Things To Do Today In London: Tuesday 6 June 2017

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Things to do in London today is sponsored by Alexandra Palace.

Naked Dough open cafe in Old Street

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Things to do today

NAKED DOUGH: London’s first edible cookie dough café offers visitors sumptuous and safe-to-eat raw cookie dough straight from the tub. Find out if there's nothing better than the flavour of Nutting Better, or perhaps Unicorn Food will be more your thing — it will probably be a great Instagram snap. Old Street station, free, just turn up, 8am-8pm

DANCE LESSONS: Put on your dancing shoes for Kizomba & Semba dance classes or sip a drink and just enjoy the party. Suitable for absolute beginners and regular dancers, singles or partners, you'll receive professional lessons while meeting lots of new people. Loop Bar (Mayfair), £5/£12, book ahead, 6pm-1.30am

WOOD CARVING: Carve out some time this evening to learn the beautiful art of wood carving from Sophie Sellu of Grain & Knot. Craft your own butter knife and enjoy a glass of wine as part of You’re In Rude Health Week. Rude Health Cafe (Fulham), £30, book ahead 6.30pm-9.30pm

ART AND SCIENCE: While seemingly separate entities, art and science are coming together more than ever in the form of residencies, public engagement projects, and the like. Hear from a panel of artists and scientists for an evening of discussion on the benefits of this new (old) way of thinking about interdisciplinary collaboration. The Royal Institution, £14, book ahead 7pm-8.30pm

Elle & The Pocket Belles at Quaglino's

TALKING MONGOOSE: The London Fortean Society presents the strange story of Gef the Talking Mongoose, an animal which supposedly haunted a family living on an isolated farm on the Isle of Man. Conway Hall (Holborn), £5, book ahead, 7.30-9pm

JAZZ THRILLS: Incognito and friends perform a very special evening of delightful jazz in this fundraiser concert for Christina Thomas, a 4-year old girl diagnosed with a brain tumour. The Jazz Cafe, £27.50, book ahead, 7pm-11pm

WAR'S END THEATRE: Six stories intertwine in a new first world war drama The Cavalry Behind You. As the war begins to grind to a halt, catch a glimpse of the lives of six people, from a soldier to a wife to a young girl; find out who makes it, and who doesn't. OSO Arts Centre (Barnes), £12/£14, book ahead, 8pm-10pm

HOLY CREPE: Satisfy your sweet tooth with gluten-free crêpes and cocktails til late at The Canvas Cafe's newest pop-up. Why not try the Andy Murray, a Wimbledon-inspired crêpe with strawberries and cream, or a David Cameron, a whopper of a crêpe packed with onion, bacon and egg. The Canvas Cafe (Brick Lane), free, just turn up, 8pm-2am (until 1 July)

SWING STYLE: Elle & The Pocket Belles bring sass and style to the stage with a performance of vintage swing, including their take on the classic favourites, contemporary hits and their own original songs that'll have you itching to hit a dance floor. Quaglino's, free, just turn up, 9pm-10pm


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Live music, street food and an outdoor cinema? We’re sold.

If your friends have jetted off to sunnier lands and left you in London, you may just be the lucky one — on 22 July, there’s a Summer Festival at Alexandra Palace and it’s going to be a cracker.

With three live music stages, a silent disco and even the chance to watch a film under the stars, there's no shortage of things to do and tunes to dance to.

You’ll need fuel for all that. Luckily there are plenty of street food and craft beer traders popping up — the only issue will be deciding between Oli Baba’s famous Halloumi Fries, fresh wood-fired pizza or Mama’s proper jerk chicken.

There’s lots for kids too, with a dedicated People’s Stage hosting children’s theatre performances, and even a family rave courtesy of Big Fish Little Fish. And the best bit? The festival is free.

Some events require tickets – check out the day’s line-up here.  


Art review: see Giacometti for free

© Peter Lindbergh © Succession Alberto Giacometti (Fondation Giacometti +ADAGP) Paris 2017 Courtesy Gagosian

If you’ve not been to the Tate Modern blockbuster and fancy seeing some of Giacometti’s spindly sculptures for free, plus photographs of these works by Peter Lindbergh, then head to the Gagosian gallery. It’s much smaller than the Tate show but contains many of Giacometti’s signature works. Sculpture and Shadow at Gagosian, 6-24 Brittania Street, WC1X 9JD. Until 22 July, free. ★★★☆☆  (Tuesday-Saturday) Tabish Khan

Food review: sustainable sarnies

The latest pop-up in Selfridges Food Hall is not just a thoroughly tasty affair, but a wholly sustainable lunch option too. Rubies in the Rubble — who make chutneys and sauces from discarded fruit and veg — are running a ‘Surplus’ sandwich stall until 30 June. Everything on the menu is created from food that would otherwise have been chucked away. Although there is a focus on vegetables, you can still get your meat or cheese fix — the vegan Avo and Beet Houmous option, though, was a winner, featuring crunchy nigella seeds, a vibrant and earthy beetroot and ginger cracker, and a generous dollop of the Rubies’ Pink Onion and Chilli chutney. It's easy on the pocket too (each sandwich is a fiver). Rubies in the Rubble’s Surplus Pop-up, Selfridges Food Hall, 400 Oxford Street, London, W1A, 1AB★★★★☆ Hari Mountford

Theatre review: walk towards this light

Photo: Alex Brenner

Intense. Brutal. Dystopian. Orwellian. Theatre Ad Infinitum’s Light is all these things and more, being a creative piece of physical theatre which relies heavily on pitch-black darkness pierced by a variety of ingenious lighting effects. This is a drama that is dark in more ways than one and, while there’s little in the way of dialogue or humour, the scenes of torture and trepanning are a tough watch. It’s a tad overlong at 80 minutes, but the reward is being deeply immersed in an all-too-real future where social networking has evolved to a world forcibly connected mind-to-mind. Light, Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill SW11 5TN. £17.50/£15/£12.50 concessions. Until 17 June. ★★★☆☆ Franco Milazzo

Good cause of the day

Did you know a group of tigers is called a streak? ZSL London Zoo is calling on cheeky challengers to get their kits off and join this naked run in support of ZSL's tiger conservation work. Fearless fundraisers are invited to unleash their wild side and prowl as nature intended, after hours, in the heart of the zoo. 300 streakers will take on a new route for 2017 with the aim of raising over £40,000. To secure a place in Streak for Tigers you'll need to pay a £20 registration fee (£18 for students) and pledge to raise a minimum of £150 (excluding gift aid).

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