Things To Do Today In London: Tuesday 16 April 2019

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Things to do

WILD EXPEDITION: Send the kids off for a day of exploring in Hyde Park. Skills taught include navigating around the park using a compass, and creating a treasure map for their fellow adventurers to follow. Age 8-11. Hyde Park, £20, book ahead, 10am-3pm. Find more Easter holiday activity ideas.

TEXT MINING: Machine processing of text is becoming more and more common — including the use of automatic chatbots to replace humans. Find out a bit more about the history of text processing, and how it might be applied in the future. Museum of London, free, just turn up, 6pm-7pm

EARTH DAY LATE: Today is Earth Day, an international event focusing on the environment. Somerset House stays open late to launch its Earth Day season of events and installations. Events include tours, a chance to talk to some of the artists involved, panel discussions and a pop-up bar. Somerset House, free, just turn up, 6pm-9pm

Earth Day season at Somerset House begins with at Earth Day late

APPEASING HITLER: Political journalist Tim Bouverie discusses his new book, Appeasing Hitler. It looks at what went wrong between Neville Chamberlain's 1938 declaration that he had visited Hitler and averted a crisis, and the start of the Second World War the following year. Hatchards (Piccadilly), £6/£22 with book, book ahead, 6.30pm

CITIES ON THE EDGE: Helen Marriage, artistic director of Artichoke Trust — the organisation behind fantastic light festival Lumiere London — talks about cultural disruption and how to work in public space to re-energise urban areas. The Exhibitionist Hotel (South Kensington), free, book ahead, 6.30pm-8.30pm

LEONARDO DA VINCI: The most expensive painting ever sold was Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which went for $450.3 million in 2017. To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, hear from experts about how the authenticity of artworks is established, and why it's sometimes tricky to do so. The Royal Institution (Mayfair), £16/£10/£7, book ahead, 7pm-8.30pm

Leonardo da Vinci is in the spotlight at the Royal Institution

TALENT SHOW: After eight weeks of auditions and heats, the Archer Street's Got Talent contest reaches its finale tonight. Watch the chosen singers go head to head for a prize of £3,000, with the winner chosen by celebrity and industry expert judges. 3-4 Archer Street (Soho) £10, book ahead, 7pm-10pm

STORYSLAM: Bamboozled is the theme of this month's Moth StorySlam. Sit back and enjoy hearing tales, or if you've got your own five-minute story about a great con, or a confession of gullibility, sign up to tell it to the crowd. Rich Mix (Shoreditch), £12, book ahead, 7.30pm

Witness the final of Archer Street's Got Talent

LIVE MUSIC: British folk trio Salt House perform a mix of new songs, ancient ballads and tuneful poems in an intimate live gig, following the release of their album, Undersong. The Slaughtered Lamb (Clerkenwell), £12, book ahead, 8.15pm

KEN CHENG: Born to Chinese immigrants in the UK, comedian Ken Cheng tells the story of his unique childhood and complicated relationship with his parents in comedy show Best Dad Ever. Toy lambs also feature heavily, for some reason. Soho Theatre, £13.50-£16, book ahead, 9.30pm (repeated tomorrow)

Tube ponderings with Barry Heck

Our resident tube fancier dishes out daily thoughts on the London Underground.

London almost had a Brockley Hill tube station. Not in Brockley, as you’d expect, but north of Edgware on an extension of the Northern line. This station, along with Elstree South and Bushey Heath can only be visited if you have the ability to jump to alternative universes. In our universe, the extension was halted by the Second World War, and cancelled soon after. Some fragments of the project do survive, and I’ll share photos on a future update. Follow Barry Heck on Twitter @HeckTube.

Good cause of the day

Book now for the #SheInspiresMe car boot sale on 11 May in aid of Women For Women International, a charity helping female survivors of war. The event is a sale of past-season and pre-loved designer items at discount prices, with celebrity supporters and stylists cleaning out their wardrobes and donating to the cause. Find out more and book tickets.