The London Traveler

The Last Night of the Proms is a venerable British institution.  Loved  by some, hated by others, its mix of flag-waving, patriotic folk songs and climax with the singing of Rule Britannia is, if nothing else, utterly memorable.
But the Proms have a lot more to offer. Started by Sir Henry Wood and impresario Robert Newman in  1895 , they’ve been going strong ever since. For 114 years, to be exact.
And the 2008 season starts tomorrow.
What can you hear?
There’s a huge variety of concerts. Controversial violinist Nigel Kennedy is back. You can hear Stockhausen’s Stimmung, an amazing modern work in which …read more

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Run Riot is organising the UK’s first ever air band competition  on the 11th July, at Bethnal Green Young Working Men’s Club, Pollard Row, E2.
For those of you with limited guitar playing ability, the habit of hitting your drums at the wrong time, or truly terrible voices, this is your chance to star! The main rule is – no real instruments allowed, no real singing allowed – only air music!
Registrations are open till the weekend (7pm on the 6th July to be precise) for bands of 3-5 members – find out how on the Run Riot website.
The  event itself will …read more

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Pride London  this year celebrates fairytales, myths, and legends, giving the LGBT community the chance to strut their stuff in truly fantastic mood. Prince Charming can kiss as many frogs as he likes, and Cinderella shall go to the ball, so there!
There will be stages in Trafalgar Square and Soho Square, Dean Street and Romilly Street with a selection of music and dance. But as always, the real focus of the day is the big parade. And for the first  time ever, all three armed forces have been given permission to march in uniform.
Remember, though, that if you want to …read more

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Head for Highbury Fields this Saturday, July 5, to get a taste of Mongolian life.
There will be a Naadam – a traditional Mongolian wrestling contest. There will be yurts – only if you’re speaking Mongolian, they’re called gers. There will be traditional archery competitions, Mongolian music, and a chance to taste Mongolian food.
You’ll also be able to hear Mongolian throat-singing – a fascinating style of music which uses harmonic overtones to create a strange whistling tune above the ‘natural’ bass note.
The Naadam celebration marks the start of a London-Mongolia car rally, raising money for a number of charities.
Where: Highbury Fields …read more

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Wimbledon is one of Britain’s great icons. Tennis on grass courts, not clay. Players clad in their pristine tennis whites. The gentle sounds of tennis balls bouncing from racquet strings, the thunk-thunk of the ball, polite outbursts of applause.
And, of course, strawberries and cream.
There’s something very British – very middle-class British – about Wimbledon. For instance, the queue. It may not always be apparent when you’re waiting for a bus – not nowadays – but we like to think that while the French have cheese, and the Germans have beer and sausages, we have queues. We’ve made them into a …read more

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Americans in London always organise some nice Independence Day celebrations. But this year the British Museum is helping out.
There will be lindy-hopping. There will be jazz. There will be American food. There will be American beer tasting!
It all coincides with the exhibition The American Scene, which shows prints from Hopper to Pollock. Festivities start at 630 in the evening in Room 24.
For the more studious, there’s a talk on collecting American prints at 1.15 in the afternoon in Room 90.
And the Great Court is open till nine in the evening with a mix of vigorous activites including basketball and American …read more

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Want to ride a carousel in the middle of London? Here’s your chance – a wonderful summer fair, in one of London’s most interesting shopping streets.
The shops here include the marvellous Daunt Books and Patisserie Valerie, as well as fashion shops like Ronit Zilkha and Fenn Wright Manson. There are perfumiers like Terre d’Oc, and some fine restaurants. This isn’t the place for bling or cutting edge fashion – instead it’s the terrain of understated taste and elegance.
But for a day the street really comes alive. Marylebone is often described as a ‘village within London’, and for the day, it …read more

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City Hall is one of London’s ‘new’ landmarks, a curvy blob on the South Bank that houses the London Assembly.
Designed by Foster & Partners, the building is a tilted glass globe, which purposely has no ‘front’ or ‘back’ – it’s a democratic shape, which can be seen from any perspective. Equally, it’s an energy efficient shape which minimises the surface area, thus reducing the building’s heating needs as there’s less opportunity for heat to leak out of the building.
The dominant feature in the interior is the spiral ramp that works its way up to the top floor. As with the …read more

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A piece in the Guardian today shows ways you can have fun in London for free, with activities as diverse as gigs, knitting, free movies, and watching a trial at the Old Bailey.
Many of the best museums – including the biggest ones – are free, and so is one of my favourites, the Sir John Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
If you want to go to Evensong or one of the Sunday services in Westminster Abbey, it’s free – and that’s a big saving as otherwise it’s £12 to get in, which even for such a historic building seems a …read more

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I used to think knitting was for grannies. But then Russell Crowe started making it glamorous, and I discovered that there’s something therapeutic about clicking away with your needles while watching Torchwood.
And with the fantastic yarns now available you can turn out something much nicer than granny’s arran sweaters. (Which always seemed to have more holes than I had arms to put through them. Did my nana really read HP Lovecraft, or was she just a bit rubbish at knitting?)
I Knit London organises a knitting club every Wednesday and Thursday night, alternating between London pubs and the I Knit London …read more

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