Londonist

Populist: November 15 - 21

DeanN — 2009-11-21T17:00:50+00:00

Clockwise from top left: Lord Mayor's show, Ghost Forest, new Lord's, Westbourne River opening

The week's most popular posts, and a round-up of what's happening around London

In the news:

The confusing situation for Oyster users on National Rail was dissected

A Labour politician found himself in hot water after insulting the Queen

Boris' biggest fan demonstrated a keen grasp of Doublethink

Plans were revealed for a sunken amphitheatre and reflective pool in the Kings Cross gas holder

The rector of Imperial College stood down

Mile End station: London's only space / time wormhole?

BNP leader Nick Griffin revealed his plan to stand for Parliament in Barking

West Ham announced a Katy Perry-inspired lingerie range

Around town:

Don that deerstalker and follow in the steps of Sherlock Holmes

Learn all about London's lion

Get out and explore the nine best November pubs

Hot gigs last week: Rihanna in Brixton and Muse at the O2

Photos showing the hell and redemption of Johnny Cash

Wanna make yourself a better person? You've got 100 days to do it.

We caught up with Sam, the man behind Ghost Signs

The Saturday Strangeness

Neil Arnold — 2009-11-21T15:00:00+00:00

130. Neighbourhood Witch Scheme!

On the 25th September 2009 the Daily Mail newspaper reported on actress Phyllida Law, and the fact that from her home at Crediton Hill, West Hampstead she'd had two ornamental gargoyles stolen. The woman, whose daughter is actress Emma Thompson, found her stone figures missing in the summer of 2007. Inspired by the film, Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix (in which her daughter stars) Ms Law designed a placard warning that whoever had taken the gargoyles would be cursed. The note, which read, "Be so kind as to return the children's stone statues. Otherwise curses will occur! You have been warned!" was accompanied by two Neighbourhood Watch mock-ups labelled 'Neighbourhood Witch', with a broomstick-riding figure drawn on.

Bizarrely, on September 20th 2009 a black rucksack appeared outside the door of Ms Law's house. Initially the actress was rather suspicious of the bag but, after forty-eight hours she hesitantly investigated. The bag was very heavy and contained the two missing gargoyles.

The figures were accompanied by a note that read, "Help me, please. I have been very, very ill since I stole these. Please lift the curse. Sorry."

Overjoyed by the return of the gargoyle's Ms Law responded by washing out the rucksack and leaving it out, accompanied by a note that read, "Thank you for returning the children's statues. All curses have been lifted. Hurrah!"

Photo by gingiber on flickr

Saturday Cinema Summary

RachelH — 2009-11-21T10:40:34+00:00

Bill Nighy and Romola Garai in Glorious 39 / image courtesy of Momentum Pictures

Our weekly round-up of film reviews

Think of classy TV drama over the last decade and chances are you'll think of Stephen Poliakoff; think Perfect Strangers, Gideon's Daughter, The Lost Prince. Unfortunately, for Glorious 39 Poliakoff "has dumbed himself down for this glossily daft upper-crust conspiracy thriller about appeasement" (Telegraph, 2 stars). Romola Garai is the adopted daughter of an MP (Bill Nighy), but when her anti-Hitler friends start 'committing suicide', she smells a rat. "The script jumps off the deep end into a hysterical farrago of murder, kidnapping, betrayal and animal slaughter" says the Independent (1 star); "pause for breath, even for an instant, and you risk being tied in knots by the film's endless, gaudy contrivances" agrees the Guardian (3 stars). The Times sticks the final knife in with "the plodding pacing makes this feel longer than the Second World War itself" (2 stars).

A Serious Man draws on the Coen brothers' experiences of growing up in the 1960s Mid West, but Empire advises caution: "don't make the mistake of thinking this is a 'personal' movie... [though] the film does stand out as their most human and easy to relate to" (5 stars). Larry Gopnik is a middle aged Jew having a midlife crisis and turns to his local rabbi for help, but the answers he gets from his religion are almost impossible to reconcile with the wreckage of his life. "It all adds up to a portrait of dysfunctional Jewish suburbia unparalleled since Capturing The Friedmans" says the Telegraph (3 stars), and "it isn't just a comedy - the serious edge of human enquiry is there too" (Evening Standard). "Euphoric, sad and thoughtful all at once" concludes the Guardian (5 stars).

Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! is not, as you might guess from the exclamation mark, entirely serious. Matt Damon plays a pudgy executive working with the FBI to expose a conspiracy in his company - except the conspiracy may be entirely in his head. Damon "breaks brilliantly with anything he's done in his career to play a man who looks in the mirror and convinces himself that he sees Jason Bourne" says Empire (3 stars), as the plot around him "retains the giddy pace of a 1960s caper" (Times, 3 stars). "The problem... is that it's not especially funny" shrugs the Independent.

The Guardian (2 stars) has a brilliant, if cruel, way of summing up The Twilight Saga: New Moon:

"In the first Twilight film, lovely, young Bella Swan couldn't have sex with her vampire beau in case he got carried away and bit her. In this new one, on the other hand, Bella can't get it on with her werewolf suitor in case he gets carried away and claws the bejeepers out of her. In the next in the series, Bella won't have sex with the Mummy in case he gets carried away and strangles her with a bit of manky old bandage, and in the film after that, she mustn't shag Frankenstein's monster in case he gets carried away and rams his electrified neck-bolts into her ears."

Yes, the controversy about the film's abstemious message isn't going away, but what of the film? There's "some ravishing moments of ghostly thrills and spills" (Evening Standard, 2 stars), while the Telegraph says what it "misses is any animating pulse... the way the characters are insulated from real danger makes it kind of a drag" (2 stars).

The Sea Wall is based on a memoir by Marguerite Duras. Isabelle Huppert plays "a widow in 1930s Cambodia who's struggling against bankruptcy after the sea wall protecting her farmland collapses (metaphor alert)" (Independent, 2 stars). The story is played "with sensitivity but the film lacks Duras's way with words and images" says the Standard (3 stars), and the best Empire can find to say is that it's got "decent performances and beautiful scenery" (3 stars). All very middling.

Astra Taylor's documentary Examined Life brings us a group of modern thinkers to discuss philosophy in various settings. It's certainly split opinions: "what an exasperating film... Frustratingly, no subject is investigated in depth, and the glibness is dull" complains the Guardian (2 stars), and Empire is forced to concede that "for all its flashes of brilliance, too few will be inspired to reassess their place in society" (3 stars). The Telegraph, on the other hand, finds it "an addictive and stimulating experience all round" (4 stars).

