Page 66 – A Little Bird

30th October 201931st October 2019

New online delivery service from Borough Market

We love the idea of shopping at the market, wandering around filling a canvas tote with crusty sourdough and glistening cherries. But it’s not always so easy to find the time, nor the energy to face the hustle and bustle of Borough’s crowds. Now you can get the same access to the market’s delicious produce without leaving home thanks to their new online shopping service. Fill your basket with cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy, fresh fruit and vegetables from Ted’s Veg, sausages from the Ginger Pig, donuts from Bread Ahead and more. Use the Click & Collect service and pick up your items on the way home, or book a delivery slot to have your shopping dropped by a zero-emission electric cargo bike. So far the delivery area is only a 1.5 mile radius from the market but we’re told this is expanding soon.

30th October 201927th October 2021

November Sample Sales

Who: Rupert Sanderson
What: Big discounts on all womens footwear; prices start from £50
When: 31 October: 9.30am – 7pm; 1 November: 9.30am – 6pm
Where: The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, W1 4HS

Who: MATCHESFASHION.COM
What: Up to 90% off previous seasons womenswear including designers such as Alexander McQueen, Chloe and Valentino
When: 31 October – 2 November: 10am – 8pm; 3 November: 11am – 5pm
Where: The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, W1U 5AS

Who: Mulberry
What: Up to 75% off all leather goods, womenswear, travel collection & accessories (£2 entry for charity) RSVP here
When: 31 October – 1 November: 8am – 8pm; 2 November: 9am – 7pm
Where: Showcase, 12 Regent Street, SW1Y 4PE

Who: Helmut Lang, J Brand & Theory
What: Up to 80% off all womenswear & jeans (£2 entry for charity) RSVP here
When: 31 October: midday – 8pm; 1 November: 10am – 8pm; 2 November: 10am – 7pm & 3 November: 10am – 6pm
Where: Showcase ICON Outlet at The O2, SE10 0DX

Who: Eileen Fisher
What: Big discounts on all womenswear & knitwear
When: 31 October – 3 November: 10am – 6pm
Where: Eileen Fisher, 23 High St, SW19 5DX

Who: The Shop at Bluebird
What: Up to 80% off all menswear, womenswear, homeware & accessories with designers including RIXO, Victoria Beckham and Isabel Marant
When: 31 October: 11am – 8pm; 1 November: 11am – 7pm, 2 November: 11am – 6pm & 3 November: midday – 5pm
Where: The BOX, 4-6 Ram Place, E9 6LT

Who: Mimi
What: Up to 70% off all leather accessories
When: 1 November: midday – 6pm & 2 November: midday – 5.30pm
Where: Mimi Berry, 102 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0QR

Who: Nicholas Kirkwood
What: Up to 75% off all womens footwear (RSVP here)
When: 6 November: 1-8pm (special VIP access); 7 November: 11am – 8pm & 8 November: 11am – 7pm
Where: Arlettie, 13 – 14 Margaret Street, W1W 8RN

Who: Frame
What: Up to 80% off all womenswear, menswear & jeans
When: 8 November: 11am – 7.30pm; 9 November: 11am – 6pm & 10 November: midday – 5pm
Where: The BOX, 4-6 Ram Place, E9 6LT

Who: Anya Hindmarch
What: Up to 75% off all accessories, prices start from £35 (£2 entry for charity) RSVP here
When: 8 November: midday – 8pm; 9 November: 9am – 7pm & 10 November: 10am – 4pm
Where: Showcase, 12 Regent Street, SW1Y 4PE

Who: Anorak
What: Up to 70% off homeware & accessories
When: 8 – 10 November: 10am – 5pm
Where: 87 Lordship Lane, SE22 8EW

Who: Paul Smith
What: Up to 75% off womenswear, menswear, accessories and shoes, RSVP here (£2 entry for charity)
When: 10 November: midday – 8pm; 11 – 13 November: 10am – 8pm; 12 November:
Where: Showcase ICON Outlet at the O2, SE10 0DX

Who: Erdem
What: Up to 80% off womenswear; RSVP here (£2 entry for charity)
When: 11 November: 9am – 8.30pm & 12 November: 9am – 6pm
Where: Showcase, 12 Regent Street, SW1Y 4PE

Who: Roksanda
What: Up to 80% off all womenswear & accessories
When: 12 November: 8am – 8pm & 13 November: 8am – 7pm
Where: The Music Room, 26 South Molton Lane, W1K 5LF

