• West Ham Park celebrates its 150th anniversary this weekend with a festival of music, food, sport, and other activities. On Saturday there will be a free, family-friendly festival with music – including appearances by Australian-born singer-songwriter Celina Sharma and singer-songwriter, Fiaa Hamilton, as well as a DJ set from Ellis – along with arts and crafts, a children’s fun fair and local food stalls. On Sunday, activities are based around the theme of ‘give it a go’ with visitors able try out various sports and health activities, including football, cricket, tennis, athletics, Tai Chi, and long-boarding. There will also be free taster sessions and opportunities to meet local sporting legends. An outdoor exhibition about the park’s history can be seen in Guildhall Yard in the City leading-up to the event after which it will be moved to Aldgate Square. West Ham Park is the largest green space in the London Borough of Newham and has been managed by the City of London Corporation since 1874. Activities on both days start at 12pm. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/westhampark150.
Museums
LondonLife – ‘Fern the Diplodicus’ takes up new post at the Natural History Museum…
‘Fern the Diplodicus’ has been unveiled at the Natural History Museum this morning, the latest addition to its transformed gardens which open to public on Thursday.
The bronze cast of the museum’s moved loved figure takes pride of place in the new Evolution Garden, which, along with the Nature Discovery Garden, sit within five acres of green space surrounding the South Kensington museum.
The Evolution Garden provides the opportunity to explore the 2.7 billion history of the planet and, as well as Fern, features a canyon clad in ancient Scottish stone, and a second dinosaur, Hypsiophodon.
The Nature Discovery Garden showcases different wildlife habitats in the UK’s urban spaces – complete with the frogs, newts, dragonflies and mandarin ducks that are already living there – and features a nw Nature Activity Centre which combines scientific facilities with a hub for school workshops and family activities.
For more, see www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/galleries-and-museum-map/our-gardens.html
This Week in London – ‘The Tudor World’ explored; ‘Crossing Borders’ at the Horniman; and, TfL deal at the Painted Hall…
• The oldest surviving rooms at Hampton Court Palace – the Wolsey Rooms which King Henry VIII and Thomas Wolsey once used – are the location of a new display opening today exploring the early years of Henry VIII’s reign and the lives of the ‘ordinary’ men and women who shaped the Tudor dynasty. The Tudor World has, at its centre, rare surviving paintings from the Royal Collection including The Embarkation of Dover – depicting the Tudor navy – and The Field of Cloth of Gold which details Henry VIII’s summit with King Francis I of France in 1520. Also on show is a gold ring believed to have belonged to the Boleyn family, a brightly coloured silk hat linked to King Henry VIII, Wolsey’s portable sundial, a wooden chest used to hide religious contraband by Catholic priests during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and, an original Tudor chain pump used to help empty the Hampton Court cesspool. Among the stories of “ordinary” Tudor people being shared is that of Anne Harris, Henry VIII’s personal laundry woman who washed the bandages for his leg ulcers and, Jacques Francis, a free-diver from West Africa who was involved in the expedition to salvage guns from the sunken Mary Rose and who later became one of the first Black African voices heard in an English court, when he was called to testify in a case concerning his employer, Paulo Corsi. Included in palace admission. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/.
• Crossing Borders, a day of free activities, performances and workshops run by local newly arrived people, will be held at the Horniman Museum Gardens in Forest Hill this Saturday. The day will feature arts and crafts workshops led by IRMO, dance performances by Miski Ayllu and the Honduran Folkloric Pride Group, the chance to learn circus skills with young people from Da’aro Youth Project and South London Refugee Association, and the opportunity to make kites with Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers. The free event runs from 11am to 4pm. For more, see https://www.horniman.ac.uk/event/crossing-borders/.
• Transport for London customers can save 30 per cent on entry to the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College when using the TfL network until 17th November. Simply show customers show your TfL journey on the day of your visit via the TfL Oyster and Contactless app and receive the discount, taking the adult entry price, when booked online to just £11.55. For bookings, head to https://londonblog.tfl.gov.uk/2022/07/27/in-the-city/.