The Cesar-winning The First Day of the Rest of Your Life is an "intimate drama [that] examines the fractures and foibles of an ordinary bourgeois French family over the last 12 years of the 20th century" (Independent, 3 stars). The Times (4 stars) calls it an "affectionate yet never saccharine portrait" of five pivotal days in the life of a Parisian couple and their three adult children, but the Telegraph feels that although the film's "keen to show off its period threads and craft solo acting moments, all of which it does entertainingly, we can't quite see the ties that bind" (3 stars).

"Even those who regard John Shuttleworth as a charming, avuncular presence will find their patience taxed" by Southern Softies says the Guardian (1 star). Graham Fellows's alter-ego visits the Channel Islands, "inflicting random acts of light entertainment on passers-by" (Times). The Independent (3 stars) demurs, however, saying "while it would be unwise to expect much (any) insight, there are laughs along the way, most of them springing from a wry observation of his own amateurishness".

Machan is based on the true story of a group of unemployed Sri Lankan men who conned a handball tournament into believing they were their country's official team, before disappearing into Germany for a better life. "The film is a bit rough and ready but [director Ugo] Pasolini does not forget to emphasise the desperate plight of his subjects" says the Standard (3 stars). The Times thinks it's "funny, and tragic, and only a little bit preachy" (2 stars), while the Telegraph finds space in its three-line review to describe the way the film "fights its way scrappily into your affections".

Patrick Swayze filmed Christmas in Wonderland in 2007; the Guardian wonders whether it's "too Scroogeish to suggest that had Patrick Swayze still been with us this elderly yuletide turkey might have stayed on the shelf?" (1 star). Two of Swayze's moppet children go on a spending spree after finding a bag of stolen cash. "It is truly execrable, a tawdry seasonal exploitation pic set almost entirely within a giant mall" winces the Times (1 star).

Joseph Strick's 1967 attempt to film Joyce's supposedly unfilmable Ulysses is re-released at the Barbican. While the Times calls it "a monumental achievement... 130 minutes of witty, dreamy and often surreal cinema (5 stars), the Guardian thinks it "works best in its opening sequences, with Bloom racketing about Dublin, but when we move into the Circe 'Nighttown' episode, the hallucinatory effects look like outtakes from Billy Liar" (3 stars).

Next week: the highly anticipated Bunny and the Bull and another Brit comedy, Nativity. We bet the suspense about which is better will kill you.

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Extra, Extra

SallyB — 2009-11-20T17:50:38+00:00

Scripts for the Crimbo edition of East Enders have been stolen.
N-Dubz members have been witnesses in a rape case today.
London's best roads for cyclists have been revealed.
A London guide dog has been savaged by a terrier-type thing at Cricklewood Station.
A teenager has been stabbed to death in Stoke Newington.

Image by Gaz-zee-boh via the Londonist pool.

Theatre Review: Hall @ Hornsey Town Hall

Hazel — 2009-11-20T17:17:14+00:00

The instruction was: meet at Crouch End Clock Tower with specific items to hand. At the signalled time, we pressed play on our .mp3 player and we entered Hall, a breath-taking new production by 19;29. Disclosing the secret location won't spoil anything - indeed, we may only increase interest - so we're happy to tell you that the intricately detailed audio guide takes you to Hornsey Town Hall, into the psyche of this grand, haughty 1930s Modernist building, empty since the 1980s.

Each audience member has an audio guide and an entry time; Hall is very much an individual experience. The audio guide instructions must be strictly followed, and intriguing tips are mixed in ("don't let him see you... stay absolutely quiet"), lending narrative intrigue and mystery to the experience. There's a formal council meeting, bursts of violence, a rotten banquet and a piano concert. There's a room that doesn't appear on the plans but is definitely in the building. The slippery, dream-like feel to Hall alternates between threatening and romantic. Credit must be given to the enormous amount of planning and to-the-second synchronisation of cues, audio guides and action - how it's all done part of the wonderful mystery.

It is VERY important to have as full power in your .mp3 player, at least an hour of continuous play. Though there are contingencies for player failures, nothing can repair the broken spell if you have to scrabble around in the dark trying to make a dead iPod come back to life, while the story continues without you. Once you're charged up and in the building, do not press pause, do not skip backward or forward. Just do as your told; enter Hall to find out the importance of obedience and the consequences of not following the rules.

Hall by 19;29 at Hornsey Town Hall. For more information and to book a place, go to the 19;29 website.

Lit Interview: Claire Mulley

RachelH — 2009-11-20T16:30:00+00:00

Oh dear. There we were, all excited by a Women in History talk in Putney next week, when we got news that Waterstones had cancelled. And more fool them, because we saw a similar line-up in Kensington the other week and it was smashing.

Anyway, one of the authors due to speak was the highly engaging Clare Mulley, whose book about Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, is not only a Daily Mail Biographers Club winner but also follows in her subject's philanthropic footsteps: all author royalties go to the charity.

We asked Clare a few questions about her fabulously named biographee, history and London itself, and frankly her answers were so good we still wanted to share them with you.

Why did you choose Eglantyne Jebb as the subject for a biography?
It amazes me that so little has been written about her. She founded Save the Children at the end of the First World War, and wrote the pioneering statement of children's human rights that has since evolved into the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - the most widely accepted human rights instrument in history. And yet, rather marvellously, she did not like children much, never having any of her own, and once described them as 'the little wretches'. Eglantyne was a woman who spent her life breaking social conventions as she moved from illicit romance to suicidal depression, and from spiritualism to espionage... But by the time she died, aged only 52, she had won over the Pope and the miners, the British establishment and the Bolshevik government. It was a story begging to be told.

She caused quite a stir at the Royal Albert Hall and in Trafalgar Square didn't she?
Yes, just after the war Eglantyne was arrested in Trafalgar Square for distributing leaflets showing photos of starving Austrian children that had not been cleared by the government censors. She lost the case, but gave the court reporters plenty to pad out their stories with - especially when the crown prosecutor donated the sum of her fine towards her cause. This was the first donation put towards a new Fund for the starving children of Europe; the Save the Children Fund. Building on the publicity, Eglantyne and her sister Dorothy launched the Fund at a crowded public meeting at the Royal Albert Hall, winning over even those who had arrived with rotten fruit to throw at the 'traitor' sisters who wanted to feed the former enemy. 'I have no enemies under the age of seven' she later said.