Who: Shrimps
What: Big discounts on all womenswear & fake fur
When: 14 November: 7.30am – 8pm
Where: The Music Room, 26 South Molton Lane, W1K 5LF

Who: Peter Pilotto
What: Up to 80% off womenswear, prices start from £15
When: 15 November: 10am – 7.30pm & 16 November: 11am – 6pm
Where: The BOX, 4-6 Ram Place, E9 6LT

Who: Knoll
What: Up to 70% off all furniture
When: 16 November: 10am – 4pm
Where: Knoll, 91 Goswell Road, EC1V 7EX

Who: Eres
What: Up to 70% off womens swimwear and lingerie; RSVP here (£2 entry for charity)
When: 18 November: midday – 8pm; 19 November: 8am – 8pm & 20 November: 9am – 6pm
Where: Showcase, 12 Regent Street, SW1Y 4PE

Who: Christopher Kane
What: Up to 80% off womenswear, menswear & accessories; prices start from £20
When: 22 November: 11am – 7.30pm; 23 November: 11am – 6pm & 24 November: midday – 5pm
Where: The BOX, 4-6 Ram Place, E9 6LT

24th October 201927th October 2021

Bridget Riley at the Hayward Gallery

This autumn London’s exhibitions are full of immersive experiences. You can climb inside Antony Gormley’s giant scribble, you can feel your way through a corridor of neon fog at Olafur Eliasson, you can pose at the bar of Vienna’s Cabaret Fledermaus at the Barbican.

Bridget Riley’s show opens with Continuum (1963/2005), the only 3D work the artist ever made. You enter one at a time into a curving snail’s shell where the walls spiral and swirl around you, encircling you with continuous painted line. The effect is dizzying and claustrophobic, and it’s almost a relief to discover that Riley didn’t pursue this route, sticking to 2D. ‘The viewer found himself actually ‘in’ the work where all I wanted was visual absorption,’ she comments.

Bridget Riley *Blaze 1,* 1962, © Bridget Riley 2019

And visual absorption comes in spades: there’s our favourite space in the show, the Black-and-White room where Riley’s iconic 1960’s optical paintings play games with our eyes. The canvases are playing tricks and children on half term stand enthralled, eye-balling the strange illusion of Blaze 1 (1963), Pause (1961) and the calm of Kiss (1961). In Riley’s work there’s no need for bodily immersion, it’s all about the eye and the very act of looking.

Bridget Riley Cataract 3, 1967 © Bridget Riley 2019. All rights reserved.

Upstairs there’s a whole gallery of wonderful Curves, where colour comes into the picture. In Cataract 3 (1967) the surface swims with waves that ripple hypnotically. Then muted colours make way for the bold, and there’s an increase in scale with more recent monumental canvases, Two Greens and a Blue (2000) as well as murals specially created for the show.

They are walls that Bridget Riley knows very well. The Hayward Gallery, that opened in 1968 has played a pivotal role in her career. It was the site of her first large-scale UK exhibition in 1971 that launched her into the fray, her second solo exhibition in 1992, and now this, a major retrospective for one of the nation’s top living artists for whose work the brutalist concrete interiors provide the perfect setting.

Bridget Riley: Paintings and Drawings 1951-71, Hayward Gallery, 1971. Photo: John Webb

The joy of a retrospective is that we’re able to chart an artist’s development across an entire lifetime, and here this exhibition excels. There’s an entire room dedicated to her earliest beginnings – there are drawings from when she was an art student at Goldsmiths, there’s her copy of Seurat’s The Bridge at Courbevoie, and her studies of Henri Matisse and Paul Klee whose idea of ‘taking a line for a walk’ greatly appealed to her.

Bridget Riley
Copy after ‘Le Pont de Courbevoie’ by Georges Seurat, 1959
© Bridget Riley 2019. All rights reserved.

And there are pictures from every stage in her prolific career, including that non-starter, Continuum. But its inclusion is key, exposing the artist as a playful powerhouse who continues to experiment with illusion well into her eighth decade. Bridget Riley is all about getting us to look and to really experience with our eyes and this show gives the full, dazzling picture.

