The London Marathon’s got itself a new sugar daddy. After a highly public breakup back in December (“it’s not you, it’s us” was Flora’s graceless exit strategy), the London Marathon has been wandering adrift, at sea, not quite sure what the future would bring after the 2009 race. No worries – she’s a hot little lucrative number and we knew it wouldn’t be long before someone swooped in to occupy the vacant space by......

Over the last couple of years Londonist has been privileged to bring you tales from the life and times of Buster Martin, the centenarian Pimlico plumber who first came to fame after being ordered, under duress, to take a day off work on his 100th birthday. Now, having completed the London Marathon in just under ten hours - and collecting some £20,000 for the Rhys Daniels Trust in the process - Buster was expected......

Here at Londonist we love to indulge in all sorts of devilishly scrumptious treats. However, we know healthy, conscientious eating is the key to a happy life. Kate Percy is a marathon runner and a cook … and, as of the 10th of January, a blogger. With her Go Faster Food blog, Kate intends to share her progress in training for the Flora London Marathon 2008 and to talk about different foods and recipes......

Well damn. Just as we were preparing to submit our accumulated evidence that Paula Radcliffe deserves admission to the International Super Heroes Hall of Fame (wherever that may be), word comes today of a crack in the steely exterior of the marathon world record holder. The three-time London Marathon winner has been forced to withdraw from this year’s event due to an injury to a tendon in her toe (tendons! in the toe! yet......

If you've not got plans tonight, then we're very excited by new-ish club night Now We've Got Europe. Held at the intimate Three Blind Mice (formerly Eastern-Euro styled Smersh), the night promises the best of French new wave, Dutch rap, German punk, Italo Disco pool-side classics and pop anthems from the continent. Tonight has an added Spanish theme from gothic punk icons Alaska y los Pegamoides and glamorous new romantics Glamour to the Stock......

Aren’t old people delightful? So feisty! Such spunk! When they’re not threatening your five-year-old with an iron bar, they might be off practising kung fu on would-be teen muggers (and quite rightly – punks) or dispensing advice to lad mag readers. This much is clear: retirement just isn’t what it used to be. Witness Buster Martin, the 101-year-old with an invincibility complex. And no wonder. After first gaining notoriety for refusing to take a......

A couple of weeks ago our attention was drawn to the London FrontRunners, a running club that somewhat surprisingly had decided to stage their unique version of A Christmas Carol at the Drill Hall. Running and acting not being the most obvious of bedfellows, Londonist decided to find out who or what the FrontRunners really are. We met Graham Kennedy, one of the two Presidents, and Leila Brosnan, a long-standing member, just before they......

She does not, to our knowledge, leap tall buildings in a single bound, have telepathic powers, or possess the ability to control the weather. But Paula Radcliffe, who, we learned today, will be competing again this year in the London Marathon en route to trying for the gold at the summer Olympics in Beijing, could make a claim to a few other superhero abilities. Superhuman strength? Check. She runs 26.2 miles in the time......

It's easy to laugh at mime - the performers can't say anything back. But in the case of the London International Mime Festival, they could well leap off the stage on bungee ropes and encase you in a massive block of clay then make you a key part of an adult puppet show. This isn't a two week lovefest for tall chaps in stripy tops and white make up trapped in invisible glass boxes:......

The queues are already forming outside Buckingham Palace to see what lurks behind door number 21. Will it be the Star of Bethlehem? Or Michael Fagin? We'll be running a seasonal Touch-up every day until Christmas, so please send entries to londonist - at - gmail dot com. Source image from koltregask's Flickr photostream.......

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

More Olympic cost rumbling Get inside MI5 via radio4 Lottery winners in Ealing, Islington and Kensington & Chelsea are running out of time Good Ken: Green500 scheme gets big firms to commit to reducing emissions Bad Ken: pigeons are starving in Trafalgar Square Image courtesy of Orhan via the Londonist flickr group.......

Formally half of the much loved and missed Arab Strap, Malcolm Middleton's solo career revealed unexpected pop sensibilities. Sure, he's no happier, and he's just as foul mouthed, but this time he does it with added melody and pop hooks. Tonight's show at the Scala comes a week ahead of his unexpected stab at the Christmas number 1 with his typically jovial "We're All Going To Die". Originally the gesture started as a joke,......

Buttery spread brand Flora, sponsor of the London Marathon, has decided that its bread is better buttered elsewhere. After a 14-year association with the event, Flora has indicated that it will give up its sponsorship following the 2009 race. A delightful investment opportunity for those of you with £12 million lying around! Promoting itself as a heart-healthy butter alternative by placing its name on the hundreds of thousands of, presumably heart-healthy, runners doggedly completing......

Well, the sugar people are actually living up to their somewhat irritating catchphrase at the moment, as they are being incredibly good eco-bunnies. They are to install an awfully costly new biomass boiler (£20 million - in Londonist’s book that’s expensive: mind you, you shouldn’t get us going on the subject of the cost of plumbing…) at their East London plant which will burn on something called ‘wheat feed’ (a bi-product of the flour industry).......

Londonist is fuming, literally and alas will be for quite some time – the £150 million plan to chill the tube looks set to be suspended. It’s deemed too expensive (shock, horror) by Transport for London, who has taken over from maintenance company Metronet. Of course our hopes of a cooler network were not that high – what with seemingly ludicrous plans to install ice under the seats or redirect cold water in Victoria –......

