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RHS HAMPTON COURT PALACE GARDEN FESTIVAL
1st July 2019 – 7th July 2019
Held within the grounds of Henry VIII’s famous historic palace – where he built one of the finest gardens in the world – the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival is a highlight of London’s summer calendar. This year, the flower show brings with it, gardens designed by up and coming designers; the Butterfly Dome, where you can wander through thousands of free flying Butterflies; the beautiful Show Gardens created to inspire by the best landscape artists, and the Raymond Blanc Gardening School, for ideas and tips on how to get your own fruit and veg growing at home. This is the largest flower show in the World and a fun day outdoors for all the family to enjoy. There is ticket availability but it is advised to book in advance online to avoid disappointment. Tickets from £22.00
www.rhs.org.uk
Hampton Court Palace, Surrey KT8 9AU
WIMBLEDON TENNIS TOURNAMENT
1st July 2019 – 14th July 2019
Wimbledon Tennis is arguably the most famous tennis tournament in the world, and definitely the most watched event in the Grand Slam calendar, bringing thousands of visitors to the All England Tennis club from all over the world. Many tennis pros covet the Wimbledon crown above all others, and the famous grass surface makes for exciting duels, which the avid audience can watch while enjoying Pimms cocktails and Wimbledon’s famous Strawberries and cream. Whilst tickets are highly sought after, and hard to find for the two main courts, Centre Court and Court Number One, the live action matches are streamed on big screens at Murray Mound, and there are many equally exciting games to be seen on all the other courts as the knockout rounds progress over the fortnight. There is limited ticket availability online, but there are returns at the door every single day, as viewers leave, which are passed on to the waiting crowds.
www.wimbledon.com
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Church Road, Wimbledon London SW19 5AE
SUMMER OPENING OF THE STATE ROOMS
AND QUEEN VICTORIA’S PALACE EXHIBITION AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE
20th July 2019 – 29th September 2019
Buckingham Palace opens its State rooms to the public every summer, allowing visitors to view the nineteen grand rooms which are still used by the Royal family to receive and entertain guests on state and ceremonial occasions. The State Rooms are ornately decorated as deserves a Palace of such importance, and filled with priceless works of art, to include Rembrandt, Rubens and Canaletto. Some of the rooms are also filled with fine antique English and French furniture, and Dining rooms exhibit exquisite Sevres porcelain, and gifts offered to the royal family such as Faberge eggs, which are also on display.
Accompanying the opening of the State Rooms is a wonderful new exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth. Queen Victoria’s Palace, tells the story of how the young Queen lovingly transformed Buckingham palace from an abandoned private house into one of the world’s foremost working Royal residences. Three weeks after ascending the throne in 1837, Queen Victoria, aged just 18, moved into Buckingham Palace from her childhood home of Kensington Palace. Buckingham House, as it was then known had remained empty for many years following the death of George IV, who had commissioned for the house to be converted into a palace following the designs of John Nash, but had never managed to live there. His successor William IV chose to live in Clarence House, meaning that it was left to Victoria to transform the property. The exhibition brings together objects from the Royal collection, including art work and ball gowns and an immersive experience in the Palace’s Ballroom. There is ticket availability but it is advised to book online in advance to avoid disappointment.
www.rtc.uk
Buckingham Palace, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1A 1AA
PRIDE IN LONDON PARADE
6th July 2019
Celebrating 50 years since New York’s Stonewall riots – the birth of the modern LGBT and rights movement – and following a month of Pride celebrations across the Capital, is the culmination of events with the London Pride Parade happening in July. Over a million spectators lined the streets last year to watch the parade, and this year is promising to be the biggest event yet. Celebrate the people and organizations, who have contributed to LGBT rights over the years and join over 450 groups as the parade marches from Baker Street and Oxford Street down to Regent Street and Trafalgar Square via Piccadilly Circus. With street concerts, music, dancing, west end performances, chart acts, marching and roller skating through the West End of London, this is joyful occasion celebrating inclusion, tolerance and love. This is a free event, suitable for all the family, but it is strongly advised to check online for road closures and delays to public transport on the day.
www.prideinlondon.org
Various locations across central London.