23rd October 201927th October 2021

Jam Jar’s Christmas Wreath Workshops

We just love the Christmas wreath workshops at Jam Jar. Held at their enchanting shop in Peacock Yard, sit before an open fire and get crafty creating your own Christmas wreath from scratch. Take a wire base and add all types of spruce, seasonal foliage, sculptural seed heads, fruits and winter berries to create something wild and beautiful for your front door. The sessions are an hour and a half long and are very festive – but do book ahead as they run for one weekend, and one weekend only!

23rd October 201925th October 2021

Nina Parker & Alexandra Dudley’s Amazon supper club

A combination of wonderful chefs and a wonderful cause, book tickets now to Antonia Parker and Alexandra Dudley’s supper club in aid of the Amazon. We know the three-course plant-based feast will be sublime – there’s also champers donated by Ruinart, live music from Raz and Afla and a raffle (with prizes like a night away at The Artist Residence Hotel and afternoon tea at Petersham Nurseries). Best of all the proceeds go to Rainforest Action Network (RAN), specifically to their long running project; Protect An Acre which aids the protection of forests and wildlife like the orang-utan. Find your invitation below:

23rd October 2019

Night Skating at Somerset House

Skate under the moonlight at Somerset House this winter. To co-incide with their new exhibition, 24/7 that explores our non-stop culture, the ice rink will be open all night for the first time. Glide around beneath the twinkling Christmas tree stopping in at the bar for a drink or Fortnums Lodge for some food, both of which will stay open until 2am. The exhibition will also be open all night long; wander through the immersive installations that include Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s orchestration of a machine-generated dawn chorus that highlights the impact of light pollution on bird populations, a space to connect with listeners around the world as you hum the chorus of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, and a meditative isolation chamber which you can climb inside. On 7 December one ticket gets you access to skating (usually £17) and the exhibition (usually £14) all for £8. A steal.

23rd October 201925th October 2021

Win a pair of tickets to hear Lisa Taddeo on Life, Love and Desire

All Lina wanted was to be desired. How did she end up in a marriage with two children and a husband who wouldn’t touch her? All Maggie wanted was to be understood. How did she end up in a relationship with her teacher and then in court, a hated pariah in her small town? All Sloane wanted was to be admired. How did she end up a sexual object of men, including her husband, who liked to watch her have sex with other men and women?

We were captivated Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women, the result of eight years spent studying the intimate lives of three women. So we’re first in line to hear the author in conversation with the Guardian’s Hadley Freeman at Westminster’s Emmanuel Centre on 21 November. Join us there – we have two pairs of tickets to give away. Just enter our competition here for your chance to win:

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21st October 201923rd October 2019

Refugee Stories at Proud Central

Discover the stories of refugees living in London at this small exhibition at Proud Central. Co-curated by actress and activist Juliet Stevenson and refugee employment charity, Breaking Barriers the show features photographs and stories about the challenges of integration and the importance of work. Here we share two stories out of the total 10 in the exhibition, we urge you to visit:

BATSEBA

Interview by Marsha Glenn; words by Batseba
Portrait by Jo Metson Scott
The earrings were a gift from my Mum. It was 2014 and we hadn’t seen each other for years, since I left Eritrea. When she was finally able to get a tourist visa to Italy, I took three months off and we spent the summer together travelling Europe. She bought the earrings during one of her trips to the artisanal markets in Milan and when she excitedly handed me the box and I opened them, I began to tear up. One earring was a cage, the other a bluebird perched outside the cage. I knew immediately what they signified.

One of my favourite poems is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. It is a poem I loved reading in Eritrea and still love to this day. In the beginning, reading the poem would be cathartic for me, even though Maya was writing about the African American experience, she could have been writing about the Eritrean one as well. Now, even though I am free of the literal cages and bars imposed by tyranny, I still strive to live the life of the free bird. Cages are not always literal, often they are abstract yet equally as powerful, imposed by systems, societal impositions, expectations and prejudices. Cages can be made by past experiences, past traumas, or can even be imposed upon oneself by adopting limiting thoughts, behaviours and beliefs. The earrings remind me to never let myself be caged in, to always strive to be the Blue bird, to be free.

Before coming to the UK, I worked in Eritrean media for almost eight years. Back home being a journalist is challenging and for me it became perilous. I came to the UK as an asylum seeker in 2011, and for the first couple of years I lived in Sheffield, settling into my new life in Britain. In 2015 I decided to move to London both to experience this great city and to pursue my dream of establishing myself as a writer.

