Watch opera in Ealing

This evening, Ealing's Opera in the Park brings the Magic Flute to Walpole Park, and whilst your author couldn't manage to sit through it, there will be plenty who will absolutely love the chance to enjoy opera in this setting.


Operated by Regents Opera, Opera in the Park is the brainchild of former Royal Opera House bod Nicholas Heath and aims to put on affordable opera with no direct public subsidy, something we can all get on board with.

For more, see http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200247/ealing_summer_festivals/488/ealing_opera_in_the_park

_{^Picture © Mark Hillary used under a Creative Commons license^}

Celebrate Bastille Day

Today is Bastille Day, the national day of France, and a free treat for Francophiles is scheduled to take place in Bankside. The 5th year in a series of 'official' such celebrations, we are told, will offer eating, drinking, dancing and singing.


Based around Borough Market and Park Street, the event offers specific French traders at the market, a traditional 14th July Waiters’ Race, pétanque, baby-foot and other things. It will either be good, or a cheese-maker-sponsored disappointment.

For more, see www.bastillefestival.co.uk

_{^Picture © Amanda Vincent-Rous used under Creative Commons^}

Eat at Robin Hood Zorro

There's something about the Robin Hood Zorro restaurant in Hammersmith which should be awful but is faintly endearing. Friends of your author in West London swear by it, and whilst some remain unconvinced, it is undoubtedly a memorable experience.


Theme restaurants are unusual at the best of times, and many would question the decision both to combine Robin Hood and Zorro in a theme for a restaurant, and to calling yourself an "English - Mexican Eating House". Nevertheless, Robin Hood Zorro steadfastly continues, with its misspelt website and its dayglo 90s cocktails, to do reasonable business.

For more, see http://www.robinhoodzorro.com/

Find the site of Alexander Fleming's discovery

A blue plaque on the wall on Praed Street near Paddington Station remembers the room, two stories above, where in 1928, Alexander Fleming returned to his work bench at St Mary's Hospital to accidentally discover Penicillin.


Fleming had just returned from a trip to his country home to find discarded Petri dishes he had piled up to make space for his colleague Stuart Craddock to use his work bench. We are told that a colleague dropped in causing Fleming to have a good moan about his workload, and rummage through the dishes.

One of the dishes was contaminated with fungus, causing colonies of the staphylococcus bacteria to be destroyed, whilst other colonies farther away remained intact. This chance discovery led to the development of Penicilin, the antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi.

For more, see http://history1900s.about.com/od/medicaladvancesissues/a/penicillin.htm

Eat at the Wapping Project

Your author doesn't eat out that much, but occasionally a more successful friend persuades him out, and such were the circumstances he found himself at the Wapping Project a few weeks ago. The restaurant, housed in Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, takes advantage of its atmospheric surroundings well, and it was surprising to find it only half full on a Thursday evening.


That said, the food wasn't particularly remarkable, with the main course on the wrong side of luke-warm, but the drink, company and setting were pretty special, and the rather bizarre 'art' installation at the back all added to the mix. It was enjoyable, but then with a bill that ended up at £58 per head (including beers which didn't appear on the menu and for which the wrong price was quoted by waiting staff) all in it definitely should be.

For less information, see the frankly incomprehensible website at http://www.thewappingproject.com/

Visit the Irish Cultural Centre

The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith was established in 1995 to celebrate London's Irish community and showcase the music, literature, art and culture of Ireland.


Saved from closure earlier this year, the centre continues to provide education and the arts to allcomers, operating an 'Open Door' policy to ensure that Irish arts, culture and education accessible to everyone.

For more, see http://www.irishculturalcentre.co.uk/

Listen to music in Wilton's Mahogany Bar

Music tonight in the beautiful Mahogany Bar at Wilton's Music Hall courtesy of Family Atlantica Duo, playing at the bar as part of Music Monday, their free weekly showcase for 'vintage' bands and cabaret artists.


We are told that the Mahogany Bar was built around 1725, probably as a pub, and has traded under many names over the years including The Albion Saloon and The Prince of Denmark. It took until 1828 for it to be refurbished in mahogany and subsequently became popular with the sailing fraternity. Today, famous fixtures and fittings are sadly no longer with us, but it remains a popular spot.

_{^Picture © photography.ambjorn.com via Flickr used under a Creative Commons license^}

Have a picnic at Arnold Circus

For a small roundabout in the East End of London, Arnold Circus always seem to do very well at organising events, and today the Friends of Arnold Circus have organised an Olympicnic to celebrate the summer season and the upcoming fortnight-of-sports.


It's a bring-your-own sharing picnic, and we are promised fun, games, food & music, including Ping Pong, the Wheelers Cycle Challenge, Infinity Hopscotch, African Drummers, a primary school choir, Asian RnB and a barbecue and bouncy castle at nearby Rochelle School.

