Things To Do In London Today: Tuesday 4 March 2014

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Happy Pancake Day! Ideas below.

Listings

BLOOD: Today’s opportunities to donate blood are at Marriott Hotel in Canary Wharf and Canons Leisure Centre in Mitcham. Free, see site for terms and conditions

PANCAKE DAY: Happy Pancake Day! Eat in one of the best pancake places in London or enjoy the day with some fun activities. For instance, Dirty Dicks pub in Bishopsgate is giving away pancakes for free. You’d better hurry up, stocks won’t last that long. Free, just turn up, 12pm-2pm

CHOCOLATE: Divine Chocolate has organised a free fairtrade sampling day at St George's Shopping Centre. Mouth-watering. Free, just turn up, 1.30pm

MAGNETIC: The Royal Society hosts a lecture about magnetic resonance. Free, prebook by email, 6.30pm

BOOK LAUNCH: Local author Joseph Connolly discusses his new book, The A-Z Of Eating Out, at Waterstone’s Hampstead. The book takes a light-hearted and humorous look at dining out and about. £4/£6, prebook, 7pm

GUINNESS: Discover the story of lost Guinness advertising art, join the talk given by an ex-brewer, taking place at St Bride Library in Fleet Street. £15/£10, prebook, 7pm

DIY: Learn how to knit with your fingers at the Rose Theatre in Kingston. Bring along your unwanted bits to up-cycle, make yarn out of them, and reuse it for arty creations. £15+bf, prebook, 7pm

POP UP: We Are Big Chill’s pop-up film night kicks off today with a screening of cult classic Pulp Fiction, at The Big Chill House in King’s Cross. Tickets include a drink and a bag of popcorn. £3, just turn up, 7.30pm

GIGS: Damien Jurado plays at Rough Trade East in Spitalfields (free, just turn up, 7pm), and The Coalminers perform at the Bedroom Bar in Shoreditch (£8, prebook, 9pm)

COMEDY: Lou Sanders & Sarah Campbell perform at The Lion in Stoke Newington. Free, just turn up, 8pm

PREVIEW: The Aubin Cinema in Shoreditch hosts a screening of Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy, a life story of a future graduate intertwined with social media. The event includes Q&A time with the director. £15/£8, prebook, 8.45pm


Good Cause of the Day

The Doctors’ Orchestra play a piano concert featuring two of Rachmaninov’s monumental and much-loved works, in support of Freedom from Torture charity. The event takes place at Cadogan Hall and you can choose between a different range of ticket prices. £15-30, prebook, 7.30pm

London Connection Puzzle

With last week's puzzle going unsolved, we've let tour guide Paul Baker set another teaser for you. The latest connection puzzle starts today. As ever, the aim is to work out what London theme connects the four clue words, with one revealed each day. Your firs clue-word is FOLEY. Have a think about possible themes, while you wait for the second clue to be revealed tomorrow.

From the Archive

Did you know that the Bakerloo Line is named after the contraction of its original name  ‘Baker Street and Waterloo Railway’? On this day last year we tried to figure out other new and alternative names for tube lines. Any creative idea? Let us know!

Londoddities

It's Bench Week on Londoddities. Today's entry is the 'Reasons to be Cheerful' bench in Richmond. You can find it near King Henry's Mound, close to the spectacular view over the Thames to Windsor. The bench is dedicated to the late Ian Dury, whose hits include Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, as well as Reasons to be Cheerful. The bench includes a solar-powered headphone jack that, in theory, lets you sit and listen to Dury's music. Sadly, it's always been out-of-action on our visits. Has anyone ever got it to work?

iandury

Previously in Bench Week: The Unknown Husband.