Archaeologists were excavating the former St Pancras Old Church burial ground ahead of the expansion of St Pancras Railway Station to accommodate the Eurostar in 2003 when they came across a rather unusual coffin.
London
This Week in London – One of the world’s most valuable watches at Science Museum; medieval silk bag (with a story) goes on show at Westminster Abbey; and, new electric bus display at London Transport Museum…
© The Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem
• One of the world’s most valuable watches – the No 160 watch which Abraham-Louis Breguet designed for Marie Antoinette but which wasn’t completed until the 1820s, well after her death – is the star of the show at the Science Museum’s new exhibition Versailles: Science and Splendour. Opening today, the exhibition, created in partnership with the Palace of Versailles, takes visitors on “a 120-year journey through the evolution of science at Versailles” and explores how Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI encouraged the pursuit of scientific knowledge and harnessed that knowledge as a tool of power. More than 100 objects are on display and, along with Breguet’s watch, they include Louis XV’s rhinoceros, a detailed map of the moon by Jean-Dominique Cassini, and Claude-Siméon Passemant’s Clock of the Creation of the World (1754). The watch, meanwhile, has its own fascinating history, including two decades in which its whereabouts were unknown after it was stolen in 1983 (in fact, its display in this exhibition marks the first time the timepiece has travelled abroad since its safe return to the LA Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in 2008). Runs until 21st April. Admission charge applies. For more, see sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/versailles.
• A medieval silk seal bag, which dates from the reign of King Henry III, has gone on public display for the first time in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey. The display follows the discovery by scholars that the bag’s material is a perfect match to the silk cloth used to wrap the remains of the Emperor Charlemagne when he was buried in Germany’s Aachen Cathedral (Charlemagne, seen as the first Holy Roman Emperor, died in 814 but was re-buried in the karlsschrein (Charles’s shrine) at Aachen in 1215). The bag at the abbey contains a wax seal, the Great Seal of King Henry III, which was attached to an inventory of the jewels and precious items on Edward the Confessor’s shrine located in the heart of the abbey. It was drawn up in 1267 when Henry III was in financial difficulties and forced to pawn items from the shrine to Italian merchants to raise funds (it is believed the items were all returned within 18 months). The silk used for Charlemagne’s shroud is believed to have been spun in the 12th century in Spain or the eastern Mediterranean and, while the small piece at the Abbey originates from a separate silk, it is understood that it would have been produced by the same weavers on the same loom. The bag can been seen until Easter next year. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/plan-your-visit/the-queens-diamond-jubilee-galleries/.
• A new interactive electric bus display has opened at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. The Wrightbus Electroliner display – which has been provided by Transport UK London Bus – is based on an electric vehicle bus type which has been part of the fleet of buses operating in London since 2023. The new display features the front of the bus and includes an interactive driver cab and passenger space. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk.
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10 London mysteries – 4. How did King Henry VI die?
The Tower of London is known for many mysteries – the most famous, perhaps, being the fate of the two ‘Princes in the Tower’. But among the other mysterious deaths which took place behind the closed doors of the fortress is the death of the deposed King Henry VI.
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This Week in London – ‘Electric Dreams’ at Tate Modern; The Reflection Room; and, last chance to get NYE tickets…
“Arte Virtual”, Metro Opera, Madrid, Spain, 1994 (detail). ZKM Karlsruhe. © Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss
• Early innovators of optical, kinetic, programmed and digital art are being celebrated in a new exhibition which opens today at Tate Modern. Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet features the work of more than 70 artists who worked between the 1950s and the dawn of the internet age and “who took inspiration from science to create art that expands and tests the senses”. Works on show include Electric Dress (1957) by Japanese artist Atsuko Tanaka of the Gutai group which is being shown alongside her circuit-like drawings, German artist Otto Piene’s Light Room (Jena) which surrounds viewers in a continuous light ‘ballet’, British-Canadian Brion Gysin’s homemade mechanical device, Dreamachine no.9 (1960-76) which creates kaleidoscopic patterns, and Tatsuo Miyajima’s eight-metre-long wall installation of flashing LED lights, Lattice B (1990), which is a meditation on time. A series of rooms, meanwhile, explores the art shows which played a key role in the development of digital art including London’s groundbreaking ‘Cybernetic Serendipity’ exhibition held at the ICA in 1968, and the exhibition also features the work of early adopters including US artist Rebecca Allen and Palestinian Samia Halaby as well as some of the earliest artistic experiments in virtual reality such as Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss’ interactive installation Liquid Views (1992). Runs until 1st June. Admission charge applies. For more, see tate.org.uk.