Even though I was fluent in English when I first arrived here I found it hard to cope, with culture clash and with a profound sense of homesickness. I had no friends or family here so I felt quite alone. I deeply empathise with those who come here without speaking a single word of English, I imagine the transition for them to be much harder. Looking back, I see how these experiences have shaped who I’ve become, they have made me stronger, more resilient, more empathetic and much more humble.

I have always wanted to be an author, yet when I was younger I felt that I had to experience more of life before I would have anything of significance to say. At this point, I believe I have lived and learned enough to begin to start writing about the human experience with some degree of authority and authenticity. My favourite time to write is either late at night when the city has fallen asleep, or early in the morning during that time between the dream world and the real.

Whilst I work on my writing I wanted to get back to working in media and communications. Breaking Barriers have helped me with this by tailoring my CV, helping me prepare for interviews and have supported me into getting a new role as a Communications Assistant at Western Union. I have the skills to succeed, and BB helps to boost up my confidence in order to do so.

If you face limitations and need help, ask for it. Good people are out there, not too many but they can literally change your life.

THIRU

Interview by Zozan Yasar
Portrait by Kalpesh Lathigra
When I fled Sri Lanka, the thing I brought with me was my Salangai – ankle bracelets made of lots of small musical bells. They make a big noise and are a big part of my dancing. It’s dancing that helped me get through everything. I believe that the body stores up a lot of trauma, and to get rid of that trauma you have to release it through movement.

My trauma comes from the civil war in Sri Lanka, between the Tamils and the government. I was studying agricultural engineering when the war started. The fighting got worse and worse, and all of a sudden some of the young people in our community started to disappear. The government had written a law saying that whoever supported the Tamils would be arrested. But they didn’t arrest them — they kidnapped and tortured them.

In 2009, I went home for the holidays and one night I got kidnapped by people with a mask. I was forced to leave my house and they took me to a building somewhere in the jungle. I could hear people crying and screaming. I was there for three months, and I saw the worst at that time.

My dad got to know some influential people and paid them money to find out where I was, and to get me released. A few weeks after I was freed, my dad told me that he applied for a visa to the UK. People ask me if I got here by boat. But luckily, I was able to come by plane. I didn’t want to come here but I had to do it to save my life.

My asylum application was initially rejected. It was completely unexpected. I was detained for two months at Gatwick airport. I started to refuse to eat. The trauma was getting to me. Once the government tried to put me on a chartered flight back to Sri Lanka. But there was a campaign to save me, and people shared my story on social media and signed petitions — and eventually, after two and a half years, I got my papers.

It wasn’t easy to handle the situation, I was very traumatized, and at one point I even tried to commit suicide. But luckily, I survived.

You need to have goals in life. You never know what will happen in the future but you are walking towards it. Breaking Barriers have supported me to find work whilst I study for my Master’s in Dance Movement Psychotherapy. I want to become a dance therapist to help others to overcome their trauma through movement.

The day I left my country I understood very well that your home is where you feel safe. People often ask me about my future and my answer is that I care more about living in the moment than planning for the future. But it is important to not to forget where we come from and our family roots and values.

Dance is an important link for me back to my home and my old life. It’s an expression of who I am. Being a refugee in the UK often involved being excluded and forbidden from everything but through dance I can always express myself and be true to who I am.

21st October 201925th October 2021

Partnership Editions: pop up artist’s studios

We’re great fans of Partnership Editions, whose founder Georgia Spray we interviewed last summer. Shaking up the way we buy contemporary art, her platform offers a kind of online gallery where you can browse and shop from emerging to mid-career artists, receive professional advice and build your art collection. Now there’s a new string to the Partnership Editions bow in the form of an innovative pop-up in the new Islington Square development. Three artist’s will each take over the glass-fronted space for 10 days as satellite art studios. Watch them in action every day from 12-2pm, and at the end of the 10 days residency there’ll be a private view and shoppable exhibition where you can buy the works created in the space (from £250). Here’s what on:

Alexandria Coe Figuring 24 October – 3 November 2019

Known for her line drawings of the female nude, Coe will be the first artist to take up residency at the pop up. Works will go on sale at Islington Square Thursday 31 October, 6.30-8.30pm and will be online from 1 November. Book tickets now to a life drawing class with Coe on Saturday 26 October 11.30am-1pm here.

