• The British Library has paid £9 million for a 7th century text, the St Cuthbert Gospel, which is also the oldest intact European book. The acquisition follows the library’s most successful fund-raising effort ever – it included a £4.5 million grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The book – a Gospel of John bound in beautifully tooled red leather – was produced in north-east England in the late 7th century and was placed in the saint’s coffin after his death on the Isle of Lindisfarne in 698. It was retrieved when the coffin was opened at Durham Cathedral in 1104. The Gospel is on display in the Sir John Ritblat Treasures Gallery at the library in St Pancras and following a conservation review, it is anticipated it will soon be displayed with the pages open for the first time. There will be a public event celebrating the acquisition on 15th May. For more, see www.bl.uk/whatson/events/may12/index.html.
• London this week marked 100 days until the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. This included unveiling the latest installation of the Olympic rings – made of 20,000 plants the 50 metre long rings are located in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in the city’s west and can be seen from planes on the Heathrow flight path. The organising committee also announced the Red Arrows aerobatic display team will perform a nine-ship flypast in ‘big battle’ formation on the day of the Opening Ceremony (27th July) and stated that the games motto will be ‘Inspire a Generation’. For more, see www.london2012.com.
• The Museum of London’s archaeological archive – known as the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) – is officially the largest in the world according to Guinness World Records. The archive contains more than five million artefacts and the records of almost 8,500 excavations dating back to 1830. Items in the archive include shoes dating back to Roman times, a 200-year-old set of false teeth, ‘witching bottles’ including one with human hair and toenails, and coffin plates from London’s cemeteries. The world record has been recorded as part of World Record London, a series of world record breaking events being held in the run-up to the Olympics. Others have included the Faberge Big Egg Hunt.
• Thousands of people are expected to take part in the Virgin London Marathon this Sunday. The 26.2 mile route starts in Blackheath, passes through Woolwich and Greenwich and crosses the Thames at Tower Bridge before looping around the east end of London, through Canary Wharf, and the west along The Highway (formerly known as The Ratcliffe Highway) and Embankment to Parliament Square, Birdcage Walk and finally to Buckingham Palace. The first London marathon was run in 1981. For more, see www.virginlondonmarathon.com.
• On Now: Turner Inspired – In the Light of Claude. The first major presentation of 17th century artist Claude Gellée’s influence on the English romantic artist J M W Turner, the exhibition focuses on Claude-inspired themes which run through Turner’s work including “the evocation of light and air in landscape, the effect of light upon water and his often radical reworking of contemporary scenes”. The display includes works from large scale oils on canvas through to leaves from Turner’s pocket sketchbooks. Interestingly, the exhibition also explores the story behind the so-called Turner Bequest – that on his death, Turner linked himself to Claude forever by leaving the National Gallery two pictures - Dido building Carthage (1815) and Sun rising through Vapour: Fishermen cleaning and selling Fish (before 1807) – on condition that they were hung between two pictures by Claude, Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba (1648) and Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca (1648). Runs until 5th June. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.
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• Sainsbury’s and Royal Parks have unveiled plans for a two day festival in Hyde Park – billed as the largest family festival London has ever seen – celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee over the June holiday weekend. The Jubilee Family Festival will feature live music and entertainment with one of the key highlights of each day being the finale – a 70 minute Disney concert specially created to celebrate the Jubilee. Other activities will include appearances by celebrity performers and dancer and children’s TV characters as well as equestrian events and motorcycle displays. There will also be a range of “Commonwealth-inspired” acts, food and drink supplied by Sainsbury’s and giant screens showing Jubilee-related events taking place elsewhere. There will be capacity for 50,000 ticket holders on each of the two days – Saturday, 2nd June, and Sunday, 3rd June. The event will run from 10.30am to 7pm on each day. Tickets – priced at £20 an adult/£12.50 for under 16s (children under three free) or £52 for a family of two adults and two children - go on sale at 9am tomorrow (Friday 24 February) from Ticketmaster – www.ticketmaster.co.uk or call 0844 847 1661 (+44 161 385 3211 from outside the UK) - or Seetickets - www.seetickets.com or call 0844 858 6760 (+44 1142 249 784 from outside the UK). In addition, from 28th March, Sainsbury’s customers who spend £60 in store will be able to enter a daily ballot for free family tickets. For more information on the festival, see www.sainsburys.co.uk/jubilee.