• The Museum of London Docklands is launching The Reflection Room, a new display space for artists on Friday. The new space, which the museum says will offer “room to explore a range of ideas and perspectives that foreground emotions and human experiences connected to London’s history”, will open with British-Caribbean artist Zak Ové’s mixed media installation Exodus. The installation, which is said to suggest a “reflection on today’s discourse around migration” will be accompanied by a wall of historic maps that present a visual sense of data on international migration, agricultural trade, and tourism between 1500 and 2005. Exodus can be seen until May. Admission is free. For more, see www.londonmuseum.org.uk/docklands/.
• The final tranche of tickets for London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display go on sale on Monday, 2nd December, at noon. Tickets must be bought in advance to attend and cost between £20 and £50 depending on the viewing area while Londoners will pay £15 less on each ticket booked than those living outside of the capital. Tickets will be available at www.ticketmaster.co.uk. For more on the event, see www.london.gov.uk/nye.
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10 London mysteries – 2. Who was Jimmy Garlick?
This week we look at a mysterious mummified figure who was “discovered” in the vaults beneath the floor of St James Garlickhythe in the 1850s.
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LondonLife – The ’12 Animals of Christmas’…
London Zoo is celebrating the festive season with the ’12 Animals of Christmas’, a series of seasonally-based talks in which zookeepers discuss some of the zoo’s most iconic species and the animals partake of some Christmas cheer with an enrichment activity in which the animals can enjoy their very own Christmas food. The talks of just one part of ‘The Magic at Christmas at London Zoo’ experience which runs until 5th January. Visitors during that period also have the chance to meet Santa in a grotto experience at the heart of the zoo or upgrade to engage in a “deluxe session” with Mrs Claus which includes preparing treats for the animals and take a tour of the zoo, or join her in a special VIP breakfast. Santa can also be found popping up at different locations around the zoo to feed the animals and there’s a Winter Village Post Room where children can write their letters to Father Christmas. Other activities include a ‘Reindeer Rubbish Round Up’ recycling challenge, a Christmas craft station and even the chance to have a Christmas sleepover at the London Zoo Lodges. For more, see www.londonzoo.org/plan-your-visit/events/magic-of-christmas.
London pub signs – The Betjeman Arms…
This St Pancras pub – located inside St Pancras International Station itself – bears the name of poet, writer, broadcaster and activist Sir John Betjeman.
Betjeman, who was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984, did have a particular connection to this location: he helped save the George Gilbert Scott-designed station from demolition in the 1960s with the station eventually awarded Grade I listed status in 1967.
The campaign to save St Pancras was just one of the many to save historic buildings that Betjeman was involved in, although not all were successful.
Betjeman is also remembered in a larger-than-life statue of the man which is located on the station concourse. Martin Jennings’ bronze statue depicts the poet and stands on a slate roundel featuring a selection of his writings.
The pub, which features a Betjeman ale, is now part of the Young’s group. For more, head to www.thebetjemanarms.co.uk/.
This Week in London – Photographing the 80s; Tirzah Garwood at Dulwich; and, Mars comes to Greenwich…
• The largest survey of the development of photography in Britain across the 1980s to date goes on show at the Tate Britain today. The 80s: Photographing Britain draws on almost 350 images and archive materials from the period to explore how photographers responded to the “seismic social, political, and economic shifts around them” during the decade. It features the work of more than 70 lens-based artists and collectives and features images taken from across the UK – from John Davies’ post-industrial Welsh landscape to Tish Murtha’s portraits of youth unemployment in Newcastle and Don McCullin’s portraits of London’s disappearing East End. Along with documentary photography capturing key political events such as John Harris and Brenda Prince’s images of the miners’ strikes and
Syd Shelton and Paul Trevor’s images of anti-racism demonstrations, the exhibition also includes
a series of thematic displays, featuring works such as Roy Mehta and Vanley Burke images of their multicultural communities, which explore how photography became a compelling tool for representation. Other subjects covered include countercultural movements that took place in the 80s and the presence and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community during the period of the AIDS epidemic. Runs until 5th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.