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This Week in London – Trail-blazing women celebrated at the Tower; ‘The Judgement of Paris’ back on show; and, Barbie at the Design Museum…
• The lives of five little-known trail-blazing women are being celebrated at the Tower of London. The five women – who will take part in a guided procession through the grounds and features in staged performances and face-to-face interactions at the Tower this summer – include Winifred Maxwell, a fearless Jacobite who smuggled her husband out of the Tower the night before his execution and Katherine le Fevre, who served as the Master Smith of the Tower during the Hundred Year War with France. Also represented are Phillis Wheatley, an intellectual prodigy and enslaved woman hailing from West Africa who became the first African-American author of a published book of poetry; Catalina of Motril, a Granadan bedchamber attendant of Katherine of Aragon who was privy to her former mistress’ secrets; and, Leonora Cohen, Yorkshire-born Suffragette who smashed the case holding the Crown Jewels at the Tower with an iron bar – and kept campaigning until she was 105. The chance to meet the women is included in general admission until 1st September. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/.
• Peter Paul Rubens’ The Judgement of Paris has returned to public display after a 14 month restoration project. The project found that the painting, believed to date from 1632‒5 during the last decade of Ruben’s life, has been restored several times including a significant re-working of the composition sometime between 1676 and 1721. The new analysis reveals what changes were made by Rubens himself to the work – which arrived in Britain in 1792 and was acquired by the National Gallery in 1844 – and which were done after his death. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.
• A major exhibition on the creation and evolution of Barbie opens at the Design Museum on Friday. Barbie: The Exhibition, which coincides with the 65th anniversary of the Barbie brand, showcases the diversity of the Barbie range, as well as her friends (and, of course Ken) and looks at how Barbie’s homes, vehicles and other products have reflected the tastes and trends of day. Highlights include a rare first edition of the first doll released by Mattel in 1959 (‘Number 1 Barbie’), the ground-breaking ‘Day to Night Barbie’ from 1985 and the best-selling Barbie of all time, 1992’s ‘Totally Hair Barbie’, which sold more than 10 million across the globe. There are also examples of the first Black, Hispanic and Asian dolls to bear the Barbie name as well as the first Barbie with Down syndrome, the first to use a wheelchair, and the first to be designed with a curvy body shape. Runs until 23rd February. Admission change applies. For more, see https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/barbie-the-exhibition.
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This Week in London – Celebrating Tower Bridge’s 130th; Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Iris Murdoch honoured; modern art in Ukraine; and, Michael Rosen’ illustrators…
• Tower Bridge marks its 130th birthday this year and to mark the event, the London Metropolitan Archives are hosting a free exhibition charting its history at the City of London’s Heritage Gallery. Designed by Horace Jones, the bridge opened on 30th June, 1894, and the display reflects on the splendour of that royal event as well as examining how and why the bridge was built, the engineering involved and how the bridge played a role in defending London during World War I. The exhibition runs until 19th September at the gallery, located in the Guildhall Art Gallery. Booking tickets is recommended. For more, see https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/events/tower-bridge-at-the-heritage-gallery.
• Actor Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Dublin-born novelist Iris Murdoch have been honoured with English Heritage Blue Plaques. A leading figure in 20th century theatre, Dame Peggy has been remembered with a plaque on her childhood home in South Croydon. It was in what was then a “leafy market town” that at the age of 13 Peggy first dreamt of performing on the stage while standing outside the local grocers on George Street and to which she returned in 1962 to open a theatre named after her. The plaque honouring Murdoch, meanwhile, has been placed on 29 Cornwall Gardens, part of a Italianate stucco-fronted mid-Victorian terrace in Kensington where she occupied a top floor flat. Murdoch lived in London for more than 25 years and during that time would spend three days a week in the flat. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/
• The most comprehensive UK exhibition to date of modern art in Ukraine opens at the Royal Academy on Saturday. In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900–1930s, features some 65 works, many on loan from the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine. Artists represented in the display, which is divided into six sections, include such renowned names as Alexander Archipenko, Sonia Delaunay, Alexandra Exter and Kazymyr Malevych as well as lesser-known artists such as Mykhailo Boichuk, Oleksandr Bohomazov and Vasyl Yermilov. Runs in the The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries until 13th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.royalacademy.org.uk.
• The work of artists who have illustrated Michael Rosen’s many books for children are the subject of a new exhibition at the Heath Robinson Museum. Michael Rosen: The Illustrators explores Rosen’s books and the many artists who illustrated them over his 50 year career including the likes of Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury, Chris Riddell and Korky Paul. Among the works on show are original drawings for titles including We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book and Michael Rosen’s Book of Nonsense! Runs until 22nd September. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/.