For more, see http://foac.org.uk/

_{^Picture © the Friends of Arnold Circus^}

See the treasures of Crossrail

You can't walk around central London at the moment without being aware of it, and Crossrail is holding a special exhibition today to celebrate the half-way point of its archaeology programme, showcasing some of the things they've found in the course of their work.


We are told that, in the course of their rummaging, they've found prehistoric animal bones, Roman artefacts, human remains from the Bedlam psychiatric hospital and bits and bobs from past industry, all of which will be on display in the Music Room at Grays Antiques near Bond Street today.

For more, see http://www.crossrail.co.uk/delivering/environment/managing-environment/archaeology-heritage/bison-to-bedlam-crossrails-archaeology-story-so-far

Hear the music of Norman Long

A well-known voice in the 1930s, the music of Sydenham-based Norman Long - a BBC entertainer known for his wit, charm and ability to poke fun at the establishment - has all but disappeared into the ether, but for one South-London-singer who is determined to keep his memory alive.


We are told that Norman Long was the son of a Sydenham bootmaker and lived in a house on Queensthorpe Road. During the First World War, he entertained as part of his service, and despite deciding on a career as an insurance salesman after the war, he found the time to write music which gently mocked the establishment, and became famous after recording songs for various BBC programmes including "A Song, A joke, and a Piano".

South London singer Alexandra Carter has decided to revive his work in a concert that, she believes, may be the first time in around 90 years that anyone has heard Norman Long's songs in concert. For more, see https://sites.google.com/site/alexcartersinger/

Watch the Shard light up the sky

Tonight, at 10.15pm, we are told to expect a light show emanating from the Shard to mark its official inauguration, with a display 'likely to be visible' around town. Supposedly, it'll all be coordinated with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and the Finale from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, in a live performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.


Simon Jenkins seems to have only just noticed the thing is being built, and has been giving the whole thing plenty of airtime, prompting your author's favourite assessment of the situation in the comments on the Guardian website: "In 200 years time someone will submit plans for a building that obscures the view of the shard from certain angles...There will be a public outcry".

For more, see http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/light-show-to-celebrate-londons-shard-completion/8632554.article

_{^Picture © Duncan~ used under a Creative Commons license^}

See Scott's Last Expedition

One of the special exhibitions currently showing at the Natural History Museum, Scott's Last Expedition charts the story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's last expedition to Antarctica in 1910-1913.


The exhibition looks at the expedition in its entirety, charting the final push to the South Pole, but also the seasons spent doing scientific work from the base hut at Cape Evans, which is mapped out in life size within the expedition helping visitors to understand what life might have been like, and using genuine artefacts and scientific specimens from the expedition to tell the story.

For more, see http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/scott-last-expedition/exhibition-tickets/index.html

Eat at the Red Art Cafe Bar

Your author doesn't often pass through Dalston nowadays, conscious of lacking the haircut or trousers to fit in, but the other week he spent a perfectly pleasant evening in a couple of bars and restaurants in the area, and had a good feed at the Red Art Cafe Bar.


Found at 113 Kingsland Road, kit is a place that seems to specialise in Turkish food and drink, with a decent menu and plenty to keep the vegetarians who also dined happy. It all seemed jolly pleasant, and your author would go back even since discovering a rather low food hygiene rating from the local council.

For more, see http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/red-art-cafe-bar-london

Explore the British Museum's North American Landscape

The gardens created on the West Lawn of the British Museum forecourt in conjunction with Kew Gardens have become quite a fixture in recent years, with China (2008), India (2009), South Africa (2010) and Australia (2011) all receiving the forecourt treatment. This year, North American landscapes have come to Great Russell Street, with the creation of a North American garden.


The garden will be in place until November, and is a living, breathing piece of North America open to exploration by visitors, with plants from Florida in the south to New England and Canada in the north, focussing on the Eastern Seaboard.

For more, see http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/north_american_landscape.aspx

Ride the Dangleway

Some people have been saying for years that London should build a cable car down the middle of Oxford Street, but the powers that be have inexplicably decided instead to link two patches of East London wasteland together in a rather expensive project which opened this week. Having said that, your author took his first trip on the Dangleway yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed it.


There is something magical about the experience, and getting a new perspective on the city, and from that high up the views across East and South East London are amazing, and it becomes clear why cycling up Shooters Hill always felt such a drag. Though queues were reasonably long, those with topped-up Oyster cards were able to join a shorter queue and on opening weekend wait for no longer than 10 minutes to participate, though it did strike your author that on a rainy tuesday in November 2013 the levels of footfall are going to make it all seem rather ridiculous.

For more, see http://www.emiratesairline.co.uk/