• The first major exhibition devoted to the British artist and designer Tirzah Garwood has opened at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious comes 10 years after the critically acclaimed show celebrating the work of Eric Ravilious, husband of Garwood who was a celebrated artist and printmaker in her own right. More than 80 of Garwood’s work are on show including most of her existing oil paintings. Along with Garwood’s works – which include everything from woodgravings to a series of experimental marbled papers and collaged paper portraits – are 10 watercolours by her husband which draw out the couple’s “thematic similarities, shared interests and distinct artistic personalities”. Runs until 26th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.
• Luke Jerram’s massive travelling installation Mars is unveiled at the Painted Hall in Greenwich this Saturday. Measuring seven metres in diameter and internally lit, the work features detailed NASA imagery of the Martian surface, recreated to scale (but about a million times smaller than the actual planet). The installation, which follows on from Jerram’s earlier artworks Gaia and Museum of the Moon, features a surround sound composition by BAFTA-winning composer Dan Jones which includes clips from NASA missions to Mars. Can be seen until 28th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/mars/.
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10 London mysteries – 1. The murder of Robert Pakington…
London’s rich layers of history has left its fair share of mysteries and in this series we’re going to take a look at 10, some well-known and others, such as this first one, less so…
First up, it’s a 500-year-old murder mystery. The victim was Robert Pakington, an MP and prominent member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers, who is often said to be the first victim to be murdered with a handgun.
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LondonLife – Quiet corner…
A Moment in London’s History…New Cross V2 attack…
One of the most devastating moments of World War II in Britain took place 80 years ago this month when, at 12:26pm on 25th November, 1944, a German V2 rocket bomb hit a Woolworths store in New Cross, south-east London.
There were some 30 staff and 100 customers in Woolworths when the rocket struck (a queue had formed at the store after word had spread that tin saucepans had arrived).
The massive blast flattened the shop and spread into nearby streets, bringing down neighbouring houses and shops, overturning an army lorry and causing cars to burst into flames.
Some 168 people, including Woolworths customers and store workers as well as 33 children (some just babies in prams), were killed in the blast. Some of those who died were in the neighbouring Royal Arsenal Co-operative Socierty store, others were sitting at their desks in nearby offices and some were killed while sitting on a passing bus. Some 123 passersby were injured in the blast.
It took three days to clear the debris. Twenty four of those killed were never identified.
It is believed that the nearby New Cross Station was the intended target.
The V2, the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile, travelled at some 3,000 mph and, as such, few too high and fast to be tracked by radar, put down by anti-aircraft fire or intercepted by fighter aircraft.
V2s had only started to be used in September, 1944, following an order from Adolf Hitler for their manufacture in December, 1942. The first V2 rocket had hit Chiswick on 8th September, 1944, and over the next few months about half of the 3,000 rockets fired at Allied targets were aimed at London.
Such was the fear over the rocket attacks that it had only been on 10th November 1944, that Winston Churchill had publicly admitted the country was facing rocket attacks.
The New Cross attack is commemorated by two memorial plaques at the site, one erected by the Deptford History Group in 1994 and the other by the London Borough of Lewisham in 2009.
This Week in London – Lord Mayor’s Show; ‘Poppy Fields at the Tower’; and, ‘The Great Mughals’ at the V&A…
• The Lord Mayor’s Show – featuring the 696th Lord Mayor of London, Alastair King – will be held this Saturday. The three-mile long procession – in which the Lord Mayor will ride in the Gold State Coach – features some 7,000 people, 250 horses, and 150 floats. It will set off from Mansion House at 11am and travel down Poultry and Cheapside to St Paul’s Cathedral before moving on down Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street to the Royal Courts of Justice. The return journey will set off again at 1:10pm from Temple Place and travel via Queen Victoria Street back to Mansion House where he will take the salute from the Pikemen and Musketeers at 2:40pm. For more information, including where to watch the show, head to https://lordmayorsshow.london.