• The British Library has republished what many believe was the first detective novel ever published. The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix was originally serialised between 1862 and 1863 in the magazine Once a Week (pictured right – image courtesy of the British Library). It was also published as a single volume in 1863, meaning it predates both Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone (1868) and Emile Gaboriau’s first Monsieur Lecoq novel, L’Affaire Lerouge, but has not been available commercially since. The story is presented in the form of diary entries, family letters, chemical analysis reports, and interviews with witnesses as well as a crime scene map and follows an insurance investigator, Ralph Henderson, as he builds a case against the sinister Baron ‘R___’ whom he suspects of murdering his wife for life insurance. Available from the British Library bookshop - www.bl.uk/shop.
• Tickets for the BT London Live Closing Ceremony Celebration Concert go on sale tomorrow. The open air event will feature headline act Blur and will be held in Hyde Park on Sunday, 12th August, the day of the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony. Other artists performing at the concert will include The Specials and New Order, and giant screens in the park will show highlights of the Closing Ceremony. Another concert will be held in Hyde Park on Friday July 27, coinciding with the Games’ Opening Ceremony (headline acts and ticket prices will be announced shortly – BT customers will have 48 hour priority access for tickets for both concerts via www.bt.com/londonlive. Tickets for the August concert, priced at £55 (plus booking fee) go on sale at 9am on Friday via www.btlondonlive.com.
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• Next year – 7th February to be precise – marks 200 years since the birth of celebrated 19th century novelist Charles Dickens and to mark the bicentenary, London institutions are among those across the country organising a raft of exhibitions under the banner of Dickens 2012. First up for us is a new exhibition launched this week at the British Library. A Hankering after Ghosts: Charles Dickens and the Supernatural explores the way in which Dickens used supernatural phenomena in his works (remember the ghosts of A Christmas Carol anyone?), while at the same time placing them in the context of the “scientific, technological and philosophical debates of his time”. The exhibition includes a letter from Dickens to his wife Catherine written in 1853 (this alludes to a disagreement which arose between them after Catherine became jealous of the attention Dickens was paying to another lady; he apparently used mesmerism to treat Catherine’s “nervous condition”), an article in an 1858 Household Words magazine in which Dickens questions the motivation of the spirits who supposedly tapped out messages to spiritualists, and, a 1821 copy of The Terrific Register: or, record of crimes, judgements, providences and calamities, a publication which was one of Dickens’ favorite reads as a youth. There is a range of accompanying events including talks by Dickens’ biographer Claire Tomalin (author of Charles Dickens: A Life
• The Art Fund has launched an appeal to have Yinka Shonibare’s Ship in a Bottle, currently sitting atop Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, relocated to a permanant home outside the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The fund, which has kick started the campaign with a £50,000 grant, needs £362,500 to buy the work – a scaled down replica of Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory – which has been on display in Trafalgar Square since May, 2010, but is due to be removed in January next year. The replica work features 80 cannon and 37 sails, set as on a day of battle, and is made out of materials including oak, hardwood, brass, twine and canvas. For more, see www.artfund.org/ship/.
• The historic ship HMS Belfast, moored on the Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge, has been closed until further notice after a section of gangway which provides access to the ship collapsed earlier this week. Two contractors received minor injuries in the collapse and staff and visitors were evacuated by boat. The HMS Belfast is described as the most significant surviving Royal Navy warship from World War II and later served in places like Korea. It contains extensive displays on what life was like aboard the vessel. Keep on eye on www.iwm.org.uk for more information.
• Now On: Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Hyde Park’s annual festival of all things Christmas is on again and this year’s festive offerings include, an ice rink, circus, giant observation wheel, rides and the chance for younger people to visit Santa Land as well as a plethora of opportunities to purchase presents at the Angels Christmas Market and warm-up with some of the fare available at eateries including the Bavarian Village, English Food Fair, and Spiegel Saloon. Winter Wonderland is free to enter and open between 10am and 10pm daily. Runs until 3rd January. For more, see www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com.