Is there still a need for specific women's studies now?
I think there is still a need to redress the balance from the 'great man' view of history, and look more deeply at the less travelled areas of gender and culture where there are some fabulous stories, often with huge resonance for modern life. Historians like Amanda Vickery are doing great work here, but it would be good to see more.

Have the 'famous' women from history been done to death?
Some lives do get a lot of attention, but new biographies of Elizabeth I and Florence Nightingale show that there are both original sources still waiting to be looked at, and that each generation can profitably look again at the past from a new perspective. That said, there are many fascinating lives that never get a look in, and we are much the poorer for it.

Which figure from London's past would you like to meet and why?
I would quite like to meet Eglantyne chalking up the pavement round Trafalgar Square, just to see how closely I caught her likeness. There are so many others though. I'd like to sit behind a paper in the early coffee shops, be ferried across the Thames, and slip in behind closed doors both upstairs and down at any time from about 1700 onwards.

What's your favourite bit of London?
I love Westminster Abbey with its secret gardens and museum, Borough Market and the streets round Spitalfields, and I am always happy in my sister's kitchen in Herne Hill.

Have you ever been sick on the tube?
Yes, into my bag. I was pleased to find that Eglantyne was once so excited coming back from a dance that she was, in her brother's words, 'magnificently sick' out of the carriage window, so I feel I am in good company.

The Woman Who Saved the Children: A Biography of Eglantyne Jebb by Clare Mulley is available to buy now.

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What We Need Is More Shops

Lindsey — 2009-11-20T16:00:28+00:00

Brent Cross flyover by
D I C K S D A I L Y

Westfield turned one the other day, its eastern sister is coming along nicely and Christmas shopping is apparently brisk up West. So what we need in London is definitely some more shopping. In fact, we probably need some more shopping right next to that old Brent Cross shopping centre. Handy then that councillors have approved a £5bn plan for a new town centre - the unwieldily named "Brent Cross Cricklewood" including new and surely superfluous shopping for the area. The plan envisions 27,000 new jobs plus homes, 3 new schools and a new bus and railway station to get you to and from the shopping. In short, a whole new suburb over 20 years. Please come up with a better name in the comments.

Wave If You're Really There: #5 Marriage

Lindsey — 2009-11-20T15:30:47+00:00

Next Saturday, a ceremony of sorts takes place in St Leonards, Shoreditch, with a live spoken word and music love-in, loosely themed around marriage in all its permutations. Artists, musicians, poets, animators, sculptors and illustrators are all pitching in - for better or worse - on the big day and the 5th 'Wave If You're Really There' happening.

Wave Machines and poet Nathan Jones, last seen at the London Word Festival performing out of their skin to a rapt Bardens Boudoir audience, return with an "alt-bridal march" The Bell. We're also promised something from the ace stand-up author/poet gang: 'Homework', Joe Dunthorne, Ross Sutherland, Chris Hicks and Tim Clare working with musician, John Smith, "alter-egoing a plugged-in, Neil-Young's-Dead-Man-soundtrack." And lots of artsy visual stuff - hopefully no speeches.

Seems there's no categorising this event but it all sounds quite ~~insane~~ intriguing and it's only a fiver - for richer not poorer - certainly setting up a mind-boggling mix of live performance stuff. Dress nice, but don't outshine the bride.

"Wave If You're Really There" happens on Sat 5 Dec, 5pm - Midnight at St. Leonard's Church. Shoreditch High St E1 6JN. £5 adv - buy tickets now.

Classical Music For Your Pancreas @ Cadogan Hall

Lindsey — 2009-11-20T14:40:50+00:00

By Jon Smalldon via the Londonist Flickrpool

Pancreatic cancer did for everyone's favourite dirty dancer in September this year and the world's most famous tenor two years ago. It's actually the fifth most common cause of death from cancer but public awareness is relatively low. What does the pancreas do anyway? Quite.

A classical concert next Tuesday hopes to help change that and raise much needed funds for charity Pancreatic Cancer UK. Out of the shadows is a concert by the English Chamber Orchestra with The Holst Singers. The gig is put on in memory of another who died of the disease, Robert Brown, a prominent figure in the investment world with a love of Bob Dylan. His brother says he would have preferred a rock concert but maybe Bob was on holiday.

Instead, enjoy Fauré's "Requiem", Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending/ Serenade to Music", Walton's "Henry V Suite" and Holst's "Brook Green Suite". Stephen Layton conducts the English Chamber Orchestra, The Holst Singers, violinist Matthew Trusler and four exceptional young vocal soloists - we're pretty clueles when it comes to classical (alas - if you're not, get in touch, we need you) but we're told that this line up is appealing enough in itself, let alone the genuinely deserving cause.

Charity Gala in aid of Pancreatic Cancer UK in on Tuesday 24th November. Tickets: £18-30 available from the Cadogan Hall box office: 020 7730 4500.

Preview: Bang Bang Eche

Amanda Farah — 2009-11-20T13:35:46+00:00

Image courtesy of Bill Shouldis under the Creative Commons License.

Bang Bang Eche kick up a big fuss so you can shake your hips. The four Kiwi teens from Christchurch play raucous dance punk that skitters like a needle on a warped record. The guitars scratch like those of many 80s indie dance floor fillers while the bass pulses at frenetic speed. And as an added bonus, singer Zach Doney spazzes out during gigs like the combustible ball of energy you'd want a frontman to be.

Bang Bang Eche are at the Fly on Saturday night in support of their new EP whose title we probably shouldn’t reprint here. They’re also opening for Har Mar Superstar at the Garage on the 30th, and quite plainly Doney’s contortions are easier on the eyes than the headliner’s.

Bang Band Eche: The Fly, 21 November, 7.30pm. Tickets: £5. For more information, visit www.barflyclub.com

Last Minute Listing: Christmas Shopping At The National Gallery

M@ — 2009-11-20T13:00:43+00:00

It may be a bit busier tonight.

The term 'national treasure' gets bandied about all too readily these days. But the pictures of the country's foremost gallery really do fit the bill. Like any national treasure, they're also eminently marketable. The gallery contains at least three gift shops that we're aware of, selling everything from a Fighting Temeraire fridge magnet to a Virgin on the Rocks address book, and this weird ear-knife combination figurine. Not sure what that's all about. Anyhoo, all the bounteous goods from the regular catalog, plus special Christmas decorations and 20% off the gallery's Christmas cards can be garnered from 6.30 tonight in the Sainsbury Wing's shop. The first 50 customers (with voucher) will receive a special goody bag of books and stocking fillers. All visitors (over 18) can relax with a complimentary glass of mulled wine and chill to the choons of live Spanish classical music. A far more civilised way to do your Christmas shopping than spending Crimbo Eve queueing up in Westfield. The evening will be repeated next week at the same time.