Rose Electra Harris Moving Rooms 6 – 17 November 2019

Rose Electra Harris’ work celebrates the colour and design of everyday objects. Inspired by her antique dealing father, Rose’s interior spaces are surreal and whimsical, and her latest work is inspired by her time recently living in Mexico City. For her studio series, Rose will transform half of the space into an interiors set which she can draw from life – her artworks will constantly rotate around the space, changing day by day. Private view 14 November 6.30-8.30pm at Islington Square, artworks for sale online from 15 November. Book tickets to a still life class with Harris on Saturday 9 November, 11.30am-1pm here.

Isabella Cotier Another Place 20 November – 1 December 2019

Isabella Cotier is an observer of the people and passing moments around her, which she documents from life in her sketchbooks – you may know her from her weekly artworks for Vogue and her collaboration with Gucci. She will be creating larger than life-size paintings of people from the street of London and surreal paintings of things that she has drawn from her mind. Private view 28 November, 6.30 – 8.30pm at Islington Square, artworks online from 29 November.

In the studio with Partnership Editions 4-22 December 2019

Throughout December you’ll be able to browse a curated selection of the latest Partnership Editions artworks in the flesh at the pop up space, and their team will be on hand to give advice on buying. They are also launching a new concept called Partnership X, a collection of screen prints by their artists starting from just £85 – which we’ll promptly be putting on our Christmas wish-list.

17th October 201917th October 2019

Caravan comes to Chelsea with Vardo

Duke of York Square has been lacking a good restaurant for some time so our ears pricked when we heard the news that Caravan were opening a new venture here, housed in the circular pavilion slap bang in the centre of the square. New Zealand-inspired Caravan shook up the brunch scene when they opened in Exmouth Market in 2010 serving speciality coffee (roasted in-house) and an eclectic menu including fluffy buttermilk hotcakes and their renowned spicy jalapeño cornbread. Four more restaurants followed suit earning Caravan a good rep for casual daytime dining. Vardo, meaning Romani wagon, also does brunch – but much more besides. It’s motto ‘dining with no boundaries’ is all about travelling and picking flavours from around the globe, sprinkling a little of this and a little of that. At first glance the menu feels a bit all over the place. There’s so much there; dumplings alongside croquettes, there’s burrata and then tandoori chicken, pizza as well grain bowls. But the brilliant thing is, it all works.

We went for dinner, and ordered plenty to try. One of us started with a cocktail, the other with kombucha and it’s the sort of place where this combination feels easy. Then came sharing plates; sticky pork dumplings and that legendary corn bread. Our favourite here was the garam masala labneh with fenugreek-chilli butter, spiced chickpeas and flat bread – so good and generous too, a plate would easily serve four as a starter. Next came the crispy sea bass which was cooked to perfection. But saving room for pudding is key, everyone must try the soft-serve ice cream, made each morning in-house and served out of an artisan Mr Whippy machine. Order the vanilla bean with olive oil and smoked sea salt – we’ve not stopped dreaming about it.

With vast floor-to-ceiling windows the space feels fresh and contemporary. Co-founder Chris Ammermann tells us that they’d been apprehensive about the Chelsea clientele – perhaps they’d be looking for something more polished than their usual laid-back, Caravan style? He had all the staff on best behaviour, but needn’t have worried. A very happy crowd fill the banquettes and smaller tables, a hum of satisfaction in the air as people share the delicious dishes and check out what other diners are having. But really it’s a place where everyone can have exactly what they want. There’s something for everyone, for any occasion from coffee and brunch to an evening cocktail and snacks. We’ve found a new favourite.

17th October 201927th October 2021

Literary London: Must-see Talks, Events and Screenings

New books, talks, performances and cinema screenings. There are literary happenings galore this autumn and these are our top picks:

Lemn Sissay, Fatima Bhutto, Philippe Sands and more at London Literature Festival

London Literature Festival at the Southbank has a packed program of talks and events for readers and writers both. Our highlights include Lemn Sissay who will be reflecting on his new memoir, My Name Is Why on 18 October, tickets £15 here, Ayelet Gundar-Goshen in conversation about #MeToo and her new book Liar with author Devorah Baum, tickets £12 here and Fatima Bhutto on Bollywood, K-Pop and Beyond on 21 October, tickets £15 here. Fans of The Ratline podcast should also book East West Street: A Song of Good and Evil, a partly staged reading inspired by Philippe Sands’ bestseller about the Nuremberg trials. Narrated by German actress Katja Riemann and Philippe Sands there will be music from bass-baritone Laurent Naouri and renowned jazz pianist Guillaume de Chassy including Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Leonard Cohen. 21 October at 7.30pm, tickets £15- £25 here. London Literature Festival runs 17 – 27 October 2019 at the Southbank southbankcentre.co.uk