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Around London – Illuminating manuscripts at the BL; Capability Brown and Richard Burton blue plaqued; and, Grayson Perry at the British Museum…
November 17, 2011
• Opened to the public last week, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination - a landmark exhibition at the British Library – features a “treasure trove” of illuminated manuscripts collected by the kings and queens of England between the 9th and 16th century. Highlights include 16 illuminated manuscripts of King Edward IV, what the library calls the first “coherent collection” of royal books; the Psalter of King Henry VIII, A History of England by Matthew Paris, a 13th century monk, scholar and advisor to King Henry III; Thomas Hoccleve’s Regement of Princes – a early 15th century instruction book on how to be an effective ruler; a 14th century Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings; and, The Shrewsbury Book, created in Rouen in 1445 and presented to Margaret of Anjou on her marriage to King Henry VI by the renowned military commander John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. An impressive series of public events featuring well known writers and historians – including Eamon Duffy, Michael Wood, and Andrew Marr – is taking place alongside the exhibition. Runs until 13th March. An admission charge applies. For more, see www.bl.uk.
PICTURE: The Coronation of Henry III, Images of English Kings, from Edward the Confessor to Edward I, England, c. 1280-1300, Cotton Vitellius, A. xiii, f. 6 © British Library Board
• Leading 18th century landscape gardener Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown has been honored with a blue plaque at his former home in Hampton Court Palace. Brown, who designed more than 120 landscapes during his lifetime, lived at Wilderness House after King George III appointed him Chief Gardener at the palace – he lived there from 1764 until his death in 1783. Brown’s legacy can still be seen at country houses around England – including at Petworth House in West Sussex, Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire and Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. He had earned the name ‘Capability’ by the 1760s – apparently he often spoke of a property’s capabilities when speaking of it. English Heritage unveiled the plaque last week. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk.
• A second blue plaque worth mentioning this week is that marking the former home of actor Richard Burton. Michael Sheen – currently playing Hamlet at the Young Vic – was among those who last week attended the unveiling on the plaque at the home Burton and his wife actress Sybil Williams lived in from 1949 to 1956, the period during which he rose to international fame. While living at the house 6 Lyndhurst Road in Hampstead, Burton was a member of the Old Vic theatre company – performing, to the acclaim of critics, roles including that of Hamlet, Othello, Coriolanus and Henry V – and in 1952 made his Hollywood debut with My Cousin Rachel. Other films he appeared in during the period include The Robe (1953), The Desert Rats (1953), and Alexander the Great (1956). Following the close of the Old Vic season in 1956, Burton moved to Switzerland and went on to even greater public fame following his role in the 1963 film Cleopatra alongside his then lover (and later wife) Elizabeth Taylor. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk.
• On Now: Grayson Perry – The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. This exhibition at the British Museum explores a range of themes connected with the ideas of craftsmanship and sacred journeys and includes 190 objects from the museum’s collection selected by the artist along with a works by Grayson himself, many of which will be on public view for the first time. They include everything from Polynesian fetishes to Buddhist votive offerings, a prehistoric hand axe to 20th century badges and a re-engraved coin from 1882 featuring a bust of Queen Victoria with a beard and boating hat. At the heart of the exhibition sits Grayson’s own work, The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, a richly decorated cast-iron “coffin-ship”. Runs until 19th February. An admission charge applies. For more, visit www.britishmuseum.org.
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Around London: Talking rubbish; Conan Doyle’s lost manuscript; John Martin’s apocalypse; and, Postmodernism at the V&A…
September 29, 2011
• Twenty-five talking rubbish bins will be installed in Westminster City Council area as part of a campaign to encourage people to use them more. The rubbish bins, which will look no different from normal bins, will start chatting from 13th October and will be in London for two months before embarking on a UK tour after which they may become permanent fixtures. Each bin will have a unique respond when used – from singing a part of the Hallelujah Chorus to a blast of the trombone and will be tailored to suit their location (Covent Garden’s, for example, will be operatic in nature). The talking bins, which are also being trialled in Liverpool, are being put on the streets as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Love Where You Live initiative.
