlights at this year’s festive showing include Camellia Walk, which has been transformed into a snowy lane which showcases the spectacular tree canopy and evoking a wintery wonderland, Fish are Jumping by Dutch artists TOER and Mist Arches by Culture Creative which create “an atmospheric ambience across Kew’s Lake Crossing”. Annual favourites such as the light show on the Temperate House, the Fire Garden and Christmas Cathedral have also returned along with the Palm House finale. The trail can be visited on selected dates until 5th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see
www.kew.org/christmas.

The frugal meal, 1904 © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2024

• Around 100 prints by Pablo Picasso – including some from his 347 Suite which have never been displayed before – are on show in a new exhibition at the British Museum. Picasso: Printmaker charts the artist’s engagement with printmaking (he produced around 2,400 in total) and centres on some of the more than 500 now in the British Museum’s collection (the largest in the UK). Highlights include his first professional print – The Frugal Meal (1904 – pictured) – as well as prints from the Vollard Suite (1930-1937) such as the aquatint Faun Uncovering a Woman (1936), and, the 347 Suite‘s Tree in the Storm, with Flight Towards a Church (1968). The exhibition can be seen in Room 90 until 30th March. Admission charges apply. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org/picasso.

• The T rex’s new Christmas jumper has been unveiled at the Natural History Museum. This year’s design – which can be seen modelled by the T rex – features festive colours of red, blue, green and white and an image of the museum’s latest prehistoric resident, Fern the Diplodocus, who took up residence in the redesigned gardens earlier this year. The jumper can be seen in the Dinosaur’s Gallery until January. Human-sizxed versions can be bought in the museum shop (www.nhmshop.co.uk). For more, see nhm.ac.uk.

The Natural History Museum unveils its 2024 Christmas jumper on its famous animatronic T rex in annual festive display. PICTURE: © Trustees of the Natural History Museu

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This Week in London – Constable and ‘The Hay Wain’; Hew Locke at the British Museum; and, first NYE tickets on sale…

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NG1207, John Constable, ‘The Hay Wain’, 1821, Oil on canvas 130.2 × 185.4 cm © The National Gallery, London

• John Constable’s iconic work The Hay Wain is the focus of a new free exhibition opening at The National Gallery. Discover Constable and The Hay Wain, which is being held as part of the gallery’s 200th anniversary celebrations, will look at the innovative nature of the painting when it was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821 and show how Constable came to be established as a master in the history of British art. It will also examine the subsequent ownership of the painting, its acquisition by the National Gallery in 1886, and the rise in popularity of both Constable and The Hay Wain in the years since. The free exhibition in the Sunley Room opens today. Runs until 2nd February. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/discover-constable-and-the-hay-wain.

• A new exhibition examining how the British Museum’s collection reflects the legacies of British imperial power opens today. A collaboration with renowned Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke, Hew Locke: what have we here? is Locke’s “personal and emotive exploration” of the collection and features well-known objects from across the museum’s collection alongside specially commissioned new works by Locke. Can be seen until 9th February in the The Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery (Room 35). For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• The first tickets for London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration go on sale at noon tomorrow (Friday 18th October). The tickets, which cost between £20 and £50 depending on the viewing area (London residents pay £15 less on each ticket), represent the first of two batches of tickets to go on sale. Tickets must be purchased to watch the fireworks in person and only tickets bought from the authorised outlet Ticketmaster will be accepted. For those who can’t get tickets, the fireworks show is being broadcast live on the BBC. www.london.gov.uk/nye.

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This Week in London – ‘Silk Roads’ at the British Museum; ‘War and the Mind’; and, the art of Sidney H Sime at the Heath Robinson Museum…

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Ivory chess pieces © ACDF of Uzbekistan, Samarkand State Museum Reserve. PICTURE: Andrey Arakelyan

• The popular concept of the ‘Silk Road’ as a simple history of trade between East and West is challenged in a new exhibition which opens at the British Museum today. Silk Roads, which spans the period from about 500 AD to 1,000 AD, explores the overlapping networks which linked communities ranging from the UK to Japan and Scandinavia to Madagascar through a display organised into five geographic zones. The exhibition features more than 300 objects which include the oldest group of chess pieces ever found (pictured), a six metre long wall painting from the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ in what is now Samarkand in Uzbekistan, a glass drinking horn from Italy dating from between 550 and 600 AD, and, a map of the world from al-Idrisi’s Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikh0raq al-afaq (Pleasure of He who Longs to Cross the Horizons) from a 1533 manuscript which drew on a 1154 original. Visitors will also encounter the stories of people whose stories intertwined with the Silk Roads including Willibald, a balsam smuggler from England, and a legendary Chinese princess her shared the secrets of silk farming with her new kingdom. The display in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery can be seen until 23rd February. Admission charge applies. For more, see britishmuseum.org/silkroads.

