Watch Mayor's Question Time

This morning from 10am, Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, faces London Assembly Members for one of the Mayor's regular question time sessions. The meetings take place at City Hall, and is free and open for members of the public are invited to attend.


This morning's session will see Boris facing questions on the London Survey, the Crossrail Station at Kensal Green, night flights at Heathrow Airport, the cost of the Cable Car, Redbridge Roundabout, night time deliveries during the Olympics, and the new Routemaster.

Boris usually shows up a couple of minutes late to the meeting at at City Hall, on the The Queen’s Walk, SE1, but if you want to attend, you should try to be early. For more, and a full agenda of questions, see http://www.london.gov.uk/media/press_releases_london_assembly/mayors-question-time-city-hall

Go shopping in the Piccadilly Arcade

Designed by Scottish architect, George Tharle Jell, and opened in 1910, the neo regency Piccadily Arcade links Piccadilly and Jermyn Street in Central London.


It is home to sixteen interesting specialist stores, including classic tailors Benson & Clegg, military medal experts The Armory of St James's, and Russian Art importer Iconastas.

Most of the shops open Monday to Saturday, but are closed on Sundays. For more, see http://www.piccadilly-arcade.com/.

Find the site of the Texas Legation

Whilst London does have a much more prominent building pretending to be a Texan overseas mission, a tiny sign on Pickering Place marks the place of a real Texas Legation.


The sign marks the site of the base from which representatives of an independent Republic of Texas liaised with the British Government from 1842 until the state joined the United States on 28th December 1845.

The plaque was installed by the Anglo-Texan Society. For more information, see http://terry-uniqueplaces.blogspot.com/2010/02/embassy-of-texas-in-london.html

Explore the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition

Billed as the largest open contemporary art exhibition in the world, The Royal Academy's annual Summer Exhibition is always an interesting insight into the world of new art, and is now in full swing at Burlington House, on Piccadilly.


The exhibition has been running since 1769, when it began in a warehouse on Pall Mall, and the modern exhibition draws together a huge range of new works by various artists, curated by an rotating committee of Royal Academicians, with different people curating rooms.

It really is a great insight into what's going on in art, and when your author visited on Thursday, he was impressed by the sheer range of works covering every wall. Although, his inner London-knowledge-seeker was a bit too mesmerised by the models of future crossrail stations in the architecture room to be healthy.

This year's exhibition runs until 15th August. For more information, see http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/summerexhibition

Explore Eel Pie Island

Though your author has visited Eel Pie Island before, on most days the only accessible area is the bridge, and a small path that picks its way through the attractive mishmash of little houses and studios. That is why it is so exciting that visitors are being given one of their rare annual opportunities to properly explore the island this weekend and next.


Alongside the various homes, the private island at Twickenham is home to 26 artists studios, arranged in and around the island's working boatyard. These are real working artists' studios, rather than galleries, and you will, we are told, be given an opportunity to talk to the artists and purchase or commission new works of art.

The studios are open today and tomorrow, and also next weekend, 18th and 19th June from 11.00am-6.00pm. For more information, visit http://www.eelpieislandartists.co.uk/, or for more information on loads to do this weekend, see this excellent post on Diamond Geezer

Visit the Tryon Gallery

Your author spent yesterday afternoon browsing a handful of West London's private art galleries, and was particularly impressed by the exhibition by Johnny Morant currently being shown at the Tron Gallery.


Though Morant is the same age as your author, he possesses infinitely more talent. A London-based artist, celebrated for his interesting representations of light and space using oil paints. His paintings are rather London-centric - including scenes from the South Bank Book Market, the Market Coffee House, and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, amongst others - and perhaps that was why they appealed, but they certainly possessed an intrinsic beauty.

The Tryon Gallery has been trading since 1959, and can be found in 7 Bury Street, SW1. It usually shows six to eight feature exhibitions a year, and Mr Morant's continues until 17th June. For more, visit www.tryon.co.uk

Celebrate Dickens Day

Charles Dickens died 9th June 1870, at an age of just 58, and to commemorate this, the Dickens Fellowship has organised a celebration of Dickens in the City, with various events taking place.


This morning, guided Dickens Walks leave the Royal Exchange in the City of London, pausing at St Michael’s Cornhill for a themed Dickens reading, and this is followed by lunchtime music and drama at Leadenhall Market, led by Gerald Dickens, Charles' great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens.

There are also events all day at the Charles Dickens Museum at 48 Doughty Street, an afternoon guided walk and a ceremony and wreath-laying at Westminster Abbey in the evening.