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This Week in London – The lives of Henry’s wives; West End Live; and, ‘NAOMI’ at the V&A…
• The first major exhibition to focus on the six wives of King Henry VIII opens at the National Portrait Gallery today. The first historical exhibition at the gallery since its reopening, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens features more than 140 works and includes everything from 16th century portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger through to costumes from SIX the Musical. The display will examine representation of the queens in chronological order starting with Katherine of Aragon before moving on to Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Parr and Katherine Howard, and, as well as historic paintings, includes miniatures, drawings and some of the queen’s personal possessions such as letters and books. Highlights include a three-quarter length painted panel of Katherine Parr attributed to ‘Master John’, a portrait of Anne of Cleves by Edgar Degas and contemporary portraits by Hiroshi Sugimoto. Personal possessions on show include Katherine of Aragon’s writing box, Anne Boleyn’s inscribed Book of Hours with her signature deliberately erased, an illustrated Bible commissioned by Thomas Cromwell following the death of Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleve’s expense account book, a miniature portrait believed to be of Katherine Howard by Hans Holbein the Younger and a prayer book written by Katherine Howard. Admission charge applies. Runs until 8th September. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.
• West End Live takes place in Trafalgar Square this weekend with a line-up of more than 50 acts – from productions ranging from Disney’s Frozen to Mrs Doubtfire set to hit the stage. The unticketed free event, now in its ninth year, will also be streamed on Official London Theatre’s YouTube after the event. Gates will open at approximately 10.15am on Saturday and 11.15am on Sunday. Entry to all areas is managed on a first come, first served basis and queues are expected. Entry cannot be guaranteed. For more, head to the West End LIVE website.
• An exhibition exploring the 40 year career of leading British fashion model Naomi Campbell opens at the V&A on Saturday. NAOMI features around 100 looks from global high fashion and draws upon Campbell’s own extensive wardrobe of haute couture and leading ready-to-wear ensembles along with loans from designer archives and objects from V&A collection. Designers represented include everyone from Alexander McQueen, Chanel, and Dolce & Gabbana to Gianni and Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood and Yves Saint Laurent. The display also includes photography by Nick Knight, Steven Meisel and Tim Walker. Runs until 6th April, 2025. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.
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This Week in London – Degas and Miss La La; World Oceans Day in Greenwich; and life at the Old Royal Naval College captured…
‘Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando’ (1879) © The National Gallery, London
• Edgar Degas’ Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando (1879) takes centre stage in a new free exhibition at The National Gallery. Part of the free ‘Discover’ series of displays, Discover Degas & Miss La La takes a close look at the painting and reveals new information about the sitter, circus artist Miss La La, or Anna Albertine Olga Brown (1858‒1945). The display features new material, from rare, hitherto untraced drawings of her by Degas and entirely unpublished photographic portraits. In the Sunley Room until 1st September. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.
• Celebrate World Oceans Day this Saturday in Greenwich Park thanks to a collaborative event in which Royal Museums Greenwich are teaming up with Royal Parks. Visitors are invited to follow a self-guided trail across the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory Greenwich to discover a range of activities centred on UNESCO’s seven principles of ocean literacy, including the idea that the ocean makes Earth habitable. There will also be musical performances in the Greenwich Park Bandstand, a free bike mechanic and a talk on the Cutty Sark. For more on the day, head to www.rmg.co.uk/worldoceansday.
• Daily life at the Old Royal Naval College has been captured in a series of photographic images now on show at the Greenwich institution. A Year in the Life: People and places of the Old Royal Naval College features 12 images snapped by award-winning photographer Hugh Fox over the past 12 months and includes some portraits of staff show alongside short interviews. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own headphones to better experience the audio-visual display in the Ripley Tunnel. Free to attend, the display can be seen until 1st September. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/.
