Things To Do In London Today: 18 January 2013

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GIG TICKETS: Fans of Kate Nash, Matchbox Twenty and The Knife, get your phones ready as their upcoming gig tickets go on sale today. Also, booking opens for Field Day. 9am

MURDER: Visit the British Library's new exhibition about the history of crime fiction, which apparently makes up a third of all published fiction in English. Runs till 12 May. Free, just turn up, 9.30am-6pm

GIVE BLOOD: After all that fictional blood spilling (see item above), go give some of your own to the donation service, who'll be at the City Temple on Holborn Viaduct. Free, just turn up, 9.30-11am and 12.15-4.15pm

ART: See a new exhibition of paintings by Fiona Rae, who has an attractive line in colourful abstracts with bonus cartoon pandas. She's at Timothy Taylor Gallery until 23 February. Free, just turn up, 10am-6pm

MORE ART: Future Map, an exhibition showing the work of the finest emerging talent from University of the Arts London, opens today. Take a gander round the Granary Building in King's Cross between now and 9 February, and keep an eye out for special talks and events. Free, just turn up, 10am-6pm

YET MORE ART: And don't forget the London Art Fair is on in Islington today and all weekend.

COMEDY: Sex Appeal II at the Bloomsbury Theatre in aid of sexual health charity Brook, is (we hear) almost sold out. Organised by Zoe Margolis and hosted by Al Murray, the line-up also includes Doc Brown, Richard Herring, Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Josie Long, Ava Vidal, Ben Miller and more. £25, prebook, 7pm

COMEDY: Taking retro to some kind of extreme, there’s a medieval-themed comedy night at Cabarera at The Horse, Westminster Bridge Road. £5 or £4 if you go in period dress, prebook, 7.30pm

MUSEUM LATES: Unwind after work with a spot of culture at the British Museum, Natural History Museum, V&A, National Gallery or National Portrait Gallery. Free, check websites for closing times and events.

ROLLER SKATE: The Friday Night skate starts at Wellington Arch. Anyone who feels competent on skates is welcome to join. Free, just turn up, 8pm.

PARTY: Long-running electronic music night Slipped Disco slides back to the Southbank Centre for a new monthly riverside residency at the Bar Concrete. All things dancefloor, from proto-techno to punk funk, cosmic house and dirty disco. Free, just turn up, 8pm-1am

PARTY 2: London On The Inside launches its new monthly rock & roll night called 'Dalston Nites' at Tipsy on Stoke Newington Road. Free, just turn up, 9pm-2am

London Plaque Of The Day


To finish our self-declared 'Blue Plaque Week', did you know that English Heritage, the body which currently looks after the scheme, are themselves subject to a Blue Plaque? You'll find it in Balcombe Street, near Baker Street, where it commemorates EH's approval for an extension and conversion. We suspect it's not an official one, though. Thanks to London Remembers for the tip.

Charity Shout-Out Of The Day <- If you only read one thing
Send nominations to matt@londonist.com

Today's featured charity is Get Connected, a confidential helpline service for young people under 25. They're open 365 days a year for absolutely any issue. Drugs, abuse, mental health, sexual identity, money woes...they offer non-judgemental emotional support on anything. They also have the details of some 10,000 specialist support organisations who should be able to help further, and can even make a free phone connection through to those services if requested. They're on hand every day by phone, text, email and webchat.

Also, the organisation is constantly looking to recruit helpline volunteers, who chat to young people from the Central London call centre.

London Weather
Snowzilla, Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse Snow! or just snow. However many tablespoons of hyperbole you wish to mix into today's flurry, which should start around mid-morning, it's pretty certain the white stuff will cause transport problems somewhere. Make that everywhere. South West Trains announced a revised timetable before the first flakes fell. Here at Londonist, we've been gagging for snow disruption for months, purely so we have something other than 'grey skies again' to write in this ridiculous daily weather forecast. Also, a picture gallery of London in the snow is a really easy, lazy way to get lots of pageviews. We'll probably put one together over the weekend. It takes no thought at all, and everyone clicks on it. So we couldn't be happier. We're very selfish like that. Time Out will do it too, of course, and the Standard. And we'll all include the compulsory shot of someone tobogganing down Primrose Hill. It's the same, predictable crap every year. Sorry. BBC Weather has a less introspective weather forecast.