For more information, see http://www.dickensfellowship.org/Events/dickens-city-0

_{^Picture © Mskadu used under Creative Commons^}

See hand-drawn London

As many readers will probably already be aware, to top off their amazing Hand Drawn London series, the website Londonist, on which your author occasionally dabbles, has an exhibition of maps at the Museum of London until 11th September.


This sort of exhibition is your author's favourite type, as it allows real Londoners to explain their insight into the city. The truth is none of us really know our area better than any other, and it can be amazing what is exposed when people sit down with a piece of paper and draw out all they know.

The exhibition shows eleven hand-drawn maps of London, and runs until September. For more information, see click here, or to see Londonist's amazing array of online maps, click here.

_{^Picture © Matt from London used under Creative Commons^}

Admire Boudica's chariot

Boudica was the ancient queen of the Iceni, famous for leading an uprising against the Romans which saw London sacked and burnt to the ground.


A huge bronze statue of her driving a chariot, designed by Thomas Thorneycroft, now stands on Westminster bridge amongst the throngs of tourists and burger vans which Westminster City Council inexplicably permits at the centre of a world heritage site.

For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudica

_{^Picture © Zyllan used under Creative Commons^}

See Roy Lichtenstein's Whaam!

An icon of the pop art movement, painted by Lichtenstein in 1963, using acrylic and oil on canvas, 'Whaam!' was based on an image from a comic book called All-American Men of War.


It currently hangs in the Tate Modern in Southwark, and can be found on the fifth floor in room one of the States of Flux area, where it shares its space with Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space.

For more infomation, see http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=8782&tabview=display

_{^Picture © ahisgett used under Creative Commons^}

Buy books at Skoob

Skoob Books, in the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, is a brilliant second hand bookshop which boasts 55,000 different books over 2000 square subterranean feet underneath Waitrose.


Alongside this, the shop also has a million books lurking in a warehouse in Oxfordshire, from which they draw their stock, so it is obvious that this is a committed shop.

Skoob books has been a leader in London's second hand book market for more than thirty years, and in 2010 won a prize from one of the many magazines about London, who declared it London's best bookshop.

For more information, see http://www.skoob.com/

Cross Kew's Sackler Crossing

The Sackler Crossing, in Kew Gardens, is the only crossing on the main lake, installed in 2006 following a donation from Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler whose donation funded the bridge.


Designed by the architect John Pawson, it has a mesmerising curved appearance, and its sides are made of bronze posts which, whilst preventing wayward children from falling into the lake, blocks much less of the view than you might expect.

Your author visited Kew last week, thankfully as a guest of the Gardens, and is aware it is rather expensive to do so. However, there are many interesting features to see, and it would be easy to spend a day there.

For more on the bridge, see http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/garden-attractions-A-Z/sackler-crossing.htm

Relax in the sun at Gordon Square Garden

Your author spent a day recently amongst the buildings of the University of London around Bloomsbury, and one of the most atmospheric spots was Gordon Square Garden, surrounded by tall trees with a sunny open area in the middle, occupied by a range of relaxed people.


During the first part of the 20th Century, the garden was a focal point for the Bloomsbury Group, with the Stephen siblings (including Virginia Stephen, later Woolf) living at number 46 from 1904 to 1907 and held regular open Thursday 'at homes' for literary figures and intellectuals.

The square now largely houses university buildings, and was restored in 2006 with the help of the University and a grant from the National Lottery.

For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Square

Drink at the Lord John Russell

Your author is off to the country this weekend*, to celebrate an amount of time since he was younger. During those years in the country, a disproportionate amount of time was spent in a pub called the Lord John Russell, but like everything London has its own, on Marchmont Street in Bloomsbury.


The pub is named after Lord John Russell, 19th century Prime Minister, advocate of the 1832 Reform Act, and famous grandfather of Bertrand Russell. The excellent pub guide fancyapint tells us that the premises began their life as a whisky merchant, where buyers came to sample the wares, at a long bar divided into cubicles. Today, it's just a good pub, with a range of ales, space to sit outside and a good atmosphere, even if the gents toilets do leave a little to be desired.

For more, see http://www.fancyapint.com/pubs/pub931.php

_{* note to burglars - flatmate will be present and is a trained killer}

Buy wine at Berry Bros and Rudd

Established in 1698 by the Widow Bourne at 3 St James's Street, Berry Bros and Rudd have been trading wine from the same location opposite St James's Palace for more than three centuries.


Still owned and run by the Berry and Rudd families whose name it bears, past customers include Lord Byron, William Pitt, George III and the Aga Khan, and today the store sells wine to both the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and wines and spirits are available for sale from £5 up to £5,000.

The shop is open daily, except Sundays and Bank Holidays, and you can read more about the history of the company, and the wines available, at http://www.bbr.com/

_{^Picture © Ewan-M used under Creative Commons^}