ON THIS DAY in 1743 English bare-knuckle fighter Jack Broughton began staging boxing exhibitions in an ampitheatre on Hanway Rd, near Oxford Street. It eventually became the largest of its kind, making him the foremost name in the sport. He cemented this status by drawing up seven rules, which became universally applied before the Marquis […]
BRITAIN’S most famous clock tower is to fall silent until 2021 while urgent repairs are completed but here are a few interesting facts about this popular Westminster tourist attraction that looms over the Houses of Parliament. The bell was cast in Stockton-on-Tees 161 years ago this same month, weighing in at a formidable 16 tons. […]
44 YEARS AGO today a new sound called hip hop was born when legendary New York DJ Kool Herc held one of his block parties, mixed a couple of tracks together and kick-started a musical revolution. The exact address was 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York, the date August 11 1973 and back then the […]
Exactly a hundred years after French poet Guillaume Apollinaire invented the term surrealism, The White Cube’s latest exhibition Dreamers Awake explores this art movement through the work of fifty female artists. Fellow Frenchman Andre Breton is credited with kick starting the revolution but today it has influenced the work of many artists, some of whom […]
Set in the 28th century, Luc Besson’s fast-paced sci-fi spectacular casts Cara Delevigne (Sergeant Laureline) alongside Dane DeHaan (Major Valerian) as special operatives policing human territories in a multi-species universe. Right there it has an undoubted curiousity factor. Can she act? Surprising well. Natural, a calm authority, perfect American accent and (this is no lie) […]
THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE celebrates outstanding works of fiction written in the English language and published in the UK. The recently published longlist of 13 books emerged from 144 hopefuls who submitted from 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2017. The eventual winner of the £50,000 prize will join the 52 other notable authors who […]
English Romantic poet John Keats lived a short life that was in many ways the archetypal tragic and poverty-stricken existence we expect of such literary figures. What still exists is his body of work and, of course, Keats House, his home in Hampstead. Formerly Wentworth Place, this Regency villa has been a museum since 1925 […]
Summer time is always a trigger for London buskers of all backgrounds and degrees of talent trying their hands before the crowds. One-man bands, magicians, jugglers, break dancers, shamrock yodas dressed in green garb on St Patrick’s Day, you name it the London crowds have probably seen it. Covent Garden is the unofficial busking centre […]
Where bronze statues of fictitious characters such as Sherlock Holmes take pride of place alongside those of historic British kings, queens and heads of state. The streets are the unofficial exhibition space for the public art in London Town. So if you don’t like galleries or museums you’ve no excuse!
Whether you’re losing weight for your summer hols, just after general fitness or a potential Mo Farah there are many run clubs you can commit to for jogging stints around the capital. The distances vary from 1 mile to 10k and with no cap on experience. So beginners get out those running shoes because regardless […]
Hillary Clinton Graffiti/Painting Shoreditch By Street Artist Pegasus
