Things To Do In London Today: Tuesday 22 October 2013

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Listings

BLOOD: Today’s opportunity to donate blood is at Rye Lane Chapel in Peckham. Free, see site for terms and conditions

POP ART: Pop Art Design at Barbican Art Gallery explores the exchange of ideas between artists and designers in the Pop age. £12/£10, prebook, until 9 February 2014

DIVAHLI: Sita’s Story is based on the Indian epic The Ramayana, and tells of the darkening of the sun and how light was returned to the earth. Find out more at Redbridge Drama Centre, as part of the new Family Arts Festival. £10/£8/£6, prebook, 1.30pm and 5pm

OLD VIC VOICES: Today is the National Theatre’s 50th anniversary. Happy Birthday! A hearty babblechook of events are planned, but tonight you can hear some of the actors who worked alongside the first Director, Laurence Olivier, talk about those early days at the Old Vic. £4/£3, prebook, 6pm

DEBATE: A discussion at The Phoenix Artist Club as part of the Inside Out Festival contemplates whether or not changes in the art form have made the traditional role of the theatre director redundant. Free, prebook, 6pm

PEACE: Listen to panellists debate how to make the world a better place, under the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. Today’s theme is ‘peace’. Free, just turn up (early arrival recommended), 6.30-8pm

SOUTH ASIAN LIT: Sathnam Sanghera and Damian Barr talk about being on the margins of contemporary Britain in a South Asian Literature pre-Festival event at Asia House. £10/£8, prebook, 6.45pm

POETRY: Don Share and Maurice Riordan talk over Ezra Pound’s ‘A Few Don’ts’ and whether poets need a new set of guiding principles, at Keats House. £6/£5, prebook, 7pm

SPOKEN NERD: A night of geeky new material from Matt Parker, Steve Mould and Helen Arney, at Pub on the Park. Tonight’s show looks at the science of sex and money. £5, prebook, 7.30pm

MUSIC UP CLOSE: MusicUpClose returns in a new series of performing events at Conway Hall. Professional musicians and students from Trinity Laban will help to illuminate specific pieces of music and the ways in which we think about them. Tonight's theme is 'London Calling'. £10, prebook, 7.30pm

SECRET SIMPSONS: Simon Singh unveils the maths secrets behind The Simpsons, at the Southbank Centre. £11.75, prebook, 7.45pm

FILM: Oval Space’s Cinema Club screens award-winning psychological thriller Berberian Sound Studio, a film about an introverted sound engineer who finds himself lost in shifting reality and psychological mayhem. £5, prebook, 8pm

COMEDY: We have a lot of love for Sheeps — a trio who don’t make the common sketch error of mistaking silliness for jokes. They have a new show at Invisible Dot tonight. £6, prebook, 9.45pm

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Ticket Alert

Every weekday in October we’re bringing you a selection of last minute deals from our sponsor StubHub. Today’s deals are:

• Tom Odell at Shepherds Bush Empire at 19:00, from £16.10
• Blue at Eventim Apollo at 19:00, from £24.16
• Peter Gabriel at The O2 at 19:00, from £34.50

Ticket prices correct as of 2pm on Monday 21 October.

For more info on these events as well as other upcoming live events in London check out  http://bit.ly/1fW7Jah

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Good Cause of the Day

Hands on London’s third annual coat collection, Wrap Up London, is fast approaching. The campaign relies the generosity of Londoners to distribute thousands of winter coats to London's most vulnerable people. You can help in two different ways: drop off your coat donations at one of the various locations between 13-15 November, or volunteer to collect, sort and send out coats to charities across the capital (there are various volunteer positions available). For more details visit the Facebook page.

London Connection Puzzle

A new connection puzzle starts today. Your first clue-word is ALBERT. Please wait for the second clue-word tomorrow before sending in guesses.

From the Archive

On this day last year, we heralded the end of the summer season with a look at whether the Olympics were good or bad for London.

London Weather by Inclement Attlee

10 beneficiaries of today's weather

1. Umbrella manufacturers
2. Ducks (stupid ones)
3. People fleeing water-soluble wicked witches
4. Miserablists
5. Slugs and snails
6. People whose showers have broken
7. Gene Kelly impersonators
8. Shirley Manson (famously 'only happy when it rains')
9. Anyone in need of easy smalltalk
10. Collectors of raindrops