Bowie’s Books at The London Library

Before he died, David Bowie made a list of the one hundred books that had transformed his life. The titles included everything from Lady Chatterly’s Lover to the Beano, find the full list here. In Bowie’s Books, published by Bloomsbury and out on 14 November 2019, John O’Connell writes a short essay on each one forming a new kind of Bowie biography. Hear him talk at the London Library on 20 November, 7-8.30pm, tickets £15 londonlibrary.co.uk

Nicholas Coleridge on The Glossy Years at Daunt Books, Marylebone

Nicholas Coleridge is quite the raconteur. Hear him speaking about his new book, The Glossy Years that charts his thirty-year career at Condé Nast where he’s rubbed shoulders with everyone from Tina Brown and Anna Wintour to David Bowie, Kate Moss and Beyonce. Tickets include a 35-40 minute talk, plus a Q&A, a glass of wine and 20% off a signed copy of the book. 17 October, 7pm at Daunt’s Marylebone, tickets £10 dauntbooks.co.uk

Simon Russell Beale leads Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year at the National Theatre

Hear actors read extracts from Shakespeare as inspired by Allie Esiri’s latest seasonal anthology, Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year. Esiri always pulls in big names for her events – in the past these have included Joanna Lumley and Helena Bonham-Carter. Whilst actors are still under wraps for this event we can reveal that it will be led by Simon Russell Beale, the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation. Very promising indeed. 11 November, 6pm, tickets £12 nationaltheatre.org.uk

Gwendoline Christie in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with NT Live

More Shakespeare, here in the form of the brilliant National Theatre Live. If you haven’t yet been to an NT Live we urge you to go – the filming of their stage shows for the screen is expertly done and includes short interviews with actors and directors too. From 17 October see Nicholas Hytner’s acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Gwendoline Christie as Titania alongside Oliver Chris as Oberon. ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’ Selected cinemas in London, ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Victoria and Albert: A Love of Literature at Windsor Castle

Discover the books that held particular significance for Victoria and Albert throughout their marriage in this special display at Windsor Castle. There are the bibles they were given on their wedding day through to the last book Queen Victoria read to Albert before he died. The curators will be on hand in the State Apartments and St George’s Chapel to bring the books to life throughout the day. 16 November, 10am-4.15pm, free with a ticket to the castle, no need to book ahead. rct.uk

Daisy Johnson and Julia Armfield at Pages Cheshire Street

If, like us, you were enthralled by Daisy Johnson’s novel, Everything Under, you’ll be interested in this talk at east London bookshop, Pages. Johnson, the youngest author ever to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize will be talking with writer and academic Octavia Bright about her novel alongside Julia Armfield who presents her first short story collection, Salt Slow. These stories centre around bodies and the bodily – teenagers develop ungodly appetites, a city becomes insomniac etc. 24 October, 7-9pm at Pages Cheshire Street, tickets £5 eventbrite.co.uk

Mademoiselle Chanel and her legendary library at The Connaught

The Mayfair and St James’s Literary Festival 28 October – 3 November includes lots of interesting talks and events (full program here). Delve into the world of Coco Chanel with concert pianist and curator Mariana Haseldine and journalist Florence Walker. During the evening Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s private letters to the Russian Royal Princess, Natalia Paley, the Queen of style in Paris 1920s and the real life muse to Chanel, will be read along with the fragments from The Little Prince, which was inspired by Natalia, and their intriguing love story. 28 October, 6.30-9.30pm at The Connaught, tickets £27.54 eventbrite.co.uk

16th October 201916th October 2019

Singin’ in the Rain on the big screen with BFI Musicals

The BFI are just about to launch their new season, Musicals! The Greatest Show on Screen. From October 2019 until January 2020 see favourites like Singin’ in the Rain, Oklahoma!, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls and La La Land on the big screen. Catch the showings at the BFI Southbank, Ciné Lumière in South Ken, the Everyman in Belsize Park, Hackney Picturehouse, Deptford Cinema, Picturehouse West Norwood and Greenwich Picturehouse. The best selection is at BFI Southbank where there are sing-a-long shows and events too. Book ahead.