Photo of the Day: Caption Required #28

NatalieU — 2009-11-20T12:30:21+00:00

Getting ready for the silly season, if only these mischevious penguins could talk. Captions below.

Photo by martinhanna via the Londonist Flickrpool.

Captions from last week's PoTD: Caption Required #27

London's Lost Rivers From Above: The Westbourne

M@ — 2009-11-20T11:55:53+00:00

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Helping you find the sights, sounds, and occasional smells of our buried waterways.

Along with the Tyburn and Fleet, the River Westbourne is one of the 'big three' lost watercourses north of the Thames, now buried and used as a sewer. It shares a similar point of origin to its siblings, rising in Whitestone Pond on Hampstead Heath. From there, it flows down through Hampstead, Kilburn, Paddington, Hyde Park, on to Knightsbridge, and out into the Thames at Chelsea.

Of the three, the Westbourne is the most accessible. You can even get inside it by clambering down to the foreshore at Chelsea Embankment during low tide. The opening is obvious, taking up half the height of the Embankment wall. You can penetrate perhaps twenty metres or so before firm steel hatches block the way.

View Underground London in a larger map
Londonist's Map of Subterranean London.

The next obvious (and famous) evidence of the river comes at Sloane Square Tube station, where a metal conduit carries the waters over the tracks. The Westbourne can then be traced through the streets of Chelsea and Belgravia (see map for route) and on in to Hyde Park via Knightsbridge (the name thought to come from a watery crossing point).

Westbourne water originally fed the Serpentine, but is now diverted East of the lake. North of the park, a bridge once carried Bayswater Road over the Westbourne, where the Swan Inn still stands. You can clearly see the ancient river valley as a dip in the road at this point.

The route becomes harder to follow once we enter the Paddington and Maida Vale areas. Names such as Upbrook Mews and Conduit Mews offer reminders. More signs can be found in Kilburn, where a plaque marks the point where the stream was once bridged by the Roman Watling Street (now Kilburn High Road). Further plaques commemorate the Kilburn wells (a spa on the banks of the Westbourne), and a flooding event from the 1970s on West End Lane. Beside the latter, you can clearly hear fast-moving water from a nearby drain. The journey from here up to Hampstead Heath is somewhat confused by the branching of differnet tributaries. The only other hint of the river we came across was the sound of running water at the Northern end of Reddington Gardens.

Further (and, frankly, much better) pictures of the inside of the Westbourne sewer can be found here.

Images by M@ Brown and Paul Cox. Previous entries in this series.

One Hundred Days To Make Me A Better Person

Lindsey — 2009-11-20T11:30:20+00:00

Announcing the first project ahead of the 2010 London Word Festival: One Hundred Days To Make Me A Better Person spearheaded by the wonderful Josie Long.

Jacked in New Year's resolutions? Wimped out of NaNoWriMo? Scoff at therapy, coaching and all that? Well here's a way to engage in self improvement your own way, egged on by a bunch of comedians, writers, musicians and other folk. What do you want to do? Learn a language, do star jumps, write a letter, memorise a motorway, commence a project, take a photo - whatever tickles your aspirational glands. When you've plumped for your personal challenge, simply register at the website and make your pledge for your hundred day ambition. Then begin on 1st December.

Follow everyone's progress on twitter @hundredday, in pictures at flickr and on the website. It all builds up to a gig and exhibition of what everyone's been up to at the smashing London Word Festival on 10th March 2010.

What will you do? Sign up now: www.hundreddays.net

Presented By:

2009-11-20T11:30:20+00:00

Harriet Harman Faces Prosecution

DeanN — 2009-11-20T10:45:35+00:00

Photo / Steve Punter

The Deputy Labour party leader Harriet Harman is to be prosecuted for talking on her mobile phone while driving.

The incident happened in Dulwich this past July. Ms Harman is alleged to have been involved in a minor prang in her car, which she was reportedly driving whilst chatting (or, given the July timeline, plotting her boss' demise) into her cellular. She was alleged to have stopped briefly following the accident, but eyewitnesses claim that she drove off without leaving her insurance details; some claim that she offered a hostage to fortune by wheeling down her window and bleating, "I'm Harriet Harman -- you know where you can get me!".

We're sure she didn't mean one of Her Majesty's courts, but that's where the Camberwll & Peckham MP could end up. Ms. Harman, who has previously (and unfairly) been criticised for wearing a stab-proof vest while patrolling with coppers round her manor, does have a track record in speeding offences: fancying herself a latter-day Nigella Mansell, she was caught doing 99mph en route to Bristol in 2003, and clocked up another few points on the license in 2005 for doing 50mph in a 40mph zone.

The offences of driving while using a mobile, and "without due care and attention", carry penalties of up to nine license points, and significant fines.

Further Bus Strikes Affect East London

M@ — 2009-11-20T09:09:40+00:00

Bus drivers are once again on strike, affecting 58 routes through East London. Members of the Unite union will strike until 3am on Sunday. Routes through Barking, Bow, Leyton, Romford, Upton Park and West Ham are most heavily affected. The industrial action comes in protest against the freezing of wages which, according to transport officials, range from £28,000 to over £35,000. The action follows a 24-hour strike a couple of weeks ago.

Theatre Review: The Laramie Project @ The Space E14

JohnnyFox — 2009-11-19T23:49:21+00:00

Funny how words take on new meanings. ‘Lockerbie’ used to be a tiny hamlet in the West of Scotland before a PanAm plane came down in its fields, ‘Columbine’ was once an average high school … and ‘Laramie’ was an enormously popular 100-episode TV western in the black-and-white era.

Nowadays Laramie is irrevocably connected with the brutal torture and murder by two rednecks of flyweight gay student Matthew Shepard, beaten and left for dead tied to a fence outside the Wyoming town on the night of 6 October 1998. His death led directly to the hate crimes legislation finally enacted by the Obama administration last month.

When planning a London run, Wild Oats Productions couldn’t have known the awful timeliness of this revival, shadowing the homophobic assault on Ian Baynham, kicked to death in Trafalgar Square and for whom the London gay community turned out in their thousands for a vigil three weeks ago.