• The psychological dimensions of war are explored in a major new temporary exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. War and the Mind features more 150 objects spanning the period from World War I through to the War in Afghanistan. Among them are a letter from Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne which speaks of how dedicated pacifists have changed their mind in the face of direct threat, amphetamine tablets issued to Allied soldiers to help them overcome the psychological effects of fatigue, a newly-acquired mitten belonging to the baby son of an Avro Lancaster bomber rear gunner who carried it for comfort while carrying out operations during the World War II, and a Protect and Survive booklet issued in the UK in 1980 as part of the government’s response to the fear of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. The exhibition, which opens on Friday, is free to visit. For more, see iwm.org.uk/events/war-and-the-mind.

• The artwork of painter, illustrator and caricaturist Sidney Sime is the subject of a new exhibition at the Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner. Sime, who was born in Manchester in 1865, trained at the Liverpool school of art before heading to London where he worked for magazines including Pick-Me-Up, drawing theatrical caricatures and other humorous drawings. He later struck up a friendship with Lord Dunsany and illustrated his first book, The Gods of Pegana, in a collaboration which continued until the 1930s. He also formed friendships with Lord Howard de Walden and composer Joseph Holbrooke, making set and costume designs for their theatrical and operatic productions. After World War I, Sime made a number of large oil paintings, many of which are shown in the display. The Art of Sidney H Sime, Master of Fantasy, which opens on Saturday, can be seen until 5th January. For more, see www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/whats-on/sidney-sime-artist-and-philosopher/.

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This Week in London – Victorian London captured; and, contemporary art at the British Museum…

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• See a glimpse of London as it was during the Victorian era at a new exhibition opening at the London Metropolitan Archives. Lost Victorian City: a London disappeared features photographs, prints, watercolours and documents depicting buildings, horse-drawn transport, docks and various forms of entertainment along with artists’ views of the capital. Highlights include images taken in 1875 by the Society for Photographing Relics of Old London of the 17th century coaching inn, the Oxford Arms, which was demolished two years later, two images by Philip Henry Delamotte showing the moving of the Crystal Palace from Hyde Park to Sydenham following the Great Exhibition of 1851, and a photograph showing the public disinfects whose job was to remove all textiles after an infectious disease outbreak. The display can be seen at the Clerkenwell-based archives until 5th February next year. For more, see

Yinka Shonibare CBE, Cowboy Angel V from the series Cowboy Angels. Colour woodcut and collage of Dutch wax batik fabric. Reproduced by permission of the artist.

• An exhibition has opened featuring works of art acquired by the British Museum over the past two decades including works by David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Julian Opie, Yinka Shonibare and Cornelia Parker. Contemporary collecting: David Hockney to Cornelia Parker features around 100 works acquired since 2001. Many of the works, which span the period from the 1960s onwards, are being exhibited for the first time. Highlights include Hockney’s prints The Marriage (1962) and Henry Seated with Tulips (1976), Parker’s Articles of Glass and Jug Full of Ice from One Day This Glass Will Break (2015), Michael Craig-Martin’s Coathanger, Light bulb and Watch from Drawings (2015); Caroline Walker’s colour lithograph Bathed (2018); Shonibare’s colour woodcuts Cowboy Angel I, II, V (2017) and Joy Gerrard’s Vigil/Protest (Westminster 14th March 2021), a 2023 drawing in Japanese ink. Runs until 29th September in Room 90. Admission is free. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org/david-hockney-cornelia-parker.