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This Week in London – Exploring Bushy Park’s D-Day history; lost and found umbrellas; and, British comics in the US…
• A new digital exhibition revealing the role Bushy Park played in planning D-Day has gone online ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day on 6th June. The exhibition, which is on the Royal Parks website and coincides with new interpretative material at the park itself, features previously unseen archive images of Camp Griffiss which once housed more than 3,000 service personnel. For more, see www.royalparks.org.uk/read-watch-listen/operation-bushy-park-plotting-d-day-royal-park
• Umbrellas lost on London’s trains, Tubes and buses have been transformed into
yōkai – a class of supernatural beings and entities that abound in Japanese folklore, literature, art and popular culture – in a new installation at the Young V&A. Lost and Found Yōkai, which features the sounds of supernatural Japan, celebrates Young V&A’s current exhibition, Japan: Myths to Manga and takes visitors on a journey through “Kasa-obake Alley”, where the umbrellas once lost, now dance with life. The installation can be experienced until 1st December which Myths to Manga runs until 8th September. For more, see vam.ac.uk/young.
• On Now: HEROES: The British invasion of American comics. This exhibition at how early American comics such as Buster Brown, Miss Fury and Superman influenced British artists and culture, and then explores how subsequent British comic creations, such as Watchmen and V For Vendetta, were then exported to the US. Highlights include British imitations of American comic strips dating from the 1940s; an exploration of the story behind the 1972 launch of Marvel UK; see rarely-seen full-colour early American comic newspaper pages by RF Outcault, Harold Foster and Alex Raymond; and artwork by key figures from the history of British and American comics, including works by Jack Kirby, Jack Davis and Tarpe Mills. Runs until 19th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.cartoonmuseum.org.
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This Week in London – RNLI’s first HQ commemorated; “weird and wonderful” birds; and, Princess Diana in photographs…
• The City of London has unveiled a new blue plaque commemorating the Royal National Lifeboat Institution which is this year marking its 200th anniversary. The plaque is on the Furniture Makers’ Hall in Austin Friars which is where the organisation has its first headquarters from 1824 to 1826. The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of London, Professor Michael Mainelli. The RNLI, which today operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland including four on the River Thames, was founded by Sir William Hillary in the City of London Tavern in Bishopsgate on 4th March, 1824, and early meetings were held at various addresses until it moved into 12 Austin Friars. Meanwhile, ‘Ian Visits’ reports that a new plaque has also been installed at Limehouse Basin to commemorate Lifbåt 416 which was built there by Forrestt & Son’s boatyard in 1868 and sent as a gift to the King of Sweden, Karl XV. The Lifbåt 416, which has been restored, returned to Limehouse Basin this week after attending RNLI commemorations in Poole, Dorset (where it was the oldest lifeboat to take part in a mile-long flotilla).
• The “weird and wonderful” ways birds have adapted to survive are celebrated in a new exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre, which opens at the South Kensington institution on Friday, has been created in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and features installations and hands-on exhibits which allow visitors to feel how fast a hummingbird’s heart beats when in flight, smell the strange oil one bird uses to protect its eggs and listen to the sound of a dawn chorus of birds in the year 2050. Objects on show include the ‘Wonderchicken’ – the oldest known fossil of a modern bird, a replica of a stork that flew across the world from the African continent with a spear lodged in its neck, and a headdress of the ‘Hargila army’ (pictured), a group of women in the Indian state of Assam who work to protect one of the world’s rarest storks. Admission charge applies. Runs until 5th January. For more, see www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/birds-brilliant-bizarre.html.
• A walk-through photographic exhibition featuring some of the most iconic photos of Princess Diana opens on Saturday. Princess Diana: Accredited Access features 75 life-sized photographs by her official royal photographer, Anwar Hussein, and his two sons – Samir and Zak – which include behind the scenes access. The exhibition at the Dockside Vaults, St Katharine Docks, runs until 2nd September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.princessdianaexhibit.com.
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This Week in London – Royal portraits; Sir Elton’s photographic collection revealed; and, women artists…
• Royal portrait photography, from the 1920s through to today, is the subject of a new exhibition opening at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace on Friday. Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography features more than 50 photographic prints, proofs and documents from the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives. Among the royal photographers whose work is on show are everyone from Cecil Beaton and Dorothy Wilding to Annie Lebovitz and Rankin as well as Lord Snowdon (born Antony Armstrong-Jones). Highlights include Beaton’s 1939 shoot featuring Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, in Buckingham Palace Gardens dressed in her “White Wardrobe” by Norman Hartnell, and his original coronation portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. Admission charge applies. Runs until 6th October. For more, head here.