The Laramie Project is a kinetic theatre piece based on verbatim interviews with the local population in the days and weeks following Matthew’s murder, covering news reporting, police investigation, trials and a portrait of a close-knit community wrestling with its collective and individual consciences. Eleven years after the event it has an immediacy and a freshness which had every member of the audience wholly engaged, whilst staying the right side of sensationalism or mawkishness. The structure of Joseph C. Walsh’s production is elegant and fluid, and the ebb and flow of 75 distinct characters is handled with incredible skill by a tight team of just 8 young actors.

It’s hard to single out individual performances but among a very focused and committed ensemble, Adam Unze’s doubling of the callow barman who served Matt his last drink, and both of the perpetrators is indicative of a highly developed talent, Francis Adams‘ speech to the jury as Matt’s father held the audience in total stillness, and Amy Clarke‘s ability to switch from glamorous sophisticate to backwoods grandma by the mere donning of a beret (not to mention becoming a dead ringer for Glenn Close every time she put it on) was outstanding.

There is no higher recommendation: for all the important reasons you go to the theatre, it’s a ‘must-see’.

The Laramie Project runs till 22 November 2009 at The Space, 269 Westferry Road, London E14 3RS, Friday at 7.30 (charity performance for Theatre Mad, tickets £16), Saturday at 3 and 8pm, Sunday at 4pm. Box Office 020 7515 7799. Tickets normally £10 but two-for-one if you quote ‘Evening Standard Offer’ when you call. Online booking also via the website.

We have always been at war with Eurasia

Jonn — 2009-11-19T16:30:00+00:00

He is, you know

Regular Londonistas may recall our coverage of the wit and wisdom of “Sarah, London”, the Mayor's Number One Fan and official Best Friend FOREVAH!

This week, she's at it again, offering her thoughts on the plight of Soho businesses losing their premises to Crossrail. This wave of destruction, she said, was all “thanks to Ken Livingstone's support for this monstrous railway.” His legacy “continues to ruin lives long after he has gone.”

Now wait a minute, someone asked. Wasn't it only recently that Sarah was praising Crossrail to the heavens as a Johnson success story?

Her response is so masterful it’s worth quoting in full:

"I have supported Boris in promoting Crossrail because whatever decisions Boris takes on supporting or denouncing projects proposed by our previous mayor is the correct one. Ken supporting Crossrail was a mistake, because he was Ken, and Ken was a complete disaster. It's a simple concept that I presume you are unable to grasp because you are not a fan of Boris."

A confession of trolling? An incompetent Mayoral PR? Or evidence of a mind that's simply too highly trained for us mere mortals to comprehend? You decide.

(Image courtesy of James Mellor under a creative commons licence)

Preview: Architectural Punchbowl By Bompas & Parr

carrot — 2009-11-19T16:00:45+00:00

Punchbowl by Rodney Sanches via Picassa

For most people who hear the phrase 'fallen in the drink', it seems like nothing more than a quaint euphemism for getting rather wet. For jelly mongers Bompas and Parr, however, it seems to have been something of an aspiration. Fresh from creating the Hendrick's Horseless Carriage of Curiosities, they've now decided to fill 33 Portland Place with a punchbowl 'so big that you can row on it'. The giant vessel will be filled with over 4,000 litres of a Courvoisier-based cocktail created especially for this event and guests will be served with glasses of the stuff by a waiter rowing around the punchbowl on a boat.

This architectural marvel will be open to the public between 8-10th December and, with tickets the same price as the average cocktail in a London bar, it seems well worth a punt. Judging by Bompas & Parr's previous events, however, tickets will sell out quickly, so if you want to experience this wacky wonder we suggest you stick your oar in before it's too late.

Architectural Punchbowl, 33 Portland Place, 8th-10th December. Tickets available from TicketWeb.

West End Power Cut: The Shows Didn't Go On

Hazel — 2009-11-19T15:30:29+00:00

Shaftesbury Avenue from above by Matt From London

The West End is known for its crowds of people milling about aimlessly but yesterday saw a particularly large group of bewildered loiterers as a massive power cut shut down part of Shaftesbury Avenue. Shops, theatres running Wednesday afternoon matinees, cafes and restaurants all went dark and basically out of business between 9.45am and 5.15pm. Hit particularly hard was a party of 500 Westminster pensioners to whom Sir Cameron Mackintosh had donated free tickets to Les Miserables; the show didn't go on and they didn't get to go in. The naughty puppets of Avenue Q were also shut down for the afternoon.

Energy company EDF is getting a good shouting at by Cameron Mackintosh Ltd and Councillor Danny Chalkley, the former offering a brief, weary comment on the "monotonous regularity" of these large-scale power cuts. The latter is more verbose in his quote to The Stage newspaper, bringing in 1) the recession 2) the economy 3) the value of the theatre industry and 4) the disappointment of 500 elderly Westminster residents as reasons why EDF must avoid further power cuts in the future.

Victorian Values: Late At The British Library

Lindsey — 2009-11-19T15:00:20+00:00

There's a distinct whiff of Victoriana around town, what with the Christmas Carol lights and it's permeated the British Library for their twisted Victorian Values Late tomorrow night. In cahoots with The Ministry of Burlesque the evening is pitched around the Points of View exhibition of photography, taking Victorian wonderment with "new fangled photography" as its starting point. You can expect to find Miss Red Sarah The Strongest Man in the World, Britannia Herself in Red, White & Thoroughly Blue plus your esteemed host Mr. Desmond O’Connor The Singing Satyr. There will be live music, "high tease", DJs and your chance to dress up in whalebone corsets and top hats and have an olde worlde photo taken in Madame De Luz's photographic parlour. Book now, call 01937 546 546. £7.50 between 7-11pm.

Live Music Preview : The Postmarks @ SBE

RuthL — 2009-11-19T14:30:34+00:00

Anything to do with the Royal Mail might sound like a dirty word at the moment, but don't write off American trio The Postmarks because of these connotations.

They sound like a version of Au Revoir Simone, softened by the Florida sunshine of their home state, and fans of the seemingly disparate pairings of The Cardigans, Belle and Sebastian, Midlake and The Bookhouse Boys will find common ground in their quietly haunting lyrics and catchy melodies. Their first, self-titled album received great praise from Rolling Stone and Spin magazines, and they have approached the notoriously difficult second album Memoirs At The End Of The World - which is due out at the beginning of next year, although already available via Spotify - with seemingly bashful ease. Tracks like The Girl from Algenib have the kind of melodies which evoke epic cinematic interludes, whilst Don't Know Till You Try and has electro-echoes of Bell X1 who - handily - they are supporting at Shepherds Bush Empire on the 19th November. Theyre in good company too - the heart-racingly awesome Harlem Shakes supported the Irish band on their stateside tour, and it seems Paul Noonan et al have continued their great taste in support acts on these shores too.