This Week in London – Michelangelo’s last decades; expressionists on show; and, Dinosaur rEvolution…

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Michelangelo Buonarro (1475–1564) – study for the ‘Last Judgment’ (Black chalk on paper, about 1534–36); the fall of Phaeton (Black chalk, over stylus underdrawing, on paper, about 1533); and, Christ on the Cross between the Virgin and St John (Black chalk and white lead on paper, about 1555–64.) All images © The Trustees of the British Museum

• A landmark exhibition exploring the final three decades of the life of Renaissance master Michelangelo has opened at the British Museum. Michelangelo: the last decades focuses on how his art and faith evolved and centres on the two metre high Epifania (about 1550–53), which is being displayed for the first time since conservation work on it began in 2018. Showing alongside it is a painting made from it by Michelangelo’s biographer, Ascanio Condivi, as well as preparatory drawings from the Last Judgment, which chart how Michelangelo invented a fresh vision of how the human form would be refashioned at the end of the world, and works created as part of his correspondence with his friends Tommaso de’ Cavalieri and the poet Vittoria Colonna. The latter include The Punishment of Tityus (about 1532) showing an eagle tearing out the liver of a bound naked man which was gifted to Tommaso as moral guidance for the young man. Other highlights include a group of drawings of Christ’s crucifixion which he made during the last 10 years of his life and through which he explored his feelings about mortality, sacrifice, faith, and the prospect of redemption. Runs until 28th July in the Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org/michelangelo.

Wassily Kandinsky, ‘Riding Couple’, 1906-1907, Lenbachhaus Munich, Donation of Gabriele Münter, 1957

• A new exhibition has opened celebrating the expressionists’ radical experimentations with form, colour, sound and performance at the Tate Modern. Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider features masterpieces from the Lenbachhaus in Munich and includes some works never previously seen in the UK. Among the artists whose work is on display are everyone from renowned artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc and Paul Klee, through to lesser known figures like Wladimir Burliuk and Maria Franck-Marc. Highlights include Marianne Werefkin’s Self-Portrait (c1910), Münter’s Listening (Portrait of Jawlensky) (1909), Erma Bossi’s Circus (1909), Kandinsky’s Impression III (Concert) (1911), Franz-Marc’s Deer in the Snow II (1911), Klee’s Legend of the Swamp (1919), and a selection of photographs from the Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art exhibition staged in Munich in 1910. Runs until 20th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see tate.org.uk.

• On Now – Dinosaur rEvolution. This exhibition at the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill highlights discoveries from recent decades which have changed the way we envisage dinosaurs – not all as scaly green reptiles but many with an array of colours, feathers, quills and spikes. At the centre of the display are five large animatronic dinosaur models – including a seven metre-long Tyrannosaurus rex – as well as well as artworks by artist and exhibition curator Luis V Rey. The exhibition also features fossil casts including the horned skull of a Diabloceratops, the claw of a Therizinosaurus, and skeletons of Velociraptor and Compsognathus – a chicken-sized, feathered dinosaur. Runs until 3rd November. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.horniman.ac.uk.

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This Week in London – Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the Wallace Collection; Anne Desmet’s Kaleidoscope/London and displaced Ukrainians at the Foundling Museum…

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August Schoefft, Maharaja Sher Singh (1807–1843) seated on his father’s golden throne
Lahore, Punjab or Delhi, c 1841–42 © Toor Collection 

• The remarkable life and legacy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), the founder of the Sikh Empire, is the subject of a new exhibition which opened at the Wallace Collection this week. Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King features historic objects from Ranjit Singh’s court, courtiers and family members, including those personally owned by the Maharaja and the most famous of his wives, Maharani Jind Kaur, as well as their son, Maharaja Duleep Singh. Highlights include a fine miniature painting of Ranjit Singh and his favourite, a Golden Throne made by Hafez Muhammad Multani, and a sword richly mounted in gold and gemstones which was thought to belong to the Maharajah. Runs until 20th October at the Manchester Square institution. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/events/ranjit-singh-sikh-warrior-king/.

• A “fresh perspective” on London can be seen in a new exhibition by multi-award-winning wood engraver Anne Desmet at the Guildhall Art Gallery. Inspired by looking at a fragmented view of the world through a toy kaleidoscope, Anne Desmet: Kaleidoscope/London features works created by the artist slicing into prints focused on London from her earlier wood-engravings, linocuts and hand-drawn lithographs to make a new series of digital collages. The display features 150 works including 41 London-themed kaleidoscopic prints created exclusively for this exhibition. Among highlights is a complex collage, Fires of London, created using 18 razor-clam shells to present a theme of the many historic fires of London over the last 1,500 years. Admission is ‘pay what you can’. There are an accompanying series of artist-led tours. Runs until 8th September. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/events/anne-desmet-kaleidoscopelondon-exhibition.