• More than 300 prints from the private photographic collection of Sir Elton John and David Furnish got on display at the V&A from Saturday. Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection will showcase the work of more than 140 photographers and the V&A’s largest temporary exhibition of photography to date. Photographers include everyone from Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, and William Eggleston to Diane Arbus, Sally Mann, Zanele Muholi, Ai Weiwei and Carrie Mae Weems and the subjects explored include fashion, reportage, celebrity, the male body, and American photography. Portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Miles Davis, and Chet Baker are among the highlights. Runs until 5th January in The Sainsbury Gallery. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.
• An exhibition focusing on the path women have taken to being recognised as professional artists opens today at Tate Britain. Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 features more than 200 works, including oil painting, watercolour, pastel, sculpture, photography and ‘needlepainting’, created by more than 100 artists including Artemisia Gentileschi, Angelica Kauffman, Julia Margaret Cameron and Gwen John. Highlights include Tudor miniatures by Levina Teerlinc, Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders (1638-40), the work of 18th century needlewoman Mary Linwood, Elizabeth Butler (née Thompson)’sThe Roll Call (1874), and, the work of Laura Knight and Ethel Walker, who, on the 120th century achieved critical acclaim and membership of the Royal Academy. Runs until 13th October. Admission charge applies. Head to tate.org.uk.
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This Week in London – Victorian London captured; and, contemporary art at the British Museum…
• 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
• 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…
• 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.
• 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 – Caravaggio’s last painting; Hampton Court’s Tulip Festival; and, ‘Beyond the Bassline’….
• Caravaggio’s last painting – the 1610 work known as The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula – has gone on display in the UK for the first time in almost 20 years. The National Gallery is displaying the work – lent by the Intesa Sanpaolo Collection (Gallerie d’Italia – Naples) – alongside another late work by the Italian artist from the gallery own collection – Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist (about 1609–10). The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, which features a self-portrait of the artist, was only reattributed to Caravaggio in 1980 following the discovery of an archival letter describing its commission. The letter – which is being displayed along with the painting – was sent from Naples, where Caravaggio created the work, to Genoa, where his patron, Marcantonio Doria, lived. Caravaggio died in Porto Ercole on 18th July, 1610, less than two months after finishing the work. He was attempting to return to Rome where he believed he would be pardoned for a 1606 murder at the time. Admission to the display is free. Runs until 21st July. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.
• Hampton Court Palace’s Tulip Festival is on again. Displays include thousands of tulips spilling from a Victorian horse cart in the heart of the palace courtyards, giving the appearance of a Dutch flower seller’s cart, ‘floating’ bowls in the Great Fountain, free-style plantings in the kitchen gardens and more than 10,000 tulips in a display in Fountain Court. There are also daily ‘Tulip Talks’ sharing the history of the flower and Queen Mary II, who was responsible for introducing them to Hampton Court. Runs until 6th May (including in palace admission). For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/tulip-festival/.
• Five hundred years of Black British music is being celebrated in a new exhibition at the British Library. Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music features soundscapes, artworks and films along with costumes, interactive displays, and of course, music. Highlights among the more than 200 exhibits include letters from 18th-century composer Ignatius Sancho, records by likes of Fela Kuti and Shirley Bassey, a nostalgic video archive of grime’s golden era captured on Risky Roadz DVD, and the equipment that Jamal Edwards used to start SB.TV, theYouTube channel dedicated to Black British music. The display concludes with a multi-screen film installation by South London-based musical movement and curatorial platform Touching Bass. Admission charge applies (with Pay What You Can days on the first Wednesday of each month). Runs until 26th August. For more, see https://beyondthebassline.seetickets.com/timeslots/filter/beyond-the-bassline.
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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…
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 – Buckingham Palace to open East Wing; ‘Now Play This’ marks 10 years; Vaisakhi at Trafalgar Square; and, the warden’s private apartments opened at Walmer…
• The East Wing of Buckingham Palace – including the room off which the famous central balcony sits – is being opened to the public for the first time this year as part of the annual summer opening. Tours will take visitors to locations including the Principal Corridor, where paintings by artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Thomas Lawrence and Franz Xaver Winterhalter are on display, as well as the Yellow Drawing Room, decorated with recently restored Chinese hand-painted wallpaper from the 18th century, where visitors will see two hexagonal, nine-tiered Chinese porcelain pagodas and the Kylin Clock. They’ll also see the Centre Room, which leads on to the balcony, where highlights include a newly restored glass chandelier shaped to resemble a lotus flower, and two Chinese 18th-century imperial silk wall hangings, presented to Queen Victoria by Guangxu, Emperor of China, for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. A limited number of tours will run daily from 15th July and through August. Tours must be booked in addition to standard entry. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.rct.uk/event/the-state-rooms-and-east-wing-highlights-tour-07-2024.
