What's on in London during April, 2009. Highlights from London's ticketed events; Heritage & Pageantry, Performing Arts, Shakespeare's Globe summer season, Fairs and Fine Art Exhibitions. Compiled by Burlington Bertie, OfftoLondon's Man About Town.

Hampton Court Palace
Venue: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, KT8, 9AU. Tel: + 44 (0)844 482 7799.
Date: Daily, Summer opening 10am- 6pm until 24 October, 2009.
Tickets: £13.30, (concessions and online discount) until end Feb, 2009. Prices may change.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Richmond.
Description: Must see sights include Henry VIII's Great Hall and Tudor kitchens, the Maze and the celebrated Gardens. In depth description
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. The ground floor of the Palace is wheelchair accessible and there are limited facilities for viewing the upper floors with the use of an elevator. Adapted Toilets: Yes. See Palace Disabled Access for full details and help.

Buckingham Palace State Rooms
Venue: Buckingham Palace, Westminster, SW1A 1AA.
Access: 1 February, 11, 12, 13 April, 2009, (special guided tour with champagne);
Tickets: £65 with champagne. Take advantage of special online discounts and advance booking.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Victoria Rail Terminal; Hyde Park Corner; Green Park.
Description: An expert guide takes you on an Exclusive Guided Tour, while the Palace is unoccupied and The Queen is in residence at Sandringham. This gives you a very special insight into the history and use of the State Rooms, and the many works of art on display. The tour lasts approximately 2 hours. Each tour is limited to 30 members, so early booking is essential.
2009 General public admission dates: 1 August - 27 September; 9.45am - 6pm. £16.50.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Kensington Palace
Venue: Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX. Tel: 0870 751 5170.
Date: Summer opening: Daily, 10am-6pm, 2009.
Tickets: From £11, (concessions and online discount). Book Online
London Transport: Nearest Tube: High Street, Kensington.
Description:. As well as the fascinating exhibition of Court Ceremonial dress which gives us a good idea of the splendour of the British Court, (compare this with the V&A Museum Exhibition The Magnificence of the Tsars), there is a great deal worth seeing, from the Cupola Room, where Queen Victoria was baptised, to the exquisite trompe d'oeuil ceiling executed by Palladian architect William Kent for George II, (1722). While the original State Rooms have been turned into a museum, this is still a working palace and Royal Residence, housing working members of the Royal Family. Princess Diana lived here after her divorce.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes

Clarence House
Venue: St. James's Palace, SW1A 1BS, (entry from the Mall). Tel: 020 7766 7303.
Access: Summer opening. 10am-3pm, 5 August - 27 September 2009.
Tickets: £8, (concessions), Take advantage of special online discounts and advance booking.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Green Park.
Description: Built by John Nash for the Duke of Clarence who became King William IV from 1830 until 1837 and used it as his palace, it was later the home of The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh following their marriage in 1947, and thereafter the London home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1953 until 2002. It is now the official London residence of Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: No

The Royal Mews
Venue: Buckingham Palace, Westminster, SW1A 1AA, London. Entrance in Buckingham Palace Road.
Access: Summer opening. 11am-4pm until 31 October, 2009.
Tickets: £7.50, (concessions), Take advantage of special online discounts and advance booking.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Victoria Station.
Description: The Mews houses the Queen's horses in what are undoubtedly one of the finest working stables in existence. Also on view are the Monarch's State Coach and other official vehicles

Kew Palace
Venue: Kew Gardens.
Access: Summer opening. 10 April.
Tickets: £5, (concessions). London Transport: Nearest Tube: Kew Gardens.
Description: The country palace of George III, (d.1820) and his Queen Charlotte, Kew Palace has recently been meticulously refurbished under Royal patronage and is a masterpiece of Georgian taste, decor and furnishings.

Palace of Westminster
Access: Open to overseas visitors 3 August - 3 October, 2009. Guided tours daily, Monday to Saturday inclusive.
Venue: Westminster, London SW1A 1AA.
Tickets: Book Online, (strongly recommended), or available on the day at from Jewel Tower ticket office opposite. Check website for prices, concessions and restrictions.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Westminster.
Description: This is an unrivalled opportunity to see the Victorian Neo-Gothic magnificence of the Palace of Westminster with its debating Chambers of the 'House of Commons' and 'House of Lords'. Fascinating guided tour.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Royal Albert Hall Daytime Tours
Venue: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2A
Date: Daily, 10.30am-3.30pm, 2009.
Tickets: From £8. Online booking, (strongly recommended to ensure a place), or at the Box Office. Limited parking offered. See venue website for details.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Knightsbridge, Kensington High Street.
Description: A memorable tour of this historic rotunda hall, opened 1871 by Queen Victoria. Some 330 shows and major musical events take place here each year, (see What's On for details and online booking), and the tour may well include the opportunity to see rehearsals and technical preparations.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

