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Listings
BLOOD: Today’s opportunities to donate blood are at The Hop Exchange in Southwark Street, The O2 Centre in Swiss Cottage, Battersea Arts Centre in Lavender Hill and London Marriott Hotel in Canary Wharf, and the usual permanent donor centres. See site for terms and conditions.
CEILIDH: Join in a traditional Scottish Ceilidh ("Kaylee") at London Wonderground on Southbank. Whether you're an experienced Ceilidh-er or a newbie, the hosts will guide you through the whole experience as you dance to live music. £20.50, prebook, until 27 August
SHAKESPEARE: The Courtyard Theatre near Old Street has a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream with music, performed by the Rose Bridge Theatre Company. £15/£12, prebook, until 7 September
TALKING STATUES: From today, several statues across the city will be able to "talk". Statues such as Sherlock Holmes in Baker Street, Isaac Newton at the British Library and the Unknown Soldier in Paddington will have tags installed nearby which, when swiped with a smartphone, show an animated version of the statue, voiced by celebrities such as Jeremy Paxman, Patrick Stewart, and Prunella Scales. Free, just turn up, until 2015
ART WORKSHOP: The National Gallery has a family art workshop. Discover how artists obtained colours from nature and see demonstrated the preparation of pigments and the production of paint. £16 for one adult and one child, prebook, 11am-4pm
MOVIE QUIZ: The touring cinema quiz You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat is on at the Hackney Picturehouse tonight. All you need to do is tell your friends, to make up a team. £4pp, prebook, 6.30pm
EVENING WALK: Join Patricia Dark on a walk around the neighbourhood of John Harvard Library to discover some stories from the borough. Free, just turn up, 6.30pm
SIMPSON & I: Waterstones Hampstead has an evening with BBC journalist and author of Simpson & I, Oggy Boytchev. It’s his memoir of working in international news reporting alongside John Simpson. £5/£3, prebook, 7pm
BATTERSEA BINGO: The Breakfast Club in Battersea has a bingo night. Accompanied by a happy hour from 6pm, it promises to be a bit boozier than your average blue rinse brigade affair. £5, prebook, 7.30pm
FILM SCREENING: Short On Tap is a film evening taking place at Juno in Shoreditch. Tonight there's a screening of seven short films and the focus is on tales of violence: there is a Q&A session with the film directors afterwards. Free, prebook by email, 8pm
GIG: The Ordinary Boys perform a free gig at Birthdays in Dalston tonight. Free, just turn up, from 8pm
Find more London events in our Free & Cheap events listings. Want to see your event in these last-minute listings? Email us at [email protected] at least 48 hours before the event, and we will consider it for inclusion. Note: due to high volumes of email, we can’t always reply.
Camden Fringe
We’re over halfway through London’s biggest performing arts festival, Camden Fringe. Every day throughout the festival, we’ll be bringing you our pick of shows to catch that day. Today’s suggestions are below:
K.I.S.S (Keep It Silly Stupid) sees a quartet of friends perform an evening of physical, musical and/or idiotic sketch comedy. At Canal Cafe Theatre, until 20 August
Go! by Nikki Aitken is a musical comedy about a plane, told from the points of view of seven different passengers aboard. At Phoenix Artist Club, until 21 August
Shadows is a one man show by Andy Robinson, which asks questions of God, the universe, our politics, and explores the fears that can develop from not knowing what really is out there. At The Hen & Chickens Theatre, until 24 August
Good Cause of the Day
Register now to take part in the Great London Swim in Millwall Docks next weekend. Swim one mile or half a mile. Registration is required to take part, with a fee of £31 for the half-mile, or £39 for the mile. There is also a chance to register to raise money for one of the official or supporting charities of the event. If you’ve got a bit of a competitive streak, why not take part as a team with colleagues or friends?
From the Archive
For today's silliness, have a look at this map of the heart of London. Many restaurants and hotels identify themselves as being in the "heart of London" so we googled the phrase and plotted the first 50 or so results that came up. Interestingly, the plots themselves made a vaguely heart-shaped formation.
