Things To Do In London Today: Tuesday 23 April 2013


If you’ve not already done so, you can subscribe to these daily listings and have them delivered to your inbox at 7am every morning. Alternatively, subscribe to Londonist Daily to hear about events further in the future.

GIVE BLOOD: Today’s opportunities to donate blood are at Lambeth Town Hall (Brixton), Rye Lane Chapel (Peckham), and the Bishopsgate Institute (City). Free, just turn up, see site for times and conditions.

COMEDY: Quietly spoken, completely bonkers poet Tim Key is doing a work-in-progress show at Invisible Dotin King's Cross tonight, just announced. £8, probably wise to prebook, 8.15pm.

EDIBLE INSECTS: Insects Au Gratin is a new installation at Wellcome Collection, looking at the future of food...which is apparently both creepy and crawly. Free, just turn up, until 5 May

HISTORY: If you’ve ever been to the splendid Hunterian Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, you’ll be aware of the Royal College of Surgeons, who look after it. A lunchtime talk at the museum traces the history of the RCS, from its foundation in 1800 to its Blitzing in 1941. £4, prebook, 1pm

ST GEORGE: Music, costumes, English ale and possibly Morris dancing at The Lamb Tavern. Free, just turn up, 6pm

CELLS: How does your ear know to be precisely ear-shaped, and not sprawl out over the side of your face like a spam fritter*? The way your cells divide and proliferate, and stop doing so when they’re supposed to, is remarkable when you think about it. When the process goes wrong, you get tumours. Peter Lawrence speaks at the Royal Society on recent research in this area. Free, just turn up, 6.30pm

MORE ST GEORGE: The Old Queen’s Head is serving up complimentary platters of its new, all English menu, plus there is a themed quiz, games and, yes, more Morris dancing. Free, just turn up, 7pm

BOOKS GALORE: It’s World Book Night! Pick up copies of the selected books at one of these events: Hardeep Singh Kohli hosts a star studded night at the Southbank Centre, with guests including Andrew Motion, Tracy Chevalier, Rose Tremain and Lemn Sissay (£10, 7.30pm); Natalie Haynes, James Mayhew, Beverley Naidoo and Robert Douglas-Fairhurst are at Canada Water in support of Book Aid (£10, 7pm); Blake Morrison, Nii Ayikwie Parkes and Sarah Mussi at Lewisham Library (free, RSVP in advance, 8pm); Liars’ League at the Literary Kitchen (7pm); find other events near you on the World Book Night website.

COMEDY: It’s Sketchercise's third birthday! Allnutt and Simpson have put together a cracking line-up, featuring themselves, Will Franken, Cariad Lloyd, Colin Hoult, Damien Slash, Spencer Jones, That Pair, The One Eyed Men and hosts McNeil and Pamphilon at Ginglik. £5, prebook, 7pm

STAND-UP AND CRICKET: Miles Jupp and Andy de la Tour – currently both on stage in Alan Bennett’s People at the National Theatre – talk stand up and cricket at Stratford Picturehouse. £5, prebook, 7pm

GEOLOGY: What goes on beneath our feet, and who gives a frack? Hazel Gibson talks geology at this month’sSkeptics in the Pub, at the Monarch, Camden Town. £3, just turn up, 7.30pm

SMELLY COSMOS: In space, no one can hear you scream. But they might be able to smell you. Greenwich Observatory astronomer Marek Kukula describes the various odours of the cosmos...if we could survive long enough to whiff them...followed by Odette Toilette's range of zany perfumes inspired by outer space. Uranus gags are a certainty. All at the Book Club in Shoreditch. £12, prebook, 7.30pm

DOCUMENTARY FILM: Oval Space Cinema Club screening ‘F*ck For Forest’, a documentary by Michal Marczak that follows a Berlin based NGO of the same name, who raise money to save the rainforest by selling homemade porn on the internet. £9/£7.50, prebook, 8.30pm

Send any tips or suggestions for the following sections to matt@londonist.com.

Random London Fact of the Day
Camden Town is criss-crossed by railways. The huge labour force of navvies who carved out the cuttings in Victorian times were a thirsty bunch, spending their scant earnings down the pub. Local legend has it that four separate pubs were built to serve the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish workers, to avoid tribal fisticuffs. You can still visit the Dublin Castle (Irish), Edinboro Castle (Scottish) and Pembroke Castle (Welsh) today, while the Windsor Castle (English) closed some time ago and is now a branch of Côte (French).

Good Cause of the Day
My Voice London works with disadvantaged children and young people aged 10-17 in south London, helping them to overcome individual problems and re-engage with school. Projects include mentoring, communication training and simulating society to help young people understand the different worlds around them. My Voice London are looking for people to support them by taking part in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 (a bike ride through London and Surrey) on 4 August, or the Yorkshire Marathon on 20 August. Alternatively even the smallest donation would make a difference. All details can be found at www.myvoicelondon.org.uk or @MyVoiceLondon

London Weather
A fine day to "work from home", as our friendly neighbourhood G-type main-sequence star lords over the skies once more. Temperatures might reach as high as 18°C which, to put it in some kind of context, is about as hot as a toad's sphincter. BBC Weather has more.