Things To Do In London Today: Wednesday 23 October 2013

If you’ve not already done so, you can subscribe to these daily listings and have them delivered to your inbox at 7am every morning. Alternatively, subscribe to Londonist Daily to hear about events further in the future. And help spread the word to your friends who haven’t discovered us yet!

Get geeky at the London Science Festival.

Listings

BLOOD: Today’s opportunity to donate blood is at St Olave Parish Hall on Fenchurch Street. Free, see site for terms and conditions

FEMINISM: The inaugural Calm Down, Dear festival at Camden People's Theatre offers three weeks of theatre, comedy, cabaret and discussion about feminism. Until 10 November

BLAM!: Described as Die Hard meets The Office Blam! at the Peacock Theatre combines acrobatics and physical stunts to tell the story of bored office workers who invent a new game to brighten up their lives. £12-£38 prebook, until 3 November

SCIENCE: London Science Festival returns from today with a constellation of scientific talks, walks and happenings. The main theme is engineering, with an underlying science-in-London theme, so we like it already. Until 30 October

SOUTH ASIAN LIT: The South Asian Literature Festival is back for its fourth year. Themes this year include Indo-Caribbean literature, the ‘Other’ in Asian Britain, the legacy of the Indian Partition and the Modernisation of Religious Mythology. Nearly all of the events are £5 or less. Until 1 November

GUINNESS: Guinness is good for you. Or that's what the 1930's Guinness posters said. Learn about the history of the iconic brand and how it has advertised over the years, at the Museum of Brands. £10, prebook, 6pm

NATIONAL HISTORIES: Alan Bennett and Frances de la Tour chat over their memories and experiences of the National Theatre as it turns 50. £4, prebook, 6pm

INSPIRING LETTERS: Simon Garfield and Shaun Usher (of Letters of Note) talk about some of the world’s most unusual and inspiring letters at Waterstones Piccadilly. £5/£3, prebook, 6.30pm

BIG STUFF: Marcus Chown is at Foyles discussing The Big Stuff of how the world works. We’re still gaping at his book on quantum physics: an excellent popular science writer. £5/£3, prebook, 6.30pm

GIG: If The Jim Jones Revue are your cup of retro tea then they’re playing at Electric Brixton tonight. £15.95, prebook, 7pm

VIGIL: Time once again for the monthly vigil at Crossbones graveyard in Southwark — an ancient burial ground for society's outcasts, now a storage yard whose gates have been adorned with ribbons and other commemorative items. Everyone is welcome. Free, just turn up, 7pm

LIVE FILM: City of London Sinfonia starts a third season of its informal concert series, CLoSer, with a live showing of the 1929 silent movie, The New Babylon, with the orchestra performing the original film score alongside. At Village Underground. £15, prebook, 7.30pm

LECTURE: This year's Richard Price Memorial Lecture focuses on ‘why democratic socialism is more relevant than ever', and takes place at New Unity's Newington Green Chapel. £15/£10, prebook, 7.30pm

FREE COMEDY: Get some laughs (or groans) for free at Comedy Cafe’s New Act Night, where eight aspiring acts take to the stage for some great, or not so great, comedy. You get to be the judge of that. Free, prebook, 7.45pm

UGLY ANIMALS: Cute endangered animals get all the attention. Pandas? Yeah, make some effort please. At The Book Club, a line-up of comedians each champion an ugly animal in a bid to get society to accept a new mascot. £8.80, prebook, 8pm

LONDON GIG: London based musician Sean Taylor performs songs about his hometown, "from the drinkers of Kilburn, to the ravers of Brixton, from the bohemia of Camden, to the golden glow of the Thames". See him at The Half Moon in Putney. £10, prebook, 8pm

PUB MUSIC: The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are at Camden's Monarch tonight as part of their Night Shift pub tour, giving classical music a fun, quirky, informal twist. £11, prebook, 8.30pm

COMEDY: You may have seen Joseph Morpurgo in Austentatious, but try out his debut solo show Truthmouth at the Pleasance. His character comedy was a big critical hit. £7, prebook, 9pm


Ticket Alert

Every weekday in October we’re bringing you a selection of last minute deals from our sponsor StubHub. Today’s deals are:

  • Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Opera House from 19.30. Tickets from £65.00
  • Tom Odell at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire from 19.00. Tickets from £16.67
  • Madrina Lake at the Garage from 19.00. Tickets from £8.63.

Ticket prices correct as of 2pm on Tuesday 22 October.

For more info on these events as well as other upcoming live events in London check out  http://bit.ly/1fW7Jah

StubHub_Logo_RGB[1]


Good Cause of the Day

Catch a fantastic line up of comedians at the Laugh Till it Hurts charity fundraiser at Bloomsbury Theatre on 6 November. Adam Buxton, Joe Wilkinson, Rob Beckett, Holly Walsh, Keith Farnan, James Acaster and Matt Richardson will all take to the stage and all proceeds go towards Save the Children — an excellent charity that works in 120 countries around the world to transform and save children's lives. £15, prebook, Wednesday 6 November at 7.30pm

London Connection Puzzle

Yesterday's clue was ALBERT. Today's is MARLBOROUGH. But what could the London connection be? If you want to have a guess, email matt@londonist.com (but, if you're reading this by email, check the live site first to see if someone beat you). Clues three and four to come, which should narrow things down a bit. EDIT: someone has guessed the correct solution, so no need to write in.

From the Archive

On this day five years ago, we marvelled at the newly-available Google Street View of London. Look at how excited we were: "you can now see photos of any street, shop, pub, house, office or dodgy sauna in the centre of town, as though you were stood in the road outside". It was the closest we'd ever got to transporting, Stark Trek-style. In fact, it still is. When is Google bringing out a computational Transporter?

London Weather by Inclement Attlee

Fresh enplungements of rain will greet the morning commuter today.

Take an umbrella.

Take a bum-brella, which I've just made up. It consists of a posterior water shield to guard against traffic splash.

If you're particularly fearful of the rain, also wear thumbrellas, which I've also just invented. These are designed (in my head) to protect your hands from the rain. Sadly, they also compromise efficient handling of an orthodox umbrella.

The world is not yet ready for my rectumbrella.