• Now Play This, London’s festival of innovative and experimental games marks its 10th anniversary as part of the city-wide London Games Festival from Saturday. The eight day event at Somerset House, this year running under the theme of ‘Liminal: Playing Between Worlds’, features games including Atuel (Matajuegos) which involves shapeshifting into animals within Argentina’s Atuel River Valley ecosystem and Proteus (Ed Key & David Kanaga) in which players explore unknown fantasy worlds as well as daytime events such as GOLF, a build-your-own mini-golf course, and evening events such as the Boring office party, a twist on the classic murder mystery. Admission charges apply. Runs until 14th April. For more, see https://nowplaythis.net.
• Trafalgar Square will host celebrations for the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi this Saturday. From noon until 6pm, the celebration of Sikh and Punjabi culture and heritage will be co-hosted by DJ and presenter Tommy Sandhu and entrepreneur, disability specialist and speaker Shani Dhanda. Events include Kirtan performances, demonstrations of Gatka, a Sikh martial art and talks by expert chefs as well as turban tying, film screenings, sports with the Sikh Games, and Sikh artists displaying their work. There’s also a children’s marquee with free activities from Kiddie Sangat and free vegetarian treats and traditional Indian tea will be available over the course of the afternoon. For more, see www.london.gov.uk/vaisakhi.
Walmer Castle in Kent. PICTURE: Ben Garratt/Unsplash
• Further Afield: The Lord Warden’s private apartment has opened to the public for the first time at Walmer Castle, the seaside retreat of the late Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, in Kent. The private apartment is given to the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, a position the Queen Mother held between 1978 and 2002. Visitors are able to tour a selection of rooms in the apartment, including the sitting, dining and master bedroom, which were used by The Queen Mother, Lord Boyce and other 20th century Lord Wardens and their families. Among the private items on show are family photos of the Boyce family and artwork, including a selection of paintings from a private and much-treasured collection belonging to Sir Robert Menzies and which depict places connected with his political career, including his time as Prime Minister of Australia. The post of warden is currently vacant following the death of Lord Boyce in 2022. Some rooms in the castle are currently closed to allow for a major conservation project to take place, however visitors can still see Wellington’s bedroom and the famous Wellington boots. Admission charges apply. For more, see https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/walmer.
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This Week in London – A Greenwich chocolate house recreated; Bridgerton wig debuts at Kew; and, climate tech at the Science Museum…
• Happy Easter to all our readers! We’ll be taking a break over the next few days with our usual coverage returning next Tuesday.
• Experience a recreation of Grace and Thomas Tosier’s famous ‘royal’ Chocolate House in Greenwich this Easter. Located in the Old Royal Naval College, Chocolate House Greenwich recreates the Tosier Chocolate House which was located in what became known as Chocolate Row, on the edge of Blackheath. A social space for the leading figures of the day, the chocolate house was run by Grace while her husband Thomas served as chocolate maker for King George I, running the chocolate kitchen at Hampton Court Palace. Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the chocolate house via an audio and visual experience created by Unusual Expo and actor-writer Jonathan Coote. As well as meeting Grace, there is also the chance to listen in to luminaries such as architect and astronomer Sir Christopher Wren, writer and diarist John Evelyn, the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, and playwright and architect John Vanbrugh. A series of events will accompany the exhibition – which opens tomorrow – including an Easter Trail for families, a gin and chocolate tasting experience and a ‘Choc-o-Late’ event. Admission charge applies. Runs until 3rd November. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/chocolate-house-greenwich/.
• A wig worn by Golda Rosheuvel in Netflix’s hit series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story goes on display at Kew Palace from the end of this month. The grey wig with accompanying tiara will be showcased in Queen Charlotte’s dressing room, alongside a lock of the real Queen Charlotte’s hair. Visitors will also be able to join daily 30 minute Queen Charlotte: A Kew Palace story tours, walking in the footsteps of famous royals like King George III and Queen Charlotte. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.hrp.org.uk/kew-palace/.
