T.S. Eliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month,” but we're officially endorsing Birthday Boy Bard’s more optimistic quote instead: “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” Feel young and sprightly in the warmer weather as you sample the Shakespeare-themed week ahead in honor of his “official” 444th birthday (his actual date of birth remains a mystery). Monday: And wilt thou be the school where Lust shall learn? One of London’s best......

These four unlikely bedfellows were found on a post outside the Globe Theatre. The maudlin chap to the right is easily identifiable as an UnderWaterPirate. UWP's creator, from Philly, takes up the backstory: UnderWaterPirates is a species of sea life from the deepest darkest parts of the ocean. A long time ago there was a very old pirate who was very happy. He loved himself and his life very much. Until one day all......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 23rd April 1979: 33-year-old teacher Blair Peach dies from head injuries following outbreaks of fighting with police at an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front meeting in Southall, West London. Tuesday – 24th April 1993: A massive IRA bomb explodes on Bishopsgate in the City of London, killing one person, injuring 44 more, and causing more than £350m damage to the area. Wednesday – 25th April......

A few distinctive London eyefulls have been awarded icon status. Westminster Abbey, the tube map, red telephone boxes, Wimbledon and the Thames itself have now joined previous London icons Big Ben, Routemasters, Brick Lane, Notting Hill Carnival, The Globe Theatre and The Tower of London. The full list can be seen here. The idea is for the icons to develop into a vibrant portrait of England. The 21 additions, which also include English weather,......

Sunday 23rd April is St George's Day and the Mayor of London has muscled in on celebrations with three events over the weekend. Saturday - Festival For St George at Covent Garden The sadism and shrill abuse of Punch and Judy shows are an acquired taste and Morris Dancing is less than enticing as a Saturday afternoon treat... however, that's what you're going to get at the Royal Society of St George organised Festival......

On Saturday, the Royal Court had already taken over their own building with performances and decided that they would send some of it over the road and out into the open air - Sloane Square to be precise - to complete their domination of the area. There was a bit of moustache / attache case madcap madness, some sort of romance that involved two boys and a girl, umbrellas, fake moustaches, red balloons and......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Among the treats available to lit lovers this week are a reading in a cemetery, a reading in Shakespeare's Globe, and if you're willing to travel to Oxford, a whole slew of famous faces over the next couple of days... Events Around London (and Beyond): The Oxford Literary Festival continues through tomorrow (the 29th),......

The fantastically named Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of the Globe Theatre, has recently announced the line up for their 2006 theatre season, and it's a bit of a corker. Under the theme "The Edges of Rome" the Globe will be staging Coriolanus ("Shakespeare’s greatest political play"), Titus Andronicus ("Spectacularly, even grotesquely, violent and daringly experimental"), Antony & Cleopatra (although Antony has been spelt with an 'h' on the Globe website...tut tut), and The Comedy......

Who really enjoys Christmas shopping in London? Seriously - who? Though it is always the thought that counts, it is sadly true that you are obliged to put the thought into physical form in order for it to count, which means putting on your coat and hitting the shops to pick up that unique and original Christmas gift - which usually turns out to be the same unique and original gift that 50 million......

Will the Routemaster debacle never die? After all the fuss over the decomissioning of the buses and then the arguments over whether bendy buses really did have quicker boarding times or not, now the Routmaster's new role is being criticised for being "seriously defective". The Routemaster 'heritage tours' which were due to start in December have become the target for the Lib Dem's who can't understand why the proposed routes miss out sights such......

A few stories have popped up in the papers over the past few days which point to a bit of a cash injection in the capital's cultural artery (did we just mix our metaphors then? Apologies if we did). Here's a quick rundown of the London's arty shopping list for the next couple of years: A £2.2m building is to be built on the South Bank, near to the Tate Modern and the Globe......