• An immersive sound and light show commemorating World War I and II opens at the Tower of London tomorrow ahead of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. Historic Royal Palaces has partnered with Luxmuralis to present Poppy Fields at the Tower with visitors invited to go inside the Tower where – recalling the 2014 display Bloodswept Lands and Seas of Red in the Tower of London moat to mark the centenary of World War I – the walls will not only be illuminated with tumbling poppies but also historic photographs, documents and plans. The display is being accompanied by music composed by David Harper, and poetry recordings. Visitors will also be granted special access to see the Crown Jewels after-hours to learn more about their removal from the Tower during both World Wars. Runs until 16th November and should be pre-booked. Admission charges apply. For more, see https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/poppy-fields-at-the-tower/.
from the Minto Album. © CC BY – 4.0. Chester Beatty, Dublin
• An exhibition celebrating the golden age of the Mughal Court opens at the V&A in South Kensington on Saturday. The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence examines the “creative output and internationalist culture” of Mughal Hindustan during the age of its greatest emperors, a period spanning c1560 to 1660. More than 200 objects are on display arranged in three sections corresponding to the reigns of the Emperor Akbar (1556-1605), Jahangir (1605 to 1627) and Shah Jahan (1628 to 1658). The objects include paintings, illustrated manuscripts, vessels made from mother of pearl, rock crystal, jade and precious metals. Highlights include four folios from the Book of Hamza, commissioned by Akbar in 1570, and the Ames carpet which was made in the imperial workshops between c1590 and 1600 and is on display for the first time in the UK. There’s also a unique wine cup made from white nephrite jade in the shape of a ram’s head for Shah Jahan in 1657, two paintings depicting a North American Turkey Cock and an African zebra created by Jahangir’s artists, and a gold dagger and scabbard set with over 2,000 rubies, emeralds and diamonds. Runs in Galleries 38 and 39 until 5th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.
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This Week in London – Medieval women at the British Library; Renaissance drawings at The King’s Gallery; and, ‘Duo’ in the Painted Hall…
• The lives of medieval women are the subject of a new exhibition at the British Library. Medieval Women: In Their Own Words features more than 140 objects with highlights including a letter bearing the earliest known signature of Joan of Arc which has never before been displayed outside France, a manuscript made in the early 15th century under the personal supervision of Christine de Pizan – the first professional women author in Europe, a 12th century ivory carving which belonged to Sybilla of Flanders, and, the oldest surviving Valentine’s Day letter, sent by Margery Brews in 1477. There’s also the book Behinat Olam Mantua, published between 1476 and 1480 by Estellina Conat who was the first recorded woman to print a book in Hebrew, the only surviving copy of the earliest known autobiography in English, The Book of Margery Kempe, which was probably written around 1438, a 15th century birthing girdle and the largest hoard of medieval gold coins ever discovered in Britain which was probably gathered as a result of Margaret of Anjou’s fundraising efforts in support of the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses. The display is a multi-sensory experience which, as well as the objects on show, features scent installations, films, music and interactive digital technologies. The exhibition, which is accompanied by a programme of events, can be seen until 2nd March. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.bl.uk.
• An exhibition of the widest range of drawings from the Italian Renaissance ever to be shown in the UK opens at The King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace on Friday. Drawing the Italian Renaissance features more than 160 works by more than 80 artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. The works are all drawn from the Royal Collection and more than 30 are on display for the first time while a further 12 have never been shown in the UK. Highlights include Raphael’s The Three Graces in red chalk (c1517-18), Fra Angelico’s The bust of a cleric (c1447-50), a chalk study of an ostrich attributed to Titian (c1550), Leonardo da Vinci’s A costume study for a masque (c1517-18), Michelangelo’s The Virgin and Child with the young Baptist (c1532), and works by lesser-known artists such as Paolo Farinati’s 1590 study of three mythological figures under an arch. Admission charge applies. Can be seen until 9th March. For more, head to www.rct.uk/collection/exhibitions/drawing-the-italian-renaissance/the-kings-gallery-buckingham-palace
• Melek Zeynep Bulut’s postponed installation Duo can be seen in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich – but only until Sunday. Presented in partnership with the London Design Festival, Duo is a suspended installation which explores the concepts of duality and interaction. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/ldf/.