Tickets are available here for a mere £14 - scandalously cheap for two great bands at what promises to be an epic gig.

London On The Cheap: 19-25 November

Lindsey — 2009-11-19T14:06:02+00:00

Trio VD at London Jazz Festival by Suke Driver - find free music in Southbank bars and foyers

Tonight: Go and see the new jazz themed installation in Gillet Square, Dalston 'Mezzo Moderno, Mezzo Distrutto' by Larisa Blazic in collaboration with local people. The large-scale video installation draws on the dramatic architectural changes altering Dalston's landscape gearing up for 2012. The video will run continuously over the course of eight hours each night until 21st November.

If you've a pal in tow take advantage of a cheap deal at late at the Courtauld Gallery. 2 people get in for a fiver each from 6pm. The current exhibition is Frank Auerback: London Building Sites 1952-62 and you can behold the famous Manet in the collection, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère along with many other masterpieces. Till 9pm, Somerset House.

Friday: The Peckham Literary Festival hosts storytelling tonight at Persepolis. Think caravansary, far away lands and persian tea. Leave the worries of the week behind as you fall under Sally Pomme Clayton's spell. Free from 7.30pm but please reserve a place.

Saturday: There's a "très chic BarBootSale" at the Old Queens Head between 12-5pm. Jumble sale meets vintage glam with 'frock and roll' tunes, a tombola, cake and vintage bargains.

It's London Jazz Festival time so find free music courtesy of BBC Radio 3 in the Clore Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall from 3pm.

Sunday: Hop aboard Greenpeace's most famous ship, Rainbow Warrior as it drops anchor at West India Dock and opens for free tours from 10am, last tour at 3pm. Please register your interest here.

In Covent Garden, there's a free drumming workshop with BassToneSlap on the Piazza between 11am-3pm if you feel like getting rid of some rhythmic pent up aggression.

It's the last day of the Flat Time House exhibition - as part of the Peckham Literary Festival - "The Present Moment/The Whole Event" featuring book reliefs and paintings by John Latham and more. Free, 12-5pm, 210 Bellenden Road SE15.

Tuesday: Find out if democracy and philosophy co-exist at the Prometheus Trust talk by Tim Addey. £5, from 6.30pm at New Acropolis, 19 Compton Terrace, N1

Wednesday: It's Late at the Science Museum tonight for adults only, hooray! Between 6.45-10pm tour the museum's fascinating exhibits without tripping over small children with the help of silent disco and giant party games. Christmas themed, get hands on creating a racy robotic gift and discover what toys were filling the Victorians’ stockings.

What have we missed? What's going on where you are? Please let us know of cheap and free events in your area by tweeting @londonist, leaving a comment or emailing info to londonist at gmail dot com.

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Last Minute Listing: Watch A Manga Film At The Royal College Of Surgeons

M@ — 2009-11-19T13:45:54+00:00

Yes, you read that correctly. Our old friends at the Hunterian Museum, part of the Royal College of Surgeons, are tonight screening an English language version of the the anime ‘U-18 Knew’. The film, by Manga master Osamu Tezuka, is set in a world of space-age hospitals and features 'anti-hero and genius surgeon Black Jack'. After the film, a panel will debate the current state and future possibilities of robotic surgery. You'll also have chance to wander around the peerless Hunterian Museum and inspect the current Sci-Fi Surgery exhibition. Entrance is free, and there's a cash bar from 6.30 till 9pm. The Hunterian Museum can be found at 35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Preview: London Cringe Night

ZoZo — 2009-11-19T13:30:00+00:00

Are you an ex-adolescent? We're not talking about any teenager who's just happened to have grown up, but card-carrying, diary-hiding, bad-poetry-writing bundles of hormones.

Sure, you might put on a suit every day and hold down a proper job writing reports and jotting notes on appraisals now, but what about that gangly self-absorbed hopelessly creative pre-you that once existed? And, ahem, *wrote*.

We've all been through adolescence. And, as the London Cringe Night organisers recognise, most of us have the diaries, suicide notes and bad poetry to prove it. Sarah Brown (not that one, sadly) found her old diaries and presumably decided the cringing she did while re-reading them to herself just wasn't strong enough. So she decided to read them out loud. To an audience. The Cringe Night was born.

Cringe Nights come to London from New York. It's a simple idea: head to the George on The Strand, bring the diary / letters / poetry from your former life, and read them to a ~~mocking~~ sympathetic audience.

Here's some nice examples from Cringe, the book Sarah Brown put together after previous, successful Cringe Nights:

"The jackboots of convention hurt my swollen toes"
"You don't know how big a dilemma it is for a 12 year old, feeling 18..."
"All I think about now is kissing and frenching him. I hope my thoughts come true at the skating rink this Sunday!"
"By the way, Lucy is a bigger slag than I am. She got 17 votes for slag of the year. I only got 16"
"I lumber like the sad clown with the hope that my performance might make you smile"

Think you can do better?

London Cringe Night takes place at the George, 213 The Strand, London WC2R 1AP on 23 November, kicking off at 7.30pm. Entrance free. Or join thier facebook group.

Westminster Council Helps You Save

RachelH — 2009-11-19T13:00:43+00:00

Westminster Council have done some maths and realised it's virtually impossible for anyone 'normal' to live in the borough and save enough to ever be able to buy your own place. They've calculated you'd need to earn at least £65k to buy, but even if you qualify for shared ownership schemes, how do you afford a deposit? The Council are buying 30 flats to let cheaply as a trial for individuals earning under £30k pa or couples earning under £40k pa - the idea is that people will be able to build up their savings (although they're not compelled to, this isn't Soviet Russia). The rents are for a maximum of five years to stop anyone taking advantage of a cheapo flat in some of the city's most sought-after areas. We like this; it's a sweet example of a council trying to do something nice, that will probabvly get jumped all over by grumpies (especially as Westminster is in the red), but we still like it. (Image / Kenchie)

Photo of the Day: Giant Rabbits

NatalieU — 2009-11-19T12:30:37+00:00

Photo by essexdiver via the Londonist Flickrpool.

