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Listings
BLOOD: Today’s opportunities to donate blood are at Freemasons Hall, Covent Garden, the Doubletree Hilton Hotel next to Tower of London, Lewisham Shopping Area on Lewisham High Street and Church of Lady of The Annunciation in Addiscombe. Free, see site for terms and conditions
CRAFT MARKET: Heal's interior design store on Tottenham Court Road hosts a fortnight long Modern Craft Market, kicking off today. Exhibitions from well-known designers, opportunities to meet craftsmen, and workshops including an upholstery workshop, and kite making for children. Market is free, just turn up, but extra cost and pre-booking essential for workshops. Until 16 February
LAST CHANCE: Out Of Ice, Elizabeth Ogilvie's exhibition at the University of Westminster, exploring all aspects of the Inuit relationship with ice, closes this Sunday. Free, just turn up, until 9 February
HERBAL TALK: Fulham Palace hosts a talk by Karen Howell, Curator at the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret, about the history of using herbs as treatment at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals. £8, prebook, 2pm
FROST FAIR: Ever dreamt wistfully of the Thames frost fairs of old London? Experience one in the more modern venue of Broadgate Ice Rink. Frost Fair 200 includes ice skating, food stalls, and entertainment. Free, just turn up (arrive early for ice skating to avoid disappointment), 5pm
ART START: Rich Mix offers 16-25 year olds starting in the creative industry a chance to network with like-minded people and get advice from industry experts. Free, prebook, 6pm
SPOKEN WORD: Singer songwriter Tracey Thorn discusses the 1970s post-punk era, which influenced her music, with writer and playwright Damian Barr at Kings Place. £9.50, prebook, 7pm
BOOK LAUNCH: Irving Finkel's new book, The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood, promises to challenge our ideas of this well-known story. It stemmed from the arrival of a new exhibit at the British Museum in 2008. Treadwell's bookstore, Bloomsbury. Free, prebook, 7pm
IRANIAN POETRY: The Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden hosts the monthly Exiled Lit Cafe. Tonight it presents the voices of three exiled Iranians through poetry, short stories and film, including the work of human rights activist and poet Esmail Khoi. £4/£2, just turn up, 7.30pm
SPOKEN WORD: Coffee-House Poetry hosts What We Should Have Said, an evening of spoken word performances and talks including poet Sean O’Brien and creative writing lecturer Vona Groarke. £8/£7, just turn up, 8pm
COMEDY FILM CLUB: A screening of 1958 classic Some Like It Hot at JW3 Cinema, introduced by writer and stand-up comic Josh Howie, in partnership with The London Comedy Film Festival. £10, prebook, 8pm
NOT A REAL CONFERENCE: Attend a "right on, right off lez-bi-trans-pennine-straight-curious conference for women, wimmin, men and minnin" with Leisa Rea, Cicely Giddings, Frog Stone, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and Jen Brister at the Soho Theatre. £12.50 / £10, 7.15pm
Good Cause of the Day
Can you do the cancan? If you've seen the hashtag #CanCan4PanCan doing the rounds and are wondering what on earth it means, we're here to enlighten you. Pancreatic Cancer UK is using this video to try to get people talking about pancreatic cancer and raise awareness of it, using the underrated medium of the cancan. So why not have a watch, maybe tweet it...we guarantee the purpose-written song will be with you for the rest of the day.
London Connection Puzzle
Well done to Dave Brown, who was the first to solve last week's puzzle (mere minutes after the second clue was published. The connection was Guy Fawkes, or the Gunpowder Plot. The clues were JOHNSON (Fawkes used the dreary pseudonym John Johnson), DIGBY (Sir Everard Digby was a co-conspirator), COKE (Sir Edward Coke led the interrogations), and CATESBY (Robert Catesby was the plot's ringleader). Dave will set this week's puzzle, which begins tomorrow.
From the Archive
Hollywood, move over. London is the setting for a plethora of blockbuster films, judging by this list of capital-based Improbable Film Sequels, sent in by our Facebook followers. Creative bunch, you are.
Londoddities
This week's theme is simply 'animals'. To kick off, here's a blurry peer through the window of 'Get Stuffed', the puntastic taxidermist on Essex Road. You know the phrase 'mad as a box of frogs'? This place amplifies the notion to many other species, including what looks like an ostrich in a bin liner.
