Things To Do In London Today: 14 December 2012

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GIVE BLOOD: Today's opportunities for you (and this means YOU) to donate blood are at St Paul's Church Hall in Stoke Newington and Brewers Hall in the City. Free, just turn up, times vary

DESIGN: Seek out an unusual, home-made gift at the Designers/Makers market at Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank. Free to browse, just turn up, from 11am

CHRISTMAS FOOD: The Protein Christmas Market takes place at 18 Hewett Street, Shoreditch, offering plenty of creative dishes and delights. Edible Christmas cards sound kind-of intriguing. Free, just turn up, noon-5pm

MORE CHRISTMAS FOOD: The Real Food Christmas Market opens in Southbank Centre Square, offering pretty much all you need for your festive larder. Runs all through the weekend and next weekend. Free to browse, just turn up, noon-8pm

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: An odder pairing of talks could scarcely be imagined, but head to UCL’s JZ Young Lecture Theatre for a talk about online grime music followed by a discussion of the Raman effect and its use to detect molecular-level changes in disease. Oddness squared. Free, just turn up, 1.15pm

FOOD: Find out about the Curious History of Christmas Food at Keats House in Hampstead. £5, includes admission ticket to the house for a year, prebook, 3pm

MUSIC: Camden's finest Madness play the O2. £32.45, prebook, 6.30pm

MUSIC: Long-lived London tunesmiths St Etienne play Shepherd's Bush Empire. £25.75, prebook, 7pm

MUSIC: Superior electronic noodling from Orbital, tonight at Brixton Academy. £33, prebook, 7.30pm

PRINCE: The ICA's two-day Princefest twirls into action today, with a programme of talks, screenings, karaoke and a 19-guitar rendition of Purple Rain. Times and prices vary.

CIRCUS: The Greenwich Circus Festival starts today with all kinds of performance, awe and death defiance. Check out the varied programme, which runs all weekend. Times and prices vary.

CHARITY CONCERT: The Mike King Collective performs a mix of Christmas songs, gospel, soul, jazz and pop at the BT Auditorium (near St Paul's) in aid of the Louise Coote Lupus Trust. £25, prebook, 7.30pm

POETRY: PR Murray launches a new poetry collection, The Glowing Nightsoil Of The Concealed Emu, and readings from Zolan Quobble, Sue Johns, Emile Sercombe and Patric Cunnane at Dodo Modern Poets at the Poetry Cafe. £6, just turn up, 8pm

COMEDY: Troupe Clever Peter (as heard on Radio 4) host a night of sketch comedy at the Pleasance, with guests Allnut & Simpson, The Silky Pair, Sam Fletcher and Pattie Brewster. £5, prebook, 8pm

MUSEUM LATES: Unwind after work with a spot of culture at the British Museum, Natural History Museum, V&A, National Gallery or National Portrait Gallery. Free, check websites for closing times and events.

ROLLER SKATE: The Friday Night skate starts at Wellington Arch. Anyone who feels competent on skates is welcome to join. Free, just turn up, 8pm.

PARTY: The We.Are.Lizards Christmas party at The Book Club sees Scroobius Pip hosting a head-to-head DJ battle between DJ Yoda and Zane Lowe. Free/£5 from 9pm, just turn up, 8pm-2am

PARTY: The latest Make Me night takes place on Drysdale Street, Shoreditch, with Kassem Mosse and DJ Deep. £16.80, prebook, 11pm-6am

Random London Fact of the Day
The most expensive musical in the history of the West End was The Lord of the Rings, which ran at Theatre Royal Drury Lane from 2006 to 2008. The show cost £12.5 million to stage, enough to employ Boris Johnson as Mayor of London for 87 years. We'll let you decide which would have been better value for money.

London Weather
You remember how, in the popular song, it was 'raining men, Hallelujah'? Well, imagine if you can that exact same scenario but with millions of droplets of water rather than tumbling humans. That's pretty much what you can expect all day long. Warmer, too. BBC Weather.

Secret False Rumour Of The Day
We're all out of secret false rumours. But, if you're a fan of this part of the daily agenda, leave your own secret false rumour in the comments below and we might just use them on future articles.