Tuesday 16 November 2010

London 12-14 Nov 2010

ultra-cool: Daniel Radcliffe did The Elements a capella on the Graham Norton show on Fri night.

At the NPG on Sat: Thomas Lawrence portature exhibition - very good & and well-put-together exhib; Photo Portrait Prize - the one of Tony Blair showed him as aged and care-worn; Royal Society 350th anniversary; the Lady Chatterley trial.

At the Coward Theatre I saw the thriller Deathtrap (review and trailer). This is in Sleuth and Dial M for Murder territory. The cast are excellent and the play has many layers & twists, reaching a satisfying conclusion.

On Sunday I went for my first walk across Regents Park, carrying on across the canal and road to Primrose Hill. It was odd being in a place for the first time yet with it being utterly familiar, as this has been in so many films/TV.

Down the Hill to Regents Park Road - a high street of small shops (no high street multiples), with cafes and delis predominating.

On the corner of Regents Park Road and Sharpleshall Street, behind the library, is the pop-up Museum of Everything in its current instance. I'd missed the first two so was determined to see this one. Exhibition #3 is curated by Peter Blake: a fascinating series of rooms which could be characterised as the byways of popular culture: (review)

  • pics of Victorian freaks
  • dolls & puppets
  • Ted Willcox embroideries - witty satires on contemporary life (same territory as Grayson Perry's Walthamstow tapestry)
  • Peter B's collection of Hornby trains and circus posters.
  • Walter Potter's extraordinary collection of stuffed animals, making tableaus of the 'improving' Victorian kind, saved from The Potter Museum of Curiosity (Art Gallery: The Museum of Everything - The Arts Desk)
  • Arthur Windley's miniature fairground - a room full of hand-built classic toys, built up over 40 years - a delight (BBC news)
After a short walk to Chalk Farm Tube and the Northern Line to Bank, I went to the City of London's just-opened first shopping mall, One New Change. The roof viewing gallery is supposed to be open to midnight every day but wasn't actually accessible. There were just 2 useful shops (Foyles, M&S Simply Food), all the rest are the usual fashion victim stuff.