• A major new gallery examining the rapid energy transition and decarbonisation needed globally to limit climate change has opened at the Science Museum. The Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery is divided into three sections – Future Planet, Future Energy and Our Future – and highlights technologies and projects being used to address the climate crisis. Objects on show include a seven metre long tidal turbine blade made by Orbital Marine Power which was used in the Orkneys, rare surviving Edison tube mains cables used to power world’s first public electricity network in London in 1882, and a three metre high CoolAnt passive air-cooling facade from India that reduces dependence on powered air conditioning. At the centre of the gallery sits Only Breath, a kinetic sculpture created by artists Alexandra Carr and Colin Rennie from Torus Torus Studios that moves and blooms, stretching to around five metres in diameter when unfurled. The gallery can be found on Level 2 of the South Kensington museum. Admission is free. For more, see sciencemuseum.org.uk/energy-revolution.
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This Week in London – Hampton Court’s bunny hunt returns; vintage prints at the National Portrait Gallery; and, ‘Sounds of Blossom’ at Kew…
• The Lindt Gold Bunny hunt returns to Hampton Court Palace this Saturday with families once again invited to search the gardens for those elusive Gold Bunny statues. Each statue offers a chance to match the names of influential characters from Hampton Court Palace’s history to the distinctive red ribbons and a small Lindt bunny chocolate awaits those who succeed in finding the bunnies. Visitors will also have the chance to encounter a selection of the characters roaming the palace over the Easter period. The Gold Bunny hunt is included in general admission. Until 14th March. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/easter-lindt-gold-bunny-hunt/.
• Rare vintage prints by two of art history’s most influential photographers – Francesca Woodman (1958-1981) and Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) – go on show at the National Portrait Gallery today. Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In showcases more than 160 rare vintage prints including 97 by Woodman and 71 by Cameron as well as artist’s books by Woodman which have never been exhibited before in the UK. Key works include Cameron’s self-declared “first success” – a portrait of Annie Wilhemina Philpot taken in 1864, Woodman’s Self-portrait at thirteen, taken during a summer holiday in Italy in 1972, images from Woodman’s Angel series and Cameron’s ethereal portraits of actor Ellen Terry taken in 1864. Also featured are Woodman’s Caryatid pieces and Cameron’s portraits of her niece and favorite model Julia Jackson, Alice Liddell as the goddess Pomona, a portrait of John Frederick William Herschel called The Astronomer (1867), and those of her frequent muses, May Prinsep and Mary Ann Hillier. Runs until 16th June. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.
• A new collaboration with the Royal College of Music blends music with spring blooms at Kew Gardens. Sounds of Blossom: Awaken your senses, the first ever spring festival to be held at the gardens, features six bespoke commissions that celebrate Kew’s unique landscape in the spring emerging from locations such as Cherry Walk, Asano Avenue and the Japanese Landscape. And on weekends during the festival, visitors can enjoy live musical performances from the Royal College of Music as they showcase a varied repertoire from classical favourites to jazz melodies. Included in general admission. Runs until 14th April. For more, see www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/sounds-of-blossom.
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This Week in London – “Forgotten” stories from royal palaces; and, St Patrick’s Day celebrations…
• The “forgotten” stories of those who worked behind the scenes at London’s royal palaces are the subject of a new exhibition at Kensington Palace. Untold Lives: A Palace at Work shines a spotlight on those working in various roles at the palace between 1660 and 1830 – everyone from pages and cooks to wetnurses and seamstresses. Among the items on display is an apron worn by Queen Charlotte’s Wardrobe Maid, Ann Elizabeth Thielcke, a newly conserved portrait depicting a young Black attendant standing by King William III and holding his armour, and a specially commissioned photographic piece by Peter Braithwaite which reimagines figures from the Kensington Palace’s Kings Staircase. Among those whose stories are featured is the “Rat-Killer”, who wore a special rat-embroidered uniform, the Groom of the Stool, who was responsible for looking after the monarch on the toilet, and the Keeper of Ice and Snow, whose job was to cut ice so those at the palace could enjoy cold drinks and iced desserts all year round. The exhibition also explores the unexpected origins of some of those who served at the palaces, such as Abdullah, a wild cat keeper from India, and Mehmet von Könsigstreu, Keeper of the Privy Purse for King George I.. The exhibition, entry to which is included in general admission to the palace, can be seen until 27th October. For more, see https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/.
