London Things to Do

On April 15, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank–claiming more than 1,503 lives. It was the world’s largest ship and it was said to be unsinkable, but it sank, shocking everyone and becoming the most famous shipwreck in history. This year–the 100th anniversary of the tragedy– there are exhibitions and memorials happening in many places. In London these include:

She was recently seen catching an underground Tube train across London. A fan took the opportunity to snap a photo of herself with Rihanna strap-hanging and then immediately sent it to a city newspaper. At least, I think it was Rihanna. Might it possibly have been her waxwork recently unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s London?

In early October 2011, as the real Rihanna hit town for her concert tour, Madame Tussaud’s finally satisfied all those thousands of celebrity spotters who queue outside and around the corner: they unveiled Rihanna in a sexy full length black gown, split up one side to the waist, hand on hip, hair magnificently curly and red. I think we all recognize that gown, that stance. Since she scandalized the nation with her sexy performance on the 2010 UK X-Factor, causing complaints to flood in to the television watchdog in the UK, everyone has wanted to see Rihanna, meet her, be her. Well, at least now we can all be photographed with her.

It’s just one of those things: when you’re walking in one of London’s huge parks, you think of all the people who have been here before you, and it always turns my mind to the days when people got around on horseback. I’ve always wanted to ride a horse around Hyde Park or Richmond Park, and it’s actually not that difficult to organize. Many stables offer riding lessons for both adults and children, intensive learn-to-ride-in-a-day courses, and also morning and afternoon ‘hacks’ which are a ride around the park for those who have been on a horse before.

Even if you have never heard of him, wherever you go in London, you’ll be seeing the influence of Sir John Soane. He was an architect in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in London and designed many famous buildings such as Dulwich Picture Gallery (England’s first purpose built art gallery) and the influential original Bank Of England building. His tomb, which he designed himself, was the model for London’s iconic red telephone boxes.

But the most influential building he left with us was his own house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Soane lectured on architecture and collected books, artworks, and antiquities to rival the British Museum – he had over 700 Egyptian, Roman, and Greek objects as well as paintings by English artists such as Hogarth.

Believe it or not, I remember the TV series, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! – the 1980s version with Jack Palance that is, not the 1940s original with Robert Ripley himself. And now Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is taking over the world with its museums of oddities – not bad for one man’s obsession with the curiosities of the world.

Robert Ripley began his career as a cartoonist, doing sports cartoons and subjects such as people running backwards – clearly he always had a unique take on life. His own curiosity took him traveling around the world in search of the strange and interesting and, when he began to tour North America with a stage show of amazing stories and objects, people flocked to hear him speak.

There is an exhibition at the Tate Britain which acknowledges British art’s debt to Picasso and his influence on British modern art. Sixty works by Picasso are hung with work by seven British artists: Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney. They are all great artists in their own right, some of Britain’s best, but it is hard to stand up alongside Picasso, the genius. We travel all over the world to see him; his paintings still travel all over the world to be seen.