Harumph. Last night saw a wee splash of rain and a whole load of inconvenience in London. And this rather disgruntled Londonista was caught up in it. It’s not that we are spoiled brats and can’t cope without our PCs and tellies for an evening. By all accounts a snuggly, fire-lit night in, cooking pancakes over candles and making conversation with each other, never did anyone any harm – why the thrice weekly power cut......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 19th November 1558: Queen Elizabeth I travels to Highgate on her accession to the throne. She is met by the bishops and escorted through London. Tuesday – 20th November 1992: Fire sweeps through Windsor Castle, causing £40 million worth of damage to over 100 rooms. Wednesday – 21st November 1695: The great composer Henry Purcell dies at his home in Westminster. The cause of his death in......

Maxwell's Fullmooners has been running for some time at London's Comedy Store - audiences can expect Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell dressed in a cloak, hip hop dancers, a creepy singer with a ukulele called Lady Carol of the Moon, the 'concierge' Tim Fitzhigham (who we interviewed earlier this year) and a lot of werewolf style howling. The shows start at midnight and have been something of a cult hit. On November 24th an extra......

Londonist is not normally anal or prohibitive about stuff. Hey, we can do nipple tassles with the best of them. And we are utterly dismissive of most of Nanny Government’s patronising dictums. But today we are all up tight….about fireworks of all things. We must confess to a decidedly school-marmly attitude to the things. Sorry ‘n’ all if you’re having a party tonight – we don’t want to dampen your fun or anything. It’s just......

Londonist does not support prostitution, let’s get this straight right away. But we were pleased to spot this news flash about a Guildford hairdressing Madam having her prison sentence reduced from 18 months to 12 months. Chunxia Bao was very naughty – she made an estimated £200,000 out of her ‘special upstairs salon’, where she employed two prostitutes to administer the old personal touch. Until prostitution is regulated or legalised, running a brothel is a......

If the clocks going back filled you with winter blues this week then we prescribe you must get yourself to Sadlers Wells sharpish. For a reasonable amount of quids you can get yourself a seasonal dose of magic and wonderment which will fix you right up. James Thiérrée's "Au Revoir Parapluie" is just what you need. Alright, so it's more expensive than a happy pill prescription from the GP or a map or your......

As many Londoners will know, DLR trains are entirely driven by computer. The DLR staff member on each train, known as the ‘Passenger Service Agent’ (a much less exciting title than ‘Train Captain’, which they used to be called), does not normally have any involvement in actually driving the train. Instead, their main functions seem to be to tell the train when to close the doors, to check passengers’ tickets, and to deal with......

At Londonist we are often chuffed when Londoners 'do quite well'. At least initially. Like most Brits, we love The Underdog - right up until that moment when they become A Loser. Then we slag them off vitriolically, sit arms-crossed in a huff on our collective sofa, mumble that we "never liked them anyway" and promptly forget all about them when the next Underdog comes along. What's cockney for 'schadenfreude' anyway? When Shirley MacLaine......

Tonight marks the climax of nine months' eager anticipation since we broke the news to you that the NFL was coming to town. Two days ago we secured a ticket via the final sale we mentioned last Tuesday and we can't wait for the action to begin at 5pm. If you're catching the game on TV (Sky Sports live, or BBC2 highlights at 10:50pm), you're in plenty of company. The game is being carried......

24. Haunted Roads For Halloween! Despite London’s congested roads and the daily chorus of thousands of beeping horns, ghosts of the cities roads are in fact sporadic. Look through any catalogue of phantom hitchhikers or ghostly vehicles (for example http://www.roadghosts.com/) and you’ll notice a distinct lack of activity within the capital pertaining to tarmac terrors. Why this is we’ll never know – maybe it’s simply down to the fact that elsewhere in the country,......

We think Josie Long is magic. Like, properly magic. With spells and prestidigitation and conjuration and that. This is the only way we can explain how she is able to perform to sell-out crowds at a venue as large at The Bloomsbury Theatre, but still totally capture the spirit, warmth, friendliness and intimacy of a small, lo-fi indie comedy gig. When we saw her earlier this year at Stewart Lee's fund-raiser to release a......

Hot on the heels of basketball and ice hockey, the third of America's big four sports has begun its landing on our shores. The advance guard for Sunday's NFL encounter between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants consists of just one man. Albeit a very big one. Pictured above is the specially commissioned twenty-six foot high animatronic statue of Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor which is touring London and the South East......

The week ahead holds much excitement for fans of the outer sonic limits as London-based audiovisual label Touch continues celebrating its 25th anniversary with an entire week of gigs, discussions and workshops in South London. Founded in 1981/2 by Jon Wozencroft and Mike Harding, Touch has since grown to become one of the world's most respected sources of experimental electronic music. Through the consistently high-quality sounds it releases and the striking visual aesthetic with......

23. The Woman In Black This week’s feature on London’s darker side is more of a review, simply because last week, Saturday 13th October, myself and my cousin ventured to see The Woman In Black stage show at the Fortune Theatre, on Russell Street in Covent Garden. For those of you who are not familiar with this chilling ghost story, it is an adaptation of Susan Hill’s fine book and has been running in......