Find William Edward Forster

One of many statues in Victoria Embankment Gardens, a memorial to William Edward Forester is found just to the east of the Temple tube station.

Forster was involved in the Victorian wool industry, but is commemorated for his work as a politician, where he was involved in education, including the Elementary Education Bill, which established a framework for schooling of all children between 5 and 12 in England and Wales.

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

Attend the Knitting and Stitching Show

Billing itself as the best textile exhibition in Europe, the Knitting and Stitching Show is in full swing up at Alexandra Palace today, with everything you could ever need if you're into knitting, crochet, embroidery, patchwork and quilting, felt-making, shibori dyeing, jewellery-making, card-making, felt, embossing and that sort of thing.

Needless to say your author isn't into those sorts of things, so this is very much a public service announcement, but if you are there look to be hundreds of stalls with all sorts of things for crafty types.

For more, see http://www.twistedthread.com/pages/exhibitions/viewExhibition.aspx?id=39&view=overview

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

Attend the Southbank Centre Cheese & Wine Festival

As readers of Ian's event guide will already be aware, the Southbank Centre is hosting a Cheese & Wine Festival this weekend.

We are told that the festival offers tutored wine tastings, top chefs demonstrating their favourite cheese recipes and 45 stalls of artisan cheese and wines.

For more, see http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/tickets/cheese-wine-festival-1000320

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

Drink in the Equus Bar

Last week, your author relented and accepted a PR invite from a hotel he has long been interested in visiting, the Royal Horseguards. Despite reservations, the experience was actually quite interesting, with stories of Churchill's drinking sessions during the Second World War, and mysterious corridors leading to a block of expensive flats to the West, and the National Liberal Club to the East.

Readers with deep pockets wishing to experience it for themselves should probably head to the Equus Bar, where despite a modern refurbishment, redcoated Horseguards still stare out from portraits on the wall, and English beers and gins, and Scottish Whiskies are all available. The downside, however, is that even at the low end of the menu a beer is £5.75 and the modern refurbishment and the politician-themed cocktails aren't quite to your author's tastes.

For more, see http://www.guoman.com/hotels/united_kingdom/london/the_royal_horseguards/restaurants_and_bars/equus_bar.html

Locate the first home of the BBC

A stone plaque on the side of 2, Savoy Place, a building now occupied by the Institute of Engineering and Technology, marks the spot where its predecessor the Institute of Electrical Engineers also had its headquarters, in which the Institute offered accommodation to the British Broadcasting Company in 1923.

Then a fledgling organisation, we are told that the BBC at Savoy Hill was a rather civilised place, where early radio contributions from the likes of HG Wells and George Bernard Shaw were often made over whisky and soda in the days before the corporation moved to Broadcasting House. By the time the BBC vacated the site after nearly a decade in 1932 it had already begun to grow into the behemoth that it is today and was on the verge of making its first TV broadcast.

For more, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/collections/buildings/savoy_hill.shtml

Talk to Strangers

Your author hosts another of his series of Talking To Strangers events in central London this evening, which as readers of inflight magazines will be aware, promises the opportunity to have some interesting and enlightening conversations with people you have never met.

The event is open to all and is run in association with Thinking Bob, who run great evening and weekend events in London every week, and always attracts a diverse and interesting crowd.

To sign up, see http://www.meetup.com/talkingtostrangers/

Browse Bellerby's Globes

Sure, it's just an overblown salesroom, but your author was particularly taken with the Geographical blueprint: the art of the handcrafted globe exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society when he popped into the launch last week.

Displaying the works of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, the exhibition is a great opportunity to see these beautiful globes - some of which sell for in excess of £30,000 - up close. Though your author could never afford them and even if he could he would spend the money on something else, they certainly have an aesthetic beauty which makes the exhibition well worth dropping into if you're in the area.

For more, see http://www.rgs.org/

See Bela Bartók

A statue to the Hungarian composer Bela Bartók was first unveiled outside South Kensington Tube Station in October 2004, taking a brief break between 2009 and 2011, and being re-installed last Autumn.