• St Patrick’s Day is being celebrated this Sunday with the annual parade and a free, family-friendly afternoon of entertainment in Trafalgar Square. The procession, which sets off from Hyde Park Corner at noon and winds its way through the city to Whitehall, will include Irish marching bands, dance troupes and pageantry. From 1pm to 6pm, Trafalgar Square will host family concerts, children’s films and youth performances, as well community choirs, schools and dancing with Anna Haugh, International Chef of the Year 2019, running food demos alongside the main stage and children’s workshops. Entry is free. For more, see www.london.gov.uk/events/st-patricks-day-2024.
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This Week in London – Underground shelters in wartime – then and now; new Ravenmaster at the Tower; and, ‘La Ghirlandata’ back at the Guildhall Art Gallery…
• A new photographic exhibition exploring how Underground stations and metro systems provide shelter to citizens during periods of war, both now and in the past, opened at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden last week. Echoes of the Blitz: Underground shelters in Ukraine and London features 70 images, including historical pictures from the museum’s collection as well as 38 contemporary photographs shot by six renowned, mainly Ukrainian, documentary photographers. The latter include photography showing ordinary Ukrainian citizens sleeping, waiting, cooking, washing clothes, caring for their pets and creating temporary make-shift homes in metro stations of Kyiv and and Kharkiv show alongside black and white archive images of Londoners taking refuge in Tube stations during World War II. The exhibition, which is being run in partnership with Berlin-based journalistic network n-ost, can be seen until spring next year. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk.
• A new Ravenmaster has been appointed at the Tower of London. Yeoman Warder Michael ‘Barney’ Chandler took up the role at the start of this month, 15 years after he first became a Yeoman Warder at the Tower. The Ravenmaster oversees a team of four responsible for the care of the Tower’s seven ravens which legend says must remain at the Tower to ensure its protection. The legend apparently goes back to at least the reign of King Charles II – when the King’s astronomer John Flamsteed complained that the resident ravens were impeding his work at the Tower and requested their removal, the King was told that if the ravens left the Tower then the Kingdom would fall (and so they remained). While the Yeoman Warders have longed cared for the ravens, the post of Ravenmaster was only created in the past 50 years and was first held by Yeoman Warder Jack Wilmington. Yeoman Warder Chandler, who became the 387th Yeoman Warder at the Tower when he was appointed in March, 2009, is only the sixth person to hold the office. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/.
• One of the most popular paintings at the Guildhall Art Gallery is being reinstalled to mark International Women’s Day on Friday. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s La Ghirlandata has been on loan – first to the Tate Britain and then to the Delaware Art Museum in the US – but is now being returned. The painting dates from 1873 and depicts a ‘garlanded woman’ playing an arpanetta and looking directly at the viewer. The muse for the woman is said to have been the actor and model, Alexa Wilding, while the two ‘angels’ in the top corners were posed by William and Jane Morris’ youngest daughter, May Morris. The City of London Corporation acquired the oil on canvas work in 1927. On Saturday, free family activities will be held at the gallery to mark the work’s return. For more, see www.thecityofldn.com/la-ghirlandata.
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Treasures of London – Long John Silver Figurehead Collection…
Said to be the largest collection of Merchant Navy ship figureheads in the world, the figurehead collection was that of Sydney Cumbers, nicknamed “Long John Silver” due to the eye-patch he wore after a childhood accident.
A successful businessman, Cumbers built up a significant collection of more than 100 figureheads – carved wooden figures which decorated the prows of sailing ships, which he and his wife – The Mate – kept along with a larger collection of maritime memorabilia at their residence in Kent nicknamed ‘The Look-Out’ (which features rooms named after parts of a ship).
In 1953, he donated the collection to the Cutty Sark a restoration of which had recently been completed so it could be opened to the public.
The figureheads, which are made from a variety of woods including oak and teak, date mostly from the 19th century. They depict a range of characters, some anonymous, and others taken from history and myth.
The latter include everyone from Sir Lancelot, the classical warrior Thermopylae and Hiawatha to Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale and William Wilberforce. Others feature political figures such as Benjamin Disraeli, William Pitt and William Gladstone.
The collection is dedicated to the merchant seamen of Great Britain and the flotilla of small ships that rescued the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in 1940.
Exploring London 