• A hitherto unpublished novel by Arthur Conan Doyle – creator of Sherlock Holmes – was published by the British Library this week. The Narrative of John Smith was Conan Doyle’s first novel and was written between 1883 and 1884 but the manuscript was lost on the way to the publishers. Conan Doyle rewrote it from memory but never resubmitted the work for publication. It serves as a rare insight into his creative development prior to his writing of more famous works like those featuring Holmes (the new book and an audio CD featuring Robert Lindsay, are available from the library shop). The library is also hosting an exhibition of related items in the Treasures Gallery, including one of the four notebooks that comprise the manuscript of The Narrative of John Smith, letters Conan Doyle wrote to his mother, and a “scientific and monthly magazine” he created when he was just 16. The exhibition is open until 5th January. The library is also hosting an event in which author Anthony Horowitz – commissioned by the Conan Doyle Estate to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, which will be published in November – will talk about his work and the new novel. To be held on 27th November from 2.30pm to 4pm (admission charge applies). For more, see www.bl.uk.
• On Now: John Martin: Apocalypse. The Tate Britain is hosting an exhibition featuring the works of nineteenth century British artist John Martin, in the first show dedicated to his works in more than 30 years. While something of an outsider, Martin was a key figure in the art world of his day, known for his “dramatic scenes of apocalyptic destruction and biblical disaster”. The exhibition brings together some of his most famous paintings as well as previously unseen and newly restored works. Admission charge applies. Runs until 15th January. For more, see www.tate.org.uk/britain/.
• On Now: Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990. An “in-depth survey of art, design and architecture of the 1970s and 1980s”, this exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum shows how postmodernism evolved from being merely a provocative architectural movement in the 1970s through to ideas that went on to broadly influence popular culture – everything from art and film to music and fashion. The exhibition is divided into three broad chronological sections – the first focuses on architecture, the second on the “proliferation of postmodernism through design, art, music, fashion, performance, and club culture during the 1980s” and the third on the “hyper-inflated commodity culture of the 1980s”. Admission charge applies. Runs until 15th January, 2012. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.
• Tens of thousands of people are expected to join London Mayor Boris Johnson for the annual Sky Ride this Sunday. The event, organised by the Mayor of London, Sky and British Cycling in partnership with Transport for London, allows people to cycle a 11.6 kilometre route through the city centre minus the usual car traffic. The circular route, which takes in Westminster Bridge, the Mall and Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, will be vehicle-free between 9.30am and 4.30pm. Last year more than 85,000 took part. For more information, seewww.goskyride.com/london.
• The Imperial War Museum is marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US with a new photographic exhibition showing artefacts recovered after the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York. Memory Remains, which opened on 26th August and runs until 26th February, is a photographic exploration of Hangar 17 – a previously empty hanger at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York where debris and material retrieved from the 16 acre World Trade Center site were stored. It features images taken by Spanish-American artist Francesc Torres, who was commissioned by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to capture what was happening inside the hangar and granted special access to do so. The exhibition is being accompanied by another at Imperial War Museum North in Manchester. In the Spotlight: Remembering 9/11, which runs from 10th September until September next year, features artefacts from the World Trade Center including a British flag which was laid on the altar in St Paul’s Cathedral on the first anniversary of the attacks. Admission to both exhibitions is free. For more information, see www.iwm.org.uk.
• South Bank hosts the Liberty festival, an annual showcase by deaf and disabled artists, this Saturday. The festival, which will take place at two sites – the Southbank Centre and the National Theatre, will feature a mix of music, dance, street theatre, comedy, circus performances and aerial displays. Highlights include Mark Smith’s Deaf Men Dancing, performance artist Bobby Baker, Jean-Marie Akkerman’s Cirque Nova featuring four disabled aerial artists, and Kazzum, who produce theatrical work for children up to 16-years-old. The event is free. For more information, see www.london.gov.uk/liberty.
• The British Library and BiblioLabs have launched a new 19th century historical collection app for iPad users. The app (which costs £1.99 a month or $US2.99 for those outside the UK and is available through Apple’s App Store) allows users to explore historical and antiquarian books including classic novels, original accounts by Victorian travellers, books on science and poetry, memoirs and military histories. Around 45,000 titles are initially available with a further 15,000 to be added by the end of the year.
• On Now: Freedom from: modern slavery in the capital. A new exhibition looking at the reality of trafficking and forced labour has opened at the Museum of London and the Museum of London Docklands – the museum first cross-site exhibition. Created in partnership with Anti-Slavery International and coinciding with the launch of its Slavery-Free London campaign, the exhibition looks at the personal impact of human trafficking and slavery in 21st century London and includes personal testimonies such as that of ‘Gheeta’ who was trafficked from India and forced into work. It also features a series of large scale photographs by Chris Steele-Perkins of Magnum Photos. Runs until 20th November. Admission is free. For more information, see www.museumoflondon.org.uk.