Tatty Devine Sets Up Shop in Seven Dials

ZoZo — 2009-11-19T12:30:00+00:00

Tatty Devine. You can buy our Christmas presents here if you like

Londonist's favourite home-grown jewellery designer (OK, Anna Lou's pretty cool, but does she have a piece in the Museum of London? No.) has got a new home.

And in a fantastic fashionista style, the journey from the old Soho boutique to the new one in Seven Dials sounds like its going to be "fabulous".

Tonight, you can join in the carnival-style procession from the old shop at 57b Brewer Street (closing on 12 December), to the new boutique on Monmouth Street. Performers, artists, fans and friends will be along for the ride from about 7ish, carrying banners and giant jewellery to the new store. Have we forgetten anything? Oh, yes. They'll be accompanied by a mini marching band. Like we said, fabulous.

If you're not around to join in the fun later, head to the new Tatty Devine shop on Saturday, and you'll be entered into a competition to win a limited edition White Tiger Necklace.

We like.

Tatty Devine, 44 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials, WC2H 9EP. Their other shop's in Brick Lane.

The Lions of London #1

Londonist — 2009-11-19T11:30:31+00:00

London has the largest litter of lions in the world. A magnificent pride their history goes back 120,000 years. There are colossal, legendary and living lions. Lions from one of the seven wonders of the world, from the cradle of liberty and there's a lion on the very first coin. Appearing on the greatest historical treasures, living in masterpieces of art lions are roaring on the capital's biggest tourist attractions. London is leonine.

By Aidan Potts and Dylan William

£400 Million Vision For Lord's Unveiled

DeanN — 2009-11-19T08:40:40+00:00

After promising that the ground's name won't be changing, MCC have released pictures of what the £400 million redevelopment of Lord's cricket ground will look like.

A series of plans (PDF) depict new stands that mesh nicely with the UFO-like Media Centre, increasing the capacity of the stadium: of the existing stands, only the Mound Stand and Grand Stand would remain. The proposal's aim is to transform the stadium into a year-round facility, with some abandoned tunnels beneath the ground used to transform the Nursery End training ground into an underground village, with cricketing academy, banqueting and function rooms, a cinema, and restaurant.

The plans have been warmly welcomed by the Mayor, though there's a mixed reaction from the cricketing community: Mike Atherton likes the proposal, believing that it will turn Lord's into a "more welcoming place", while Times cricket correspondent Simon Wilde thinks the idea of "spending £400 million to shuffle the furniture" is a bad investment.

If the plans are approved and the funding in place, the new Lord's should be completed by 2021.

Presented By:

2009-11-19T08:40:40+00:00

Extra, Extra

DeanN — 2009-11-18T18:05:29+00:00

Photo / Ronald Hackston

Two girls are found guilty of causing death of vicar's daugher

Dramatic rise in stop-and-search of Afro-Carribean and Asian kids

Standard editor Geordie Grieg has been putting himself about

Scheme for providing "private care on NHS" axed after two deaths

The average Twitter user: young, from London, and Labour-voting, according to Prospect magazine poll

Hair is coming to London in the spring

Fancy A Pint? Nine Pubs For November

Londonist — 2009-11-18T16:30:59+00:00

Following on from the Fancyapint awards last month, the regular crew got together to discuss their top ten pubs for November. Unfortunately, one was in Leicester so here, for you London sorts, are nine that they rate as top notch. All we have to add is, blimey - the King of Denmark really is looking good lately.

Formerly scary: now rather alluring

- The Seven Stars (Holborn)
It's a tiny, idiosyncratic classic.

- The Marksman (Shoreditch)
A much-needed update brings this pub back to life.

- The Pipeline (ex-The Old Monk) (Bishopsgate)
A fine alternative to the bars around here. Anyone for pinball?

- Slim Jims Liquor Store (Islington)
Easy to miss, it's well worth keeping a lookout for.

- King of Denmark (Islington)
Another revamped local, with new inspiration.

- The Ship & Shovell (Strand)
London's only gestalt pub.

- Wilmington Arms (Clerkenwell)
Beer,live music and comedy - an unbeatable combination

- Dover Castle (Regent's Park)
Seek this pub out, it's a haven.

- Princess Louise (Holborn)
Victorian high-style and cheap beer. Say no more.

For more pub recommendations visit www.fancyapint.com

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The Hell And Redemption Of Johnny Cash (In Photographs)

Suke — 2009-11-18T16:00:30+00:00

Starting tonight, and running until 9 December, some incredible prints of Johnny Cash will be on display, and for sale, at the Snap Galleries in Mayfair. Taken by photographer Andy Earl, and the subject of his lavish new coffee table book, these limited edition prints, all signed by the photographer, are a must for any one into wild man in black, Johnny. The exhibition is the first opportunity to buy the book and if you can get down to the launch party tonight between 6-8pm, you can chat to Andy over drinks and get your copy signed by him.

Snap Galleries are a commercial retail gallery where everything you will see is for sale. They specialise in rare, iconic rock 'n' roll photographs, produced in small limited editions by the master photographers of the genre, from the fifties to the present day.

Snap Galleries 10 Davies Street London W1K 3DP Nearest tube Bond Street Tel 020 7493 6421

Mile End Mysteries: Flying Barriers And Roof Holes

Hazel — 2009-11-18T15:30:58+00:00

Mile End tube station by suburbanslice from the Londonist Flickr pool

Three passengers were injured at Mile End tube station yesterday morning when a plastic barrier between two train carriages came loose and flew into the often very busy platform full of people. Due to speed, wind velocity and how close people have to stand to the edge of the platform during busy times, the dislodged plastic flap managed to give facial lacerations and head injuries to the unlucky three. Two suffered injuries serious enough to require a trip to hospital, but the incident was not deemed serious enough to stop the service.

Bits flying off tube trains are rare and mysterious but why did this happen, and why at Mile End? Could there be a Fortean / conspiracy / bad science link to the big hole in the roof of Mile End station, which seems to have sprouted a set of stairs and various bits of scaffolding? This hole can be clearly seen (and felt, when it rains) from the Central Line westbound platform... exactly the spot where the barrier came flying off. What is it? A space / time wormhole? The East London Bermuda Triangle? A maintenance access point... OF EVIL? We need to know, so we can protect ourselves next time we're in the station, or at least organise a Flashmob with some sort of tenuous fancy dress option. Theories, the more crackpot the better, in the comments below please.

Preview: World Toilet Day

DeanN — 2009-11-18T15:20:13+00:00

Photo / eyematter

If you go down to the men's toilet at Hyde Park Corner tomorrow morning, you're in for a surprise.

