Things To Do In London Today: Friday 15 February

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POSTERS: An excellent display of 150 of London Underground's greatest designs opens at London Transport Museum today and there's a special late event tonight, called Whose Line is it Anyway? TIckets £8, prebook, open 6.45-10pm.

OTHER LATES: Other museums opening late tonight include the British Museum, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the V&A. Free, check websites for closing times and events.

OPERA: Fulham Opera perform Wagner's Siegfried at St John's Church, SW6. Tickets £20, £15 concessions, prebook and remember it's very long, 250 minutes with 2 intervals, take a cushion and a blanket, starts 6pm.

FRINGE: The second Will Gompertz Fringe night at the ICA is all about money, including performances from Festival of the Spoken Nerd and Norman Rosenthal plus a nanochemist, magician and cribbage player, musician, 'catalysts' and the man himself. Tickets £10, £8 concessions, £7 members, prebook, starts 7.30pm.

MUSICAL: Get in the fashionista frame of mind for London Fashion Week with pop up musical, Fashion Victim at Roxy Bar and Screen. Tickets from £10, prebook (also Saturday), starts 7.30pm.

END OF THE WORLD: Are You Sitting Comfortably is a storytelling cabaret night at Toynbee Studios, E1. Tonight's event features apocalypse themed short stories written by Londoners and read by the White Rabbit performers. Entry £8, chip butties included, prebook, starts 7.30pm.

SAVE A PUB: A fundraising gig hopes to save Nunhead's Ivy House Pub and community hub. Boothby Graffoe and Men in Coats appear alongside more comedy and music. Tickets £10 (from Rye Books or the Facebook event), starts 8pm.

FASHION: Celebrate the start of Forest Hill Fashion Week – which promises workshops, markets, upcycling, swaps, makeovers and a catwalk show between now and Tuesday – in the new Sylvan Post pub, Dartmouth Road, SE23 from 8pm till late.

POETRY: Jasmine Ann Cooray, Andy V. Frost, Lisa Kelly and Patric Cunnane perform at Dodo Modern Poets at the Poetry Cafe for Fizzing February. Admission £6/£5 concessions, starts 8pm.

ANIMALS: Party like an animal — in fact, dress up like one (see photo) — at the Valentine's Animal Love Party in aid of Save the Rhino at Islington Metal Works, Torrens Street, N1. Tickets £22 - includes a £2.20 donation. Party hard, 10pm-4am.

Random London Fact of the Day


Miss Linwoods Museum was once a London attraction on a par with the Tower and the dome of St Paul's - at least according to Mr Dickens's David Copperfield, who took Peggoty to see all three (plus some waxworks, natch). So what was so thrilling and must-see at Miss Linwood's Leicester Square gallery?

Needlework. Yep. But no simple sampler cross-stitch work. Making reproductions of famous paintings in embroidery was a popular past-time among eighteenth century ladies and patterns were provided in the Prima magazine equivalent of the day — at the Crystal Palace there were apparently no fewer than six needlework copies of Leonardo's Last Supper alone.

Mary Linwood  was particularly accomplished and after a successful exhibition, set up a permanent gallery in Savile House. After her death her work was sold off by Christie's at much lower values than they were held during her lifetime. Find out more.

Her portrait of Napoleon ended up in the V&A.

Good Cause of the Day

The Food Chain deliver meals and groceries, offer cookery and nutrition classes and communal eating opportunities to people living with HIV in London and their dependants. It started in 1988, set up by friends of  people living with HIV. Amazingly, the charity only employs 8 people, relying on a chain of wonderful volunteers to prepare and home-deliver meals, manage the rotas and provide nutritional advice as well as supporting the admin, communications and fundraising functions. You can find out about volunteer opportunities here or make a donation to the Food Chain here.

Many thanks to Madeleine Clark who suggested The Food Chain on Facebook.

London Weather

After a nippy night it should be bright and mild again, leading into — fingers and toes crossed — a bright and mild weekend. So, start planning what you're getting up to here.