• Photographs depicting women and children forced to leave their Ukrainian homes following Russia’s invasion is on at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. Polly Braden: Leaving Ukraine features the work of photographer Polly Braden and includes first-hand photographs, personal films and recorded conversations. It focuses on four central stories – that of three school friends trying to forge new lives and continue their education; that of a young graduate making a fresh start as a lawyer in London; that of a mother whose baby was born shortly after a perilous escape from Kherson to Warsaw; and that of two friends and their children who fled to Moldova with help from a kickboxing club, now struggling to find work in Italy. Admission charges apply. Can be seen until 1st September. For more, see https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/polly-braden-leaving-ukraine/.

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This Week in London – Billingsgate Market history explored; new landscapes at Dulwich; and, recovered gems on show…

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• The history of Billingsgate Market in the City of London is being explored in am exhibition at the City of London Heritage Gallery. Billingsgate Market at the Heritage Gallery features items including the Liber Horn, a compilation of charters, statutes, and customs made by Andrew Horn, chamberlain of the City of London from 1320-1328, in 1311 which is illustrated by small images of fish showing their importance to Londoners, a late 17th century petition by the fishermen protesting the landing of vessels loaded with salt and oranges, 19th century volumes recording the collection of tolls and detailing the licensing of porters, and 20th century photographs of the market at work. Free to view, the display, located in the Guildhall Art Gallery, can be seen until 16th May. For more, see www.thecityofldn.com/billingsgateexhibition

Hurvin Anderson, ‘Limestone Wall’ (2020) © Hurvin Anderson. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Richard Ivey

• A major new exhibition featuring new interpretations of landscape art has opened at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Soulscapes features more than 30 contemporary works spanning painting, photography, film, tapestry and collage by artists such as Hurvin Anderson, Phoebe Boswell, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kimathi Donkor, Isaac Julien, Marcia Michael, Mónica de Miranda and Alberta Whittle. Highlights include Anderson’s Limestone Wall (2020), Akunyili’s Cassava Garden (2015) and Donkor’s Idyl series (2016-2020). Runs until 2nd June. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.

Blacas cameo depicting Augustus – Roman, AD 14–20 1867

• A selection of gems recovered after news that around 2,000 objects from the British Museum’s collections were missing, stolen or damaged go on show at the museum from today. Rediscovering gems explores the significance of classical gems – used as seals, worn as jewellery or collected as objects of beauty in the ancient world – and the impression they have left throughout history. The gems are displayed in a typical 18th century gem cabinet, along with a collector’s equipment, in reflection of the huge interest in classical gems during the period. The display can be seen in Room 3 until 15th June. Admission is free. For more, see britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/rediscovering-gems.

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This Week in London – Life in the Roman army explored; clockwork treasures from China; and, Kew Gardens’ Orchid Festival…

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• A major new exhibition on life as a Roman legionary opens at the British Museum today. Legion: Life in the Roman army shares stories of real legionaries and shows how the army was as much an “engine of social change” as it was a war machine. More than 200 objects, many of which are on display in the UK for the first time, are on show including the world’s only intact legionary shield, on loan from Yale (pictured), and the oldest and most complete classic Roman segmental body armour, found in Kalkriese, Germany, in 2018. There are also the remains of a soldier found at Herculaneum, reunited with his belt and equipment for the first time outside of Italy, as well as the Crosby Garrett mask helmet – found in Cumbria in 2010, and a unique dragon standard found in Germany. The exhibition, which can be seen in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery until 23rd June, also features a specially designed Horrible Histories themed trail of the exhibition with interactive family stations. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• More than 20 mechanical clocks collected by Chinese emperors are being displayed together for the first time in the UK in a new exhibition opening today at the Science Museum. Among those on display in Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City is the ‘Pagoda Zimingzhong’ which, was made in London in the 1700s during the Qing Dynasty in China, ‘Zimingzhong with Turbaned Figure’ which mixes imagery associated with China, Japan and India to present a generalised European view of an imagined East, and the ‘Zimingzhong with mechanical lotus flowers’, which, when wound, reveals a flock of miniature birds swimming on a glistening pond as potted lotus flowers open. Runs until 2nd June. Visitors are invited to pay what they can to visit the exhibition, with a minimum ticket cost of £1 per person. For more, see www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/zimingzhong.

