Beatrix Potter

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

by exploringlondon
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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LondonLife – Lost Beatrix Potter story found in V&A…

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V&A10A new tale written by Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter will be published last this year following its discovery in the Potter archives at the Victoria & Albert Museum (pictured above).

The Tale of Kitty-In-Boots, which apparently tells the story of a black cat that leads a double life, was found two years ago by Penguin Random House Children’s publisher Jo Hanks. Its publication forms part of the celebrations surrounding the 150th anniversary of Ms Potter’s birth.

The story, which Ms Hanks unearthed in three separate manuscripts in the archive, was sent to Ms Potter’s publisher in 1914 and Ms Hanks told the BBC that Ms Potter had “fully intended” to publish it but, thanks to interruptions including World War I, her marriage and illness, she never went back to it.

Ms Hanks told the BBC that “the tale really is the best of Beatrix Potter”.

“It has double identities, colourful villains and a number of favourite characters from other tales. And, most excitingly, our treasured, mischievous Peter Rabbit makes an appearance – albeit older, slower and portlier!”

Artist Quentin Blake has been asked to illustrate the new book.

The V&A holds the world’s largest collection of Beatrix Potter’s drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and related materials.  For more, see www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/beatrix-potter-collections/.

This Week in London – Woolly mammoths star at the NHM; the Ceremony of the Constable’s Dues; mummies at the British Museum; and, Rupert Potter’s photographs…

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• The most complete woolly mammoth ever found is the star attraction at a new exhibition opening at the Natural History Museum tomorrow. Lyuba – a one month old mammoth – was found by a reindeer herder in Siberia in 2007 and was named after the reindeer herder’s wife. Thought to be 42,000-years-old, the young mammoth was thought to be healthy when it died and still has remnants of its mother’s milk in its stomach. It is the first time the mammoth – normally housed at the Shemanovsky Museum-Exhibition Complex in Salekhard, Russia, is being shown in Western Europe. Mammoths: Ice Age Giants will also feature life-sized models and skeletons of mammoths. Runs until 7th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nhm.ac.uk.

• The German naval ship FGS Niedersachsen will take part in the Ceremony of the Constable’s Dues at the Tower of London tomorrow, having saluted the Tower with a gun salute yesterday – the first time a gun salute has taken place in honour of the ceremony in 40 years. The ceremony dates back to the 24th century and while past offerings have included barrels of rum, oysters, cockles and mussels, this year the Tower’s constable, General the Lord Dannatt, will be presented with a barrel of wine. The ceremony will see the ship’s Commander Kurt Leonards led his crew to the Tower’s West Gate where they will be challenged by the axe wielding Yeoman Gaoler before marching on to Tower Green to “present the dues” or deliver the wine, to the Constable. The ceremony takes place at noon. For more on the Tower, see www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/.

• A new exhibition about ancient lives in Egypt and Sudan has kicks off at the British Museum today. Ancient lives, new discoveries will reveal new research about one of the museum’s most popular collections – that of ancient Egyptian and Sudanese mummies – and uses state-of-the-art technology to take you inside the mummy cases and bring you face-to-face with eight people who lived in the Nile Valley thousands of years ago. The selected mummies come from a period spanning 4,000 years, from the Predynastic period to the Christian era, and come from sites in both Egypt and Sudan. They include an adult male from Thebes mummified about 600 BC and a female singer called Tamut who lived in Thebes around 900 BC. The museum received its first mummy in 1756 and hasn’t unwrapped any of them relying on increasingly advanced technologies to see inside. The exhibition runs until 30th November. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• On Now – The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix, Millais and Friends. The amateur photography of Rupert Potter, father of children’s author Beatrix Potter, is on show in his exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The display features selected works from the gallery’s extensive collection of his works including two new acquisitions which show Beatrix Potter on holidays both before and after her publishing success. Other photos depict the sitters and paintings of artist Sir John Everett Millais, who was a friend of Rupert Potter’s. The free exhibition runs until 16th November in Room 28. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

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