Things To Do In London Today: Friday 22 February 2013

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GIVE BLOOD: Today's place to donate some red juice is the City Temple on Holborn Viaduct. Free, just turn up, 9.30-11am and 12.15-4.15pm

ART: 2+2 is a new exhibition at Signal Gallery, in which two painters and two stencil artists combine forces to create original art. Free, just turn up, until 15 March

MORE ART: Mixing Pop Art and sculpture, Pakpoom Silaphan’s third solo exhibition at Scream gallery opens today. Free, just turn up, until 6 April

DISCO: A lunchtime disco? Really? Really? Yes, it's true. You can go boogie in your (extended) lunch hour at the Book Club, Shoreditch. Free, just turn up, 12-3pm

HISTORY OF SCIENCE: Find out more about the ‘Rothschild Controversy‘ of 1971, a battle over whether politicians or scientists themselves should control the research budget, in a talk at the Royal Society. Free, just turn up, 1pm

CULTURE: Artist and film-maker Mark Boulos is in conversation with Time Out's Ossian Ward, to talk about the former's work. £5, prebook or turnup, 1pm

FILM: The Reel Islington Film Festival begins today, with screenings of Passport to Pimlico (1.45pm), Is This England: Visions of a Country in Cinema (4pm), Meet the Professionals (6.30pm), and awards (7.30pm). Further screenings through Sunday. Prices vary, prebook, from 1.45pm

KIDS: Young Adult author Cathy Cassidy is chatting at the Southbank Centre (2.30pm, prebook, £8/£4). Also, Jeremy Strong, Gareth P Jones and Tom Banks present a fantastic afternoon of storytelling. £8/£4, prebook, 3.30pm

WASSAIL: Join the London Orchard Project’s Wassailing party at Alara Wholefoods, 108-112 Camley Street, Kings Cross. There will be bands, mulled cider, apple fritters and porridge, a fire, fireworks and singing and banging to wake up the Kings Cross orchard. Free, just turn up, 5pm

BEER: You could just go to your local pub for Friday night beers, or you could head to the Truman Brewary in Brick Lane, where the Craft Beer Rising festival runs all weekend. £11, prebook, 7pm

HIP-HOP COMEDY: Dong, which describes itself as "the ultimate, and only, hip hop comedy night", returns to Rich Mix tonight. £10, prebook, 7pm

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.

GIG: The Cribs, plus And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and other acts play Brixton Academy, where tickets are still available for this NME Awards show. £23.17, prebook, 7.30pm

TALK: Find out how austerity and the rise of facism could affect the LGBTQ community. At Clapham Library, 7.30pm

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.

COMEDY: It's always quite difficult to know what will happen whenever Ben Target gets on stage, which makes C$R$E$A$M at Leicester Square Theatre an intriguing prospect. It’s co-hosted by laid-back Mark Stephenson with guests John Kearns, Stuart Laws and Gareth Morinan. £5, prebook, 9pm

Random Google Inquiry of the Day

Type in "The best Tube station is" in Google, and these are, for us, the top five hits (with context):

  • West Kensington (for the Holiday Inn Express at Earl's Court)
  • Notting Hill Gate (for Notting Hill Carnival)
  • Ladbroke Grove (for the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising)
  • Bank (for the Bank of England Museum)
  • Cannon Street (for an annual gathering and AGM of people called Arbuthnott!)
Bing offers the same results in a different order.

Good Cause of the Day

Send tips to matt@londonist.com

Action On Hearing Loss, as the name suggests, helps people whose hearing has deteriorated or gone completely. It's a national charity, previously known as RNID. In London, the charity organises and participates in numerous fundraisers. This year, you can join its team for the London Marathon, take part in its London 2 Brighton walk/run, climb the stairs of the BT Tower, and many other activities. Find out more about the charity's good work here, and perhaps make a donation. Today's charity was nominated by reader Helena Martins.

London Weather
No sing-along weather report today. However, we would like to contact Neil or Tim Finn regarding a certain friend of theirs, known to "always take the weather". We have some weather we'd like you to take, please. Biting temperatures and miserable skies can be collected from the airspace above London at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

BBC Weather has the full forecast.