• Kew Gardens’ Orchid Festival returns from this Saturday, this year drawing inspiration from the unique flora and fauna of Madagascar. The display features a specially commissioned film showcasing the beauty of Madagascar – the world’s fourth largest island – as well as themed floral displays and living installations in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The latter include ‘Lovers Baobab’ on the waterlily pond, floral sculptures recreating some of Madagascar’s most iconic wildlife, including ring-tailed lemurs, chameleons and the aye-aye, the world’s largest nocturnal primate, and a small selection of Madagascan orchids including Angraecum sesquipedale (also known as Darwin’s orchid). Visitors will also hear Malagasy music composed by the Boriza Borothers and be able to purchase food made according to a range of authentic Malagasy recipes, thanks to a menu curated by Malagasy chef Lilia Andrianovy of Lilia’s Kitchen. Orchids After Hours will also return for this year’s festival. Runs until 3rd March. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.kew.org.

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This Week in London – Impressionists on paper; Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant honoured with a Blue Plaque; new Burnham Beeches history app; and, young artists celebrated on London billboards…

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Claude Monet, ‘Cliffs at Etretat: The Needle Rock and Porte d’Aval’, c 1885. National Galleries of Scotland.

• A new exhibition exploring how Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists in late 19th-century France radically transformed the status of works on paper opens at the Royal Academy on Friday. Impressionists on Paper: Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec features around 80 works on paper by artists including Mary Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Eva Gonzalès, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Odilon Redon, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh. Among the highlights are Degas’ Woman at a Window (1870-71), van Gogh’s The Fortifications of Paris with Houses (1887), Monet’s Cliffs at Etretat: The Needle Rock and Porte d’Aval (c1885) and Toulouse-Lautrec’s images of the urban underworld of Montmartre. The display can be seen in The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries until 10th March. Admission charges apply. For more, see royalacademy.org.uk.

• English Heritage have unveiled their final Blue Plaque for 2023 and it celebrates two of the most influential painters of the early-to-mid 20th century, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. The plaque was unveiled at number 46 Gordon Square in Bloomsbury, from where the Bloomsbury Group – of which Bell and Grant were leading members – drew its name. Bell first lived at number 46 with her siblings, including Virginia Stephen (later Woolf), and, in 1914, Grant moved in with Vanessa and her husband, Clive Bell. Paintings the pair made at number 46 include Grant’s Interior at Gordon Square (c1915) and Bell’s Apples: 46 Gordon Square (c1909-10), a still-recognisable view from the drawing-room balcony to the square. For more on the English Heritage Blue Plaques scheme, head to www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

• The history of Burnham Beeches has been brought to life with a new augmented reality app. The app allows users to superimpose periods of Burnham Beeches’ history – from the Iron Age, Middle Ages and World War II – over what they see when visiting the site and incorporates sounds from selected era as well. It can be accessed via a QR code which is being published on signs at Burnham Beeches. Burnham Beeches, located near the village of Burnham in Buckinghamshire, was acquired by the City of London in 1880 when the area was threatened by development and is managed as a free open space. For more, head here.

• The work of 30 young artists celebrating African community and culture is being showcased on billboards across the city in conjunction with Tate Modern’s current exhibition, A World in Common. The photographs have been selected following a call from the Tate Collective for 16-to-25-year-olds to submit images responding to the exhibition. More than 100 entries were submitted by young people based across the UK and beyond and Londoners will be able to view the 30 shortlisted works on billboards in Haringey, Lambeth, Southwark and Tower Hamlets over the next two weeks.

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This Week in London – Hans Holbein at The Queen’s Gallery; ‘Crown and Coronation’ at the Tower; Christmas at Kew; and, Charles Dickens’ friendship with Wilkie Collins explored…

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Hans Holbein the Younger, 
Anne Boleyn (1532)/Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2023.

• The largest exhibition of the work of Tudor-era artist Hans Holbein the Younger has opened at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. Holbein at the Tudor Court features more than 50 works by Holbein including intimate portrait drawings of the royal family and the Tudor nobility including one of few surviving drawings of Anne Boleyn made during her lifetime, drawings of Jane Seymour and Sir Thomas More, and an unfinished portrait of King Henry VIII’s son Prince Edward. Other portraits include that of Derich Born, a 23-year-old Steelyard merchant, and one of Richard Southwell, a convicted murderer who was one of King Henry VIII’s closest advisors. The exhibition also features objects including a Brussels tapestry, jewel-like miniatures and Henry VIII’s magnificent armour, usually on show at Windsor and in London for the first time in a decade. Runs until 14th April. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/holbein-at-the-tudor-court/the-queens-gallery-buckingham-palace