As part of World Toilet Day -- the aim of which is to spread the word about the 2.5 billion people worldwide without access to proper sanitation -- Water Aid and art director Kit Lynch-Robinson are planning to transform the stark but functional gents into a replica of the type of crappier crapper that many in less fortunate parts of the world are all too used to: rubbish dump, maggots, rusted pipes, a stagnant stream and a unique toilet scent, Eau de Toilet (Selfridges is unlikely to be stocking this fragrance). The toilet will be open for your olfactory pleasure from 9.30am to 11.00am.

The World Toilet Organisation ("the other WTO", as they style themselves), are also hosting an event tomorrow night in Balham. "It's Not A Taboo, it's Just Poo!" is, unsurprisingly, a comedy night, held at The Bedford's in Balham, and organised by international charity Pump Aid in conjunction with the NUS. Never was toilet humour more literal.

Visit the World Toilet Day for more information, including details of tomorrow's Big Squat

From The Grant Museum: A Disarticulated Whale

M@ — 2009-11-18T15:00:56+00:00

In the second of three posts, we focus on individual exhibits from the weird and wonderful collection of our Museum of the Month - the Grant Museum.

This week's featured exhibit is the disarticulated skeleton of a northern bottle-nosed whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus - the same type which swam into London in January 2006.

Due to the restricted space in the Museum's current location, only the skull and some of the vertebrae are on display, but the rest of the skeleton is in store and available for research use. Next year, UCL Museums plan to get the public to temporarily re-articulate and clean the skeleton, around a multi-disciplinary series of events about all things whaley.

The specimen has one of the best documented histories in the Museum. According to a local newspaper, on 7 November 1860, two men out shooting near Weston-super-Mare heard reports of 'two great fish' sighted nearby in the Bristol Channel, and went in search of the creatures. They tracked down the whales, one of which they eventually killed after firing more than twenty rounds. The 'fish' was identified as a northern bottle-nosed whale of more than 26 feet and five tons. It was exhibited to the public in Bristol, drawing large crowds and raising large sums in admission prices.

Mr Edward Goodringham then bought the carcass for £120, intending to stuff it and tour the country. He wasted his money. The corpse has decomposed and was not salvageable (any natural history curator will tell you that whales and dolphins are among the least pleasant specimens to prepare as they exude a foul smelling oil that can continue to leak out of bones for years). The bones next made their way to William Mable, the founder of the Albert Memorial Hall - Weston-super-Mare's first museum (now the North Somerset Museum). He buried the bones for two years to clean them by decomposition and then his wife washed them one by one in her copper bath. The skeleton was displayed fully articulated in Mable's museum until 1948 when it was brought to the Grant Museum.

The way the specimen was collected and subsequently treated gives us a sharp reminder about how things have changed in the field of museum acquisitions since the Victorian era. While it is true to say that this country wouldn't have the amazing collections it does today without the passionate though environmentally questionable collecting practices of the past, it is very important that we keep and continue to use historic collections - they still provide a huge amount of data for modern science.

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Last Minute Listing: Snowboarding Films @ Roxy

M@ — 2009-11-18T14:30:23+00:00

If this overcast sort-of-winter is starting to get you down, pop along to the Roxy Bar and Screen tonight for an evening of white fluffy fun. The Borough venue will show three films about snowboarding, in association with Covent Garden store Snowboard Assylum. The piste feast comprises Cool Movie, Jolly Roger and Zero, and forms part of an Unleash the Lens national tour of snowboard screenings to get you in the mood for the upcoming season. The show starts at 8pm, and entrance is free. The Roxy can be found at 128-132 Borough High Street. Image / mcmortygreen.

First Action Of Olympics Likely To Be Outside London

RachelH — 2009-11-18T14:00:16+00:00

Image by R4vi from the Londonist Flickr pool

The Manchester Evening News is crowing after finally realising that the Olympic football tournament kicks off two days before the opening ceremony, which means the 'start' of the Games will probably be outside London. "Despite the capital spending billions on hosting the world's biggest sporting event... Old Trafford has emerged as a frontrunner to host it" they jeer, always eager to get one over on 'that London'.

Well... yeah. Wembley's being reserved for the bigger games (oh, if we're going in for childishness - NYAH NYAH) so venues around the country were always in the running to host the first matches. Manchester's competitors for the opportunity are Hampden Park (also more likely to be held back for bigger games), an unsponsored-for-the-Games St James's Park and a venue in the Midlands which is so prestgious, it hasn't even been decided on yet. But this is a chance for we Londoners to show our magnanimous side to our Northern brethren, and sanctimoniously remind them the Games is for all the UK, not just for us hummus-eating southern softies.

Preview: Beaujolais Day @ Bar Kick

Sophie Offord — 2009-11-18T13:30:00+00:00

Image courtesy of smaku under a Creative Commons Attribution licence

Tomorrow is the third Thursday in November, and we all know what that means… Don’t we? Don’t worry, the hip but welcoming Bar Kick is on hand to bring out the sophisticate in us all. The Shoreditch venue is pushing away the table footballs to celebrate 'Beaujolais Day’: at the stroke of midnight, every year, on the third Thursday of the month, a million cases of the French wine, Le Beaujolais Nouveau, make their way to countries across the world. French law dictates that this light, fruity red can’t be sold even a minute before.

Lucky Londoners can sample this year’s batch at Bar Kick, where dishes from the Beaujolais-Burgundy region will also be served, from coq au vin to tartiflette. Resident songstress, Madame Chanteuse d’Enfer, will help all the food and wine go down to the sound of piano, accordion and Gallic singsong. The fun starts at 6pm, so be quick: this two-month-old wine doesn’t hang around long!

Rhodes Aims For BT Tower Restaurant Job

DeanN — 2009-11-18T13:00:05+00:00

Image / Martin H

In an interview with the Evening Standard, slice-and-dice meister Gary Rhodes tossed his name into the souffle of super-chefs aiming to wield spatulas from on high when and if the BT Tower restaurant re-opens in 2011. Rhodes' reckons he's suited for the job, and his Rhodes Twenty Four restaurant in the Tower 42 (née Natwest tower) proves that he can cut (or at least spread) the mustard at altitude. The chef promises traditional Brit fare if he's give the keys to the Tower's galley, including potentially litigious dishes like spotted dick and faggots. That might please BT, though they'll be less enthralled by the spike-haired show-off's affectation for eponyms when naming his restaurants