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Earlier this month it was former US President Ronald Reagan’s turn to be honored with statue in Grosvenor Square. Last week it was the turn of former Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the first man in space – to be so honored with a new statue located outside the British Council’s offices in the Mall (opposite another explorer, Captain James Cook). The statue, a gift of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, was unveiled to mark the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s celebratory visit to London on 14th July, 1961, just three months after he completed his orbit of the earth on 12th April that year. The 3.5 metre high zinc alloy figure stands close to Admiralty Arch which was where Gagarin met then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan after he was invited to the UK by the National Union of Foundrymen. Among those present for the unveiling of the statue – which is a replica of one in the town of Lubertsy where Gagarin worked as a foundryman as a teenager - was Gagarin’s daughter Elena Gagarina, now director of the Kremlin Museums, and Vladimir Popovkin, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency. The British Council is running an exhibition, Gagarin in Britain, which looks at the life of Gagarin and the early Soviet space programme, until 14th September – among the objects on display is the first space suit and an ejector seat similar to that Gargarin used when he ejected out of Vostok 1. Entry is by registration only and space is limited – email gargarin@britishcouncil.org is you’d like to register for a place. For more information, see www.britishcouncil.org. PICTURE: Frank Noon/British Council
• A new iPhone app which directs people to key sites in what was Roman London (Londinium) will go live on Monday. Developed by the Museum of London and the History Channel, Streetmuseum Londonium will bring to life some of the city’s most significant Roman sites, such as the amphitheatre at Guildhall, using “augmented reality video” which will overlay scenes of Roman London over the modern city while soundscapes will allow users to listen to a ritual at the Temple of Mithras or traders at the forum. In addition, users will be able to ‘digitally excavate’ Roman artifacts including leather bikini briefs and an ancient manicure set. Navigation to these “immersive experiences” will be via a specially created new map of Roman London which will be superimposed on a modern map of the capital, allowing users to see how the city has changed. The launch follows the earlier creation of the Streetmuseum app which guides people to more than 200 sites across the city. More than 200,000 people from across the world have so far downloaded this. Streetmuseum Londinium will be available free to download from 25th July. See www.museumoflondon.org.uk/apps for more.
• London will mark one year to go until the Olympic Games next Wednesday with a ceremony in Trafalgar Square which will be broadcast live on BBC1. Among those present with be the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge, London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) chairman Sebastian Coe and Mayor of London Boris Johnson. The event will also feature a live cross to the Aquatics Centre in Olympic Park where Olympic hopeful Tom Daley will make the first dive into the pool.
• The British Library hopes to raise £2.75 million to acquire the world’s earliest surviving intact European book, the 7th century St Cuthbert Gospel. A copy of the Gospel of St John, the book was buried with St Cuthbert on the isle of Lindisfarne in 698 and later found in the saint’s coffin in Durham Cathedral in 1104. The National Heritage Fund Memorial has already awarded £4.5 million to obtain the St Cuthbert Gospel and the Art Fund and The Garfield Weston Foundation have donated £250,000 each. The book has been on long-term loan to the library since 1979 and is regularly on view in the Sir John Ritblat Treasures Gallery. The library was approached last year and given first option to acquire the text after the Society of Jesus (British Province) decided to sell it. A price of £9 million has been agreed, of which £2.75 million remains outstanding. For more, see www.bl.uk.
• The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich opened the doors of its new £36.5 million Sammy Ofer Wing today. The new, architecturally slick extension – which is being touted as bringing with it a change of direction in the way the museum operates – features a new permanent gallery known as Voyages as well as a temporary exhibition space, library and archive. There’s also a lounge, cafe and brasserie – the latter boasting views out over Greenwich Park. The Voyages gallery has been designed as an introduction to the museum and features a 30 metre long thematic ‘object wall’ hosting more than 200 objects – everything from a letter written by Horatio Nelson to his mistress Emma Hamilton while he was on board the Victory in 1803 through to a watch belonging to Robert Douglas Norman – among those who perished on the Titanic, and a somewhat battered Punch puppet. The special exhibition space initially hosts High Arctic which uses technology to create an “immersive environment” exploring the Arctic world from the perspective of the future. The museum is also introducing the Compass Card scheme, a new initiative which will eventually be rolled out across the museum. Visitors are presented with a unique card with which, by inserting it into special units placed in galleries, they can flag their interest in receiving further information on a specified subject. The card can then be used to call up related archival information in the museum’s Compass Lounge or using the visitor’s home computer. For more information, see www.nmm.ac.uk.
