Features

  • April 20th 1812: Bram Stoker Dies in London
    Posted in: Books, Features, People

    He’s the novelist who created the most widely known literary horror character outside of Frankenstein. Blood-sucking Count Dracula was responsible for many-a-troubled sleep with 1000 Dracula-themed books and 200 movies now available at the last count. Bram Stoker died in London on this date April 20th in 1912 aged 64 and was cremated in Golders […]

  • A London Gallery Lover’s Guide to Art Terminology
    Posted in: Features, Galleries & Museums

    Confused by all the art movements which emerged from every significant aesthetic development since classicism? Does the ‘neo’ and ‘faux’ labels prefixing every new offshoot leave you flummoxed? Here’s an A-guide to the most commonly used terms and a list of the London galleries where you can see displayed examples. Abstract: This refers to art […]

  • March 14: Death of Karl Marx
    Posted in: Features, People

    Highgate Cemetery has been a century-long tourist attraction not for those with a taste for the macabre but admirers of a certain political philosopher whose Das Kapital and Communist Manifesto arguably had a greater influence on 20th and 21st-century nations and the beliefs of mankind than some major religions. Marx didn’t have too high an […]

  • March 7: Birthdate of Abstract Art Pioneer Piet Mondrian
    Posted in: Features, Galleries & Museums, People

    Our Artists in London series looks at how Piet Mondrian, one of the founder members of the Association Abstraction-Creation, drew inspiration from his visits to the capital. The movement was formed in Paris in 1931 but the Dutch artist’s creative journey would have an international flavour forced by the onset of the Second World War, […]

  • The History of Black Theatre in London
    Posted in: Drama & Theatre, Features

    The recent launch of the National Theatre’s Bright Young Tings photography exhibition of black theatre in London 1979-1982 will, no doubt, encourage discussion about the roots of black theatre and the ground-breaking actors that emerged. Today, What’s Hot London? looks back on the emergence of African and Caribbean theatre in the capital from as early […]

  • 23 Feb: Birthdate of London Diarist Samuel Pepys
    Posted in: Features, People

    Despite his undoubted standing during the English Restoration, Samuel Pepys’ place in history would have been unremarkable were it not for his private London diaries completed from 1660-1669 and which eventually became public property. Born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street in 1633 into a family of MPs and Lord Justices, the privileges of social class […]

  • Sara Minelli: Profile of an Italian Flautist in London
    Posted in: Features, People

    Sara Minelli has been resident in London since 2011 and her repertoire of work since then has culminated in the forthcoming release of her first album on Florence-based EMA Records. She is classically trained, specialising in contemporary classical music and has expressed a preference for more experimental pieces or those with ‘extended techniques’ which explore […]