The White Tower looking south-east, showing a coloured light projection of St Edward’s Crown, the crown used at the moment of Coronation. PICTURE: © His Majesty King Charles III 2023 -Royal Collection Trust – Historic Royal Palaces

• The magnificence of coronations and the Crown Jewels will be on show at the Tower of London from tomorrow night in a new light and sound show. Crown and Coronation – which has been created by Historic Royal Palaces in partnership with Luxmuralis as part of an artistic collaboration between artist Peter Walker and composer David Harper – brings the “spectacle, significance and shared experience” of coronations to life and demonstrates the pivotal role of the Crown Jewels in the ceremony as it takes visitors on a journey through the past 1,000 years. Images of the jewels will be projected on the White Tower in the show with visitors then able to view the actual jewels themselves in a special after hours opening. But you’ll have to be quick – the show can only be seen for nine days, ending on 25th November before it embarks on a two year UK-wide tour. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/.

The Palm House light show, part of Christmas at Kew. PICTURE: © Raymond Gubbay Ltd, Richard Haughton

• Christmas returned to Kew this week with the launch of it’s new festive light trail featuring seven new installations. Highlights of this year’s trail include three metre tall illuminated flowers, cascading lights suspended from the tree canopy, one of the longest light tunnels to ever feature in Kew’s Christmas celebrations and the Hive – which recreates life inside a beehive – as well as the iconic Palm House light show, the twinkling tunnel of light inspired by arched church windows known as the ‘Christmas Cathedral’, and a ‘Fire Garden’ at the Temperate House. There’s also festive treats to sample and visitors can experience a traditional Christmas dinner at The Botanical Brasserie. Admission charges applies. Runs until 7th January (advance bookings only). For more, see www.kew.org/christmas.

• Charles Dickens’ friendship and collaboration with writer Wilkie Collins is explored in a new exhibition at The Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury. Dickens met Collins, who would become one of his most significant friends, in 1851 as they performed together in a play at the house of John Forster and their personal and professional relationship lasted more than 15 years. The display features works produced as a result of the friendship – everything from articles in Dickens’s Household Words through to novellas and plays such as The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices and The Frozen Deep – and features original letters, historic objects, and interactive displays focusing on everything from the pair’s moustache-growing contests and cruising international entertainment districts to co-writing side by side, discussing writer’s block and plot devices. Admission is included with general admission. Runs until 25th February. For more, see https://dickensmuseum.com.

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This Week in London – 695th Lord Mayor’s Show; Peruvian and Andean culture at the British Museum; and, a ‘virtual heart’ at the Science Museum…

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The Lord Mayor’s Show in 2019. PICTURE: It’s No Game (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

• The 695th Lord Mayor’s Show – the oldest and longest civic procession in the world – will be held in the City of London this weekend. The three mile-long parade, which dates back to the 13th century, will feature Lord Mayor of London, Michael Mainelli (who will take office during the Silent Ceremony on Friday), who will process through the City streets to swear allegiance to the Crown in Westminster. Accompanying him will be a procession featuring some 7,000 people, 200 horses and around 150 floats and will include representatives of the City’s livery companies as well as military groups, bands and community organisations. The procession leaves from Mansion House at 11am and rolls down Poultry and Cheapside to St Paul’s Cathedral and then via Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street to the Royal Courts of Justice before returning, from 1:10pm, via Queen Victoria Street to Mansion House. For more, see https://lordmayorsshow.london.

• The first permanent display of Peruvian and Andean culture at the British Museum has opened in the Wellcome Trust Gallery. Part of the Living and Dying exhibition is divided into two sections – the first exploring the culture’s relationship with the sea and the second with the land. The displays includes digital elements as well as objects ranging from pottery and textiles to metalwork and conch shells. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• A “compelling, complex and beautiful” large-scale virtual model of a human heart has gone on display in the Science Museum in South Kensington. The model was created by bioengineer Dr Jazmín Aguado Sierra using scans of her own heart and functions just as her real heart does. The ‘Virtual Heart’ display, which is introduced by Dr Aguado Sierra, can be seen in the Engineers gallery, in a section which explores collaborations between clinicians, medical engineers and patients and showcases real-world health solutions. The display is free to see. For more, see sciencemuseum.org.uk/engineers.

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