THE BBC PROMS 2019
19th July 2019 – 14th September 2019
The BBC Proms, or Promenades as they were originally known, encompass eight weeks of live classical music concerts held over the Summer. Whilst many take place at the iconic Albert Hall in Kensington, others are held in various locations around Central London, and there really is something to suit all tastes with a huge variety of music played from the modern to the traditional. Arguably the greatest classical music festival on earth, featuring some ninety or so concerts over the two month period, the Proms grand finale or ‘Last Night’ features a sea of union jack flags and much patriotism as the revelers belt out British anthems such as Jerusalem, Rule Britannia, and the National Anthem, bob and chant to Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance and try to keep up with the orchestra as they play The Hornpipe from Fantasia on British Sea. The aim of the proms, has for the past 120 years, been to mix the popular and familiar with the new and innovative, and to make classical music accessible to everyone. Tickets are available throughout the season, but it is advised to book in advance online to avoid disappointment. For the Last Night of the Proms where tickets are highly sought after and sell out quickly, there is also the option to join the thousands of revelers at the annual Proms in the Park closing party, which live streams the event onto huge screens in Hyde Park from inside the Albert Hall, making it a summer night of fun and festivity not to be missed.
www.royalalberthall.com
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP
AI: MORE THAN HUMAN
June 2019 – 26th August 2019
This major new exhibition explores creative and scientific developments in Artificial Intelligence, demonstrating its potential to revolutionise our lives. Bringing together artists, scientists and researchers, this interactive exhibition offers the visitor opportunities to experience the capabilities of AI first hand. With technology such as facial recognition, deep-fake videos and newly commissioned installations by ES Devlin and Lawrence Lek , the exhibition also showcases recent research projects out of innovative hubs like MIT, Google Art, IBM, DeepMind and Jigsaw and incorporates historical artefacts such as the World War Two Enigma machine. The exhibition, does not only look to the future, but also investigates the past, looking at early alchemy and innovations in AI stretching as far back as the 1800’s. It looks at Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, and Ada Lovelace, (often considered the first computer programmer), Alan Turing and the code breakers of Bletchley Park and even IBM’s chess playing computer Deep Blue. Prepare for your preconceptions of AI to be challenged by this exhibition, which reflects on how this technology impacts our very existence. There is ticket availability but it is advised to book online in advance to avoid disappointment. Tickets from £10.00
www.barbican.org.uk
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
THE WORLD ILLUSTRATION AWARDS
11th July 2019 – 28th July 2019
The World Illustration Awards exhibition returns to Somerset House this Summer, to celebrate its 40th anniversary and showcase the very best artworks across the diverse and exciting field of illustration. Exploring what illustration means today, and how it shapes our world, this year, many political themes are prominent among the 200 short listed projects drawn from over 3000 entries, with many illustrations dealing with current concerns including the MeToo movement, Brexit and Climate Change, and showcasing how illustration reflects and comments on every day life. A huge array of techniques are exhibited to include 3D models, embroidery, animation, and large scale interactive installations as well as more traditional techniques of water colour, pencil, woodcuts and digital illustration. This is a free event.
www.somersethouse.org.uk
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
ONE TO WATCH -
NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
6th July 2019 – 28th September 2019
This Summer, Tennessee Williams’s last great play, The Night of The Iguana based on his original 1948 short story, comes to the West End, starring Clive Owen, Lia Williams, Ana Gunn and Julian Glover, and directed by James Macdonald. Disgraced Minister Lawrence Shannon, is now a tour guide in Mexico. Leading a tourist group from a Baptist women’s college, he finds it difficult to avoid acting on his attraction to Charlotte the young niece of the group’s leader. When he is accused of raping the young girl, her Aunt swears to ruin him, so Shannon strands the bus at a hotel to seek advice from the manager, an old friend, the beautifully sensual widow Maxine. Thrown together for one eventful night, the conflicting passions of this unlikely group, leave them forever altered. This story of an epic battle between flesh and spirit, captivity and freedom, art and faith is a study of the human condition over a night full of possibility, and is not to be missed. There is limited ticket availability, but it is strongly advised to book in advance online as they are highly sought after. There are also returns daily on the door. Tickets from £30.00
www.iguanawestend.com
The Noel Coward Theatre, 85-88 St Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4AU
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