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This Week in London – ‘The World of Tim Burton’; Halloween at Hampton Court, the Tower, and Kew Gardens; and, Diwali celebrations…
• The fantastical world of celebrated film-maker Tim Burton is on display in a touring exhibition opening at the Design Museum on Friday. The World of Tim Burton, making its final stop after a decade-long world tour, showcases his 50 years of creative output and looks at not only his role as film-maker but as illustrator, painter, photographer and author. Drawn from Tim Burton’s personal archive as well as film studio collections and other private holdings, the more than 600 objects include film props, drawings, paintings, photographs, sketchbooks, moving-image works, sculptural installations, set and costume design. Highlights include the Catwoman suit from 1992’s Batman Returns, Wednesday Addams’ viral Rave’N dance dress from the recent Netflix series and the Edward Scissorhands costume worn by actor Johnny Depp in the 1990 film. There’s also early drawings of the Martians from Mars Attacks! (1996), the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Emily in Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) and a specially created cinema experience which gives voice to some of Burton’s key collaborators and is being shown in a bespoke art-deco space reminiscent of the theatres Burton frequented as a child growing up in Hollywood. Runs until 21st April. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-world-of-tim-burton.
• Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London are marking Halloween with a series of spine-tingling events which delve into the mysterious past of the royal residences. From Saturday, visitors to Hampton Court Palace can, among other things, discover the ‘Alchemist’s Apothecary’ and meet the ghost of a long-departed alchemist, venture into the ‘Spider’s Lair’ in the depths of the palace’s wine cellar, catch a glimpse the frantic ghost of Catherine Howard in the Haunted Gallery, and encounter the spirit of Sybil Penn, a former nurse to Henry VIII’s son Edward, who has haunted the palace hallways ever since her tomb was disturbed. At the the Tower of London, meanwhile, the grounds have been transformed, hosting everything from a haunted chess game on the South Lawn to a glimpse into the tower’s astronomical past, complete with celestial maps and scientific instruments. Events take place until 3rd November. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/ or www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/.
• The first Halloween-themed light trail has opened at Kew Gardens with eerie illuminated trees, ghoulish installations and fire performers. Visitors can wander through an illuminated spiders web or discover a neon Carnivorous Tree feeding on unsuspecting skeletons by choosing one of three sessions to attend (daylight, twilight and moonlight) with things getting scarier as the evening progresses. Runs until 3rd November. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/halloween-at-kew.
• Diwali is being celebrated on Trafalgar Square this Sunday in a free, family-friendly festival. Delivered in partnership with the volunteer-led Diwali in London committee, the event – which showcases the culture of London’s Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities – features a programme of dance, music, activities and food. Highlights include dance workshops, sari and turban tying and the new Bhajan singing space where groups will perform throughout the day. The day runs from 1pm to 7pm. For more, see www.london.gov.uk/events/diwali-square-2024.
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10 towers with a history in London – 10. The ‘Lollard’s Tower’, Lambeth Palace…
This 15th century tower can be found at the north-west corner of Lambeth Palace, London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
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Treasures of London – 10 Downing Street’s original door…
Now found in the Churchill War Rooms, the original black door from the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street dates from the 1770s.
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10 towers with a history in London – 9. The Queen’s Tower, Imperial College London…
This free-standing, 287 foot-high tower is a survivor – it’s all that remains of the Imperial Institute.
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London Explained – Albertopolis…
A nickname, connected to Prince Albert (beloved husband of Queen Victoria), which was given to an area of South Kensington centred on Exhibition Road which is packed with various cultural and educational institutions.
The land, which had been the Kensington Gore Estate, was purchased by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 on the suggestion of Prince Albert using the profits made from the Great Exhibition which had been held just to the north in Hyde Park. His vision was for arts and science quarter which included schools, colleges and libraries as well as museums, exhibition rooms and spaces for events.