The position was chosen for the statue due to its proximity to 7 Sydney Place, where Bartók stayed when performing in London, and it was designed by Hungarian sculptor, Imre Varga.

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

Celebrate the apple harvest

The London Orchard Festival takes place at Camley Street Natural Park in Kings Cross today, offering a range of apple-based activities, including training in apple growing, a longest peel festival and cider tasting.

There will also be cooking, apple bobbing and apple juicing, as well as games and activities for children, apple-themed food and drink and live acoustic music. It all takes place from 11am until 7pm on the banks of the Regents Canal.

For more, see http://thelondonorchardproject.org/training-and-events

Attend the London Pen Show

Bit of a niche one this one, but everyone likes a good pen. Some people, however, take it even further, and the London Writing Equipment Show is where real stationary addicts go to get their fix.

Last year's event attracted nearly 100 traders and exhibitors and over 300 visitors, which seems a slightly odd ratio, but at least you can be sure of the undivided attention of your trader, and you might pick up a pen to last you for many years.

For more, see http://lwes.wesonline.org.uk/

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

Read some bus stop poetry

Postry-fans waiting for the number 37 bus on Half Moon Lane in Herne Hill are in luck, for at the local Oxfam Bookshop they are posting up Bus Stop Poetry to lift the spirits of tired commuters.

When your author wandered by the other day, the poem on offer was Ode to the West Wind is an ode written by Percy Shelley, which seems to be becoming a bit of a theme here, but presumably we can expect a range of poems.

For more, head over to http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/local-shops/oxfam-bookshop-herne-hill

Draw for free at the Prince's Drawing School

For anyone like your author who has ever fancied doing a drawing class in London, but been slightly put off by the price, help is at hand. Every first Thursday of the month The Prince’s Drawing School on Charlotte hosts a free life drawing session, in collaboration with Time Out and the Whitechapel Gallery’s First Thursdays programme.

We are told that sessions run from 6.30pm until 9pm and participants are welcome to stay for the full session or drop in anytime, although places are offered on a firstcome, first-served basis. Free upcycled paper and charcoal are provided.

For more, see http://www.princesdrawingschool.org/calendar/main.asp

_{^Picture (of the road if not the School) © Payton Chung used under a Creative Commons license^}

Browse cheese at International Cheese

Your author always imagined that the cheese shop in Liverpool Street Station was a fleeting business idea on the brink of failure, and so it was particularly surprising to find out following a recent visit that International Cheese is more than 25 years old and is still going strong.

The International Cheese Centre first opened its doors - we are told - in October 1987 at its original site in Goodge Street, and owner Ray Kenny has since expanded to shops in Liverpool Street, Victoria and Marylebone Stations, self-defining as "one of the few remaining family run businesses in London today". Whilst the last bit is probably clever marketing, Ray and his team should almost certainly be congratulated on pursuing what might have sounded to many in the 80s like a hair-brained scheme.

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

See Fred Daniels' Cinema Portraits

It is probably no coincidence that your author seems to see more of the exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery in the free stairwell area next to their excellent bookshop than any other, and last week saw the start of an exhibition by the pioneer of British stills and portrait photography Frank Daniels.

We are told that this is Daniels' first solo display at the National Portrait Gallery and as usual in the area officially called 'The Bookshop Gallery', it coincides with the publication a monograph on his work, which is available in the shop.

For more, see http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2012/fred-daniels-cinema-portraits.php

Drive down Lower Robert Street

A favourite escape route for cabbies stuck in traffic in the vicinity of the Strand, Lower Robert Street dates from the 1770s, when it was constructed by the Adams brothers as part of the 24 house 'The Adelphi' development.

Today, the original arches are still open to traffic, and your author has even driven through on one of the rare occasions he is let loose behind the wheel of a car in London, and when he wandered through alone yesterday - with the Sunday streets quiet - he failed to spot 'Poor Jenny', the ghostly prostitute who is said to haunt the road.

 For more, see http://blackcablondon.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/lower-robert-street-a-ghostly-tunnel-in-the-heart-of-london/