lightning

89. The Freak Storm of 1925 It was like a scene from a blockbuster disaster movie in the end, but how it all began was a mystery, like so many freakish weather shows. The Kentish Mercury and Kentish Independent of the 24th July were both …

Saturday Strangeness 15 – Dragons Over London? Dragons are probably the most celebrated yet misunderstood mythical creature across Britain, yet several sightings of such leathery legends have been recorded, and such monsters feature heavily in the lore of the British countryside (remember St George?). During …

Ask someone what they picture when the word “burlesque” is mentioned and chances are they’ll think of a pretty girl wearing feathers slinking about on stage. But what if Dita von Teese were a bloke? If you’d like to find out, boys and girls, head …

A festival weekend wouldn’t be complete without the threat of rain, but while fans at Wireless in Hyde Park mostly got away dry, 500 geeks at Alexandra Palace couldn’t escape Saturday’s storm. Hack Day is a 36-hour marathon of coding, pizza, beer and music sponsored …

You’re barely considered a proper sport these days unless you augment your league competition with some sort of knockout finale. The Americans seem to have been first with the Superbowl and the baseball world series amongst others, but over here we have largely failed to …

Oh god. Make it stop. Please. Just. Make. It. Stop. Hundreds of misguided youths have been giving it everything they’ve got in recent auditions, in order to land a part in a new musical following the adventures of a fictional Take That band. Young men …

Seven songs down, here are this year’s next seven Eurovision semi-final songs! Switzerland send the improbably named DJ Bobo performing the reminiscent-of-Aqua dance-pop songVampires Are Alive. The stage show for this should be ace, so watch out for the Bobo. Moldova’s entry, Fight, soars and …

We had our tongue somewhat in our cheek last Friday when we said of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s scheduled appearance at the Wembley Masters’ snooker, “Perhaps the biggest question hanging over the event is whether or not the favourite will hang around long enough to play all …

Every day this month the Londonist team will be pointing you in the direction of a Christmas present that (with a bit of luck) you won’t already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we’ll see what we can move from …

Nelson’s Column came out of its enforced hibernation today after the four month, £420,000 restoration work on old Horatio was finally completed. The occassion was marked by “four dancers going through their paces atop the granite column 151 feet (46 metres) above London’s Trafalgar Square,” …