Among the buildings subsequently constructed upon it were those bearing Prince Albert’s name including Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum along with the huge Albert Memorial.
Other institutions on the land include the Natural History Museum, Imperial College London, the Royal College of Music, the Royal College of Art, the Science Museum, the Royal Geographical Society and the since removed Royal Horticultural Society Gardens.
The area gained its nickname in the 1850s due to the Prince’s role in the Great Exhibition and its subsequent purchase and was seen to both celebrate, but also by some, to satirise him. It fell out of use after the Prince’s death in 1861 but was subsequently revived in the 1960s and since to bring attention to buildings in the area threatened with demolition.
A pedestrian subway under Exhibition Road runs north from South Kensington Station and gives access to the museums (when it was built in 1885, a toll of one penny was charged to use it).
10 towers with a history in London – 8. The Bell Tower…
We return to the Tower of London this week to look at the history of another of its storied towers.
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This Week in London – Silk Road treasures; a new Lord Mayor of London; and, reassessing the UK’s early Emo scene…
• The world’s earliest complete printed book with a date, the earliest known manuscript atlas of the night sky and the earliest surviving historical document in Tibetan are among treasures on show in a new exhibition at the British Library. A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang features more than 50 manuscripts, printed documents and pictorial works including many which were sealed in the so-called ‘Library Cave’ in the Buddhist Mogao cave complex near the oasis town of Dunhuang in Gansu province, China, for almost 900 years before they were rediscovered in 1900. Highlights in the display include the Diamond Sutra (868 AD) – the world’s earliest complete printed book with a date, the Dunhuang star chart (649-700) – the earliest known manuscript atlas of the night sky (pictured), and the Old Tibetan Annals (641-761) – the earliest surviving historical document in Tibetan. On public display for the first time is a rubbing of the Stele of Sulaiman – a carved stone slab that was erected in the caves in 1348, a copy of the Diamond Sutra written in the scribe’s own blood (considered by Buddhists to be an act of powerful sincerity), and one of the most important and complete manuscripts among the Old Uyghur Manichaean texts, the Xuastuanift. There is also a 9th century manuscript fragment about the prophet Zoroaster or Zarathustra (believed to be nearly 400 years older than any other surviving Zoroastrian scripture) and the longest surviving manuscript text in the Old Turkic script, a Turkic omen text known as the Irk Bitig or Book of Omens (930 or 942). The exhibition, which explores Silk Road interactions through a case of characters including a scribe, merchant and Buddhist nun, runs until 23rd February and is accompanied by a programme of events. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://silkroad.seetickets.com/timeslots/filter/a-silk-road-oasis-life-in-ancient-dunhuang
• Alderman Alastair King has been elected the 696th Lord Mayor of London. King, who succeeds Lord Mayor Professor Michael Mainelli, takes office on 8th November for a one year term with the annual Lord Mayor’s Show, which takes place the following day, his first public event. “It is a tremendous honour to be elected as the 696th Lord Mayor of the City of London,” the Lord Mayor-elect, whose role will see him serving as a global ambassador for the UK financial and professional services industry, said. “London remains the world’s leading financial centre, but global competition is fierce. We have the expertise and talent to thrive, yet we must do more to unlock growth, equip people to innovate, and harness the remarkable dynamic diversity that makes the City exceptional.”
• An “unfiltered” look at the early Emo scene in the UK is the subject of a new exhibition at the Barbican Music Library. I’m Not Okay (An Emo Retrospective), a collaboration between the library and the Museum of Youth Culture (MOYC), features personal photos taken on early digital and phone cameras and focuses on the first-generation Emo scene (2004-2009), a time when bands such as My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Finch were “hugely influential”. Jamie Brett, creative director at the MOYC said the Emo scene “resonated deeply with teens who wanted to express their angst, doubts, insecurity, and sense of feeling and being different, and channelled their collective melancholy into a transatlantic subculture”. The exhibition, which is free to enter, can be seen until 15th January. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/libraries/barbican-music-library.
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