• The British Museum has announced funding has been secured for two new gallery spaces. These will include a new gallery looking at the history of world money from 2000 BC to present day. Known as the Citi Money Gallery, it will be opened in 2012. A donation from Paul and Jill Ruddock, meanwhile, means the museum will also be working on a major redisplay of Room 41 which covers the Mediterranean and Europe from 300 to 1,100 AD. The artefacts in the room include treasures taken from Sutton Hoo and the Vale of York Viking Hoard. The gallery will open in 2013/14. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.
• Now On: Festival of British Archaeology. Coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology, the 21st festival (formerly known as National Archaeology Week) kicks off this weekend and runs until the end of July. It boasts more than 800 events across Britain including in London where they include guided tours of the Rose Theatre, a range of Roman themed events and activities – including a gladiator show – at the Museum of London, gallery talks at the Bank of England Museum and British Museum, the chance to visit the Billingsgate Roman House and Baths, and a guided walk of Londinium (Roman London) organised by All Hallows by the Tower. For a complete events listing, see http://festival.britarch.ac.uk/.
• Now On: The London Street Photography Festival is running until the end of the month with a series of exhibitions, talks, walks and workshops, the majority of which are taking place in and around King’s Cross. Key events include Street Markets of London in the 1940s – Walter Joseph featuring never before seen images at the British Library, Vivien Maier: A Life Uncovered at the German Gymnasium, and Seen/Unseen – George Georgiou and Mimi Mollica at the Collective Gallery. For more information, see www.londonstreetphotographyfestival.org.
• A detailed history of Apsley House, the former home of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, has gone live online as part of a pilot project aimed at “deepening the public’s understanding of English history”. The property, known as Number 1, London, is one of 12 initially being profiled in depth in a pilot project on the new English Heritage online resource, Portico. Others include Down House, the former home of Charles Darwin, located in Kent, as well as Beeston Castle, Brough Castle, Byland Abbey, Carlisle Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Easby Abbey, Kenilworth Castle, Lullingstone Roman Villa, Rievaulx Abbey and Wroxeter Roman City near Shrewsbury. Brief historical details are also provided for an additional 220 lesser known free sites including Dunster Yarn Market in Somerset. For more see www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/archives-and-collections/portico/.
• The West Lawn of the British Museum Forecourt has been turned into an image of the Australian continent as part of a five year partnership programme between the museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The landscape moves from the vegetation of the eastern Australia’s coast through to the red centre and onto a rocky Western Australian outcrop. It showcases some of the continent’s unique and highly threatened flora. The construction of the landscape, which follows one showcasing that of South Africa last year, is part of the museum’s ‘Australian season’. Runs until October. Admission is free. See www.britishmuseum.org.
• Dame Judy Dench was awarded the Freedom of the City of London for services to acting at a ceremony at the Guildhall last week. The winner of an Academy Award, nine BAFTAs and three Laurence Olivier Awards, Dame Judy is an icon of stage and screen. She is reportedly looking forward to driving her sheep over London Bridge and occasionally wearing a sword in public – both privileges of those awarded the Freedom of the City of London. The Freedom of the City’s origins are believed to date back to 1237 and enabled recipients to carry out their trade. Today people are nominated for or apply for the Freedom for the link with the City or are awarded it for a significant contribution to London life. Many of the traditional privileges – such as driving your sheep over London Bridge or being hanged with a silken rope – no longer exist.
• Now On: Out of this World: Science Fiction but not as you know it. The British Library’s first exhibition which explores science fiction through literature, film, illustrations and sound. Guest curated by Andy Sawyer, director of science fiction studies MA at the University of Liverpool, the exhibition traces the evolution of the genre from Lucian of Samosata’s True History, written in the 2nd century AD, through to the recent writings of Cory Doctorow and China Mieville. Highlights include a 1516 edition of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, a 1647 edition of Lucian’s True History, and a 1906 edition of HG Wells text, The War of the Worlds. Runs until 25th September. For more see, www.bl.uk/sciencefiction.
