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CHRISTMAS IS COMING: And although we're not fattening up any poultry, we have put together a bumper page of all festive goings on in London. We'll be updating it throughout December, so keep checking back.
CRUCIBLE ON SCREEN: For those who didn't bag a ticket to see the Old Vic's barnstorming production of Arthur Miller's witch trial classic The Crucible, there'll be cinema screenings across London and beyond on 4 and 7 December. Find your nearest participating cinema, times and prices here.
CANDLELIT EXHIBITION: Head to Somerset House for candlelit journey around the nine displays of the Fashioning Winter exhibition to discover the stories behind winter sports and style, both past and present. Booking essential, limited places. Tickets are available at the Seamen's Hall Info Desk 30 minutes before each tour on a first come, first served basis. 4pm/5.30pm
NURSING AT WAR: The Royal College of Nursing hosts a talk on The British Army Nursing Service in the Great War. Using unpublished official and unofficial documents, letters and diaries, the event aims to dispel the myths and overly-romanticised views of the First World War. Free, prebook, 5.30pm
CAROL CONCERT: The fourth annual Sick Children's Trust Christmas Carol Service, takes place in St Marylebone Parish Church, with readings from celebrities including Zoe Wanamaker, Ben Aldridge, Sarah Alexander, Sam Bailey and Christine Hamilton. £15/£7.50, prebook, 6pm
FASHION KNITWEAR: To tie in with the current Knitwear exhibition, the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey hosts an evening with John Smedley. Since the 1960s John Smedley Ltd has evolved from a hosiery company to a high fashion brand and tonight the the company’s historian uses archive material to talk about fashion knitwear collaborations with designers Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Comme des Garçons and others. £15/£12, prebook, 6pm
LOVE SALON: Warburg Institute is recreating some of the board games, parlour games and writing games played by the men and women who frequented salons in 17th century France. These games were often playful ways to tackle difficult questions such as whether men and women could really ever be friends. Free, prebook, 6pm
CHRISTMAS TREE: The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is being lit in a ceremony this evening hosted by the Lord Mayor of Westminster. The tree is an annual gift from the city of Oslo to the people of London as a mark of thanks for Britain’s support during World War II, and has been sent to the capital every year since 1947. For more information, follow the tree on Twitter (a sentence we never thought we'd write). Free, just turn up, from 6pm
CHRISTMAS SHOPPING: Stratford Road Village Shops and High Street Kensington join forces for a late night Christmas event with free food and drinks, games and performances from Royal College of Music. Free, just turn up, from 6pm
LONDON SOCIETY: The London Society's Christmas lecture takes place at Foyles on Charing Cross Road. Artist and illustrator David Gentleman (responsible for the platform-length murals of Charing Cross tube station) is talking. His work is represented in Tate Britain, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum and his last book, London You're Beautiful: An Artist's Year focused on looking afresh at the city. £7, prebook, 6.30pm
POETRY: As part of the Poetry @ the Print Room series of intimate evenings in the company of contemporary poets. David Harsent reads from his new collection, Fire Songs, published in August by Faber and Faber, and Ruth Padel will read from her new collection Learning to Make an Oud in Nazareth. £10, prebook, 7.30pm
COMEDY: Head to Crouch End for the King’s Head's packed new material night. A few of the comedians appearing are The Jests, Chris Coltrane, Dannie Grufferty. Sara Barron, and MC Erich McElroy. £4/£3, just turn up, 8.30pm
BLOOD: Today’s opportunities to donate blood are at St Mary Abbots Centre in Kensington, Sainsbury's in Chingford, Ripple Centre in Barking and the usual donor centres. See site for terms and conditions. Scared of donating blood? Watch our video.
Find more London events in our Free & Cheap events listings.Want to see your event in these last-minute listings? Email us at [email protected] at least 48 hours before the event, and we will consider it for inclusion. Note: due to high volumes of email, we can’t always reply.
Good Cause of the Day
For one day only, see Rwanda Aid's photography exhibition at The Gresham Centre in the City. Photos were taken by street children in Rwanda and all proceeds from sales of the photographs will go towards training vulnerable young people in Rwanda — setting them up in small, co-operative businesses.
From The Archive
Despite their dubious culinary merit, we rounded up London's Best Kebab Shops, just in time for Christmas nights out last year. Kebabs went upmarket in Clerkenwell recently when a 'posh' kebab shop opened.