London Coliseum: American Ballet Theatre
Date: 25 March - 4 April, 2009.
Venue: London Coliseum, St. Martin's Lane, Trafalgar Square. WC2N 4ES.
Tickets: £10-£95, (generous concessions). Online booking, in person at Coliseum Box Office, or Tel: +44 (0)871 911 0200.
London Transport: Nearest Tube; Leicester Square, Charing Cross.
Description: The full company returns to London for a short season with Swan Lake, the ever popular classical ballet, first performed in Imperial Russia 1895; and Le Corsaire, an exotic showcase for spectacular sets and staging and bravura dancing.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

The Royal Ballet: Giselle
Date: 6 April - 26 May, 2009.
Venue: Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, WC2. Tel: 020 7304 4000
Tickets: From £9. Book online.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Covent Garden.
Description: Giselle is one of the most influential of all Romantic ballets, and one of the greatest and most popular works of the dance canon and of The Royal Ballet 's repertory. The title role presents the transcendental power of a woman's love in the face of betrayal and is considered to be one of the most technically demanding and emotionally challenging roles in classical dance. Early sell-out expected. Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Shakespeare's Globe: Summer season
Venue: Globe Theatre, 21 New Globe Walk, SE1 9ED. Tel: 020 7401 9199.
Date: 23 April - 10 October, 2009.
Tickets: £5-£33.Book online Description: The Globe summer season kicks off with Romeo and Juliet, (April and May), followed by As You Like It, Troilus and Cressida, and Love's Labour's Lost. See website for full details.
Step into Tudor London at the Globe and join in the hearty audience participation! Dine before or after the performance, at the nearby Oxo Tower Restaurant or the Yakitori.

English National Ballet Gala Evening
Date: 7pm, 30 March, 2009.
Venue: Dorchester Hotel, Hyde Park. W.1.
Tickets: £230. Book Online or call 020 7581 1245.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Hyde Park Corner. The chauffeured Rolls or, at the very least, a taxicab might be more appropriate on this occasion! Or, better still, stay the night at the Dorchester!
Description The English National Ballet's annual 2008 star-studded fundraising black tie gala, The Cherry Blossom Ball, takes place at The Dorchester. Enjoy a glamorous evening of opulence and entertainment in the Dorchester's magnificent ballroom, where you will be treated to a champagne reception and three course dinner together with excerpts from English National Ballet's repertoire and toe-tapping musical entertainment from a special guest. The evening will also include a silent and live auction with prizes to whip you into a bidding frenzy!
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Encore online
Venues: 37 West End and City theatres
Date: Ongoing.
Tickets: Book online with Offtolondon for all seats. Book ahead to avoid disappointment.
Description: Your online guide to London's vibrant winter season theatre programme of plays, musicals, pantos and variety.

The Ideal Home Show
Date: 20 March - 13 April , 2009. Weekdays:11am-9pm. Sats/Suns: 10am-6pm.
Venue: Earl's Court, SW7.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Earl's Court.
Tickets: £11weekdays, (Concessions); £13 Sats/Suns, (Concessions) .Book online , (recommended), or buy at the door. .
Description: London's annual show brings together everything associated with an "ideal home" from construction to decor, furnishings and lifestyle.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

15th London Australian Film Festival
Date: 12 - 22 March, 2008. Check website for details.
Venue: Barbican Centre, EC2.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Charing Cross, Leicester Square.
Tickets: . See website for full details.
Description: A unique overview of the vibrant film scene Down Under.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

The London Book Fair
Date: Trade only. 9am-6.30pm, 20 - 22 April , 2009.
Venue: Earl's Court, SW7.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Earl's Court.
Tickets: £25.Register and book online , or buy at the door, (£40).
Description: The global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels, second only to the Frankfurt Book Fair.

23rd London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Date: 25 March - 8 April, 2009.
Venue: National Film Theatre, SE1, Tate Modern and other venues. Tel: 020 7255 1444.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Waterloo Station.
Tickets: Buy at door. Check to book online
Description: Now established as Europe's most comprehensive and popular LGBT film festival, this is UK's third largest film festival. Subscribe for regular email updates.

Credit: Bird Lady II, Robert Ryan, 2008.

24th London Original Print Fair
Venue: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W.1.
Date:10am-6pm, 22 - 26 April, 2009.
London transport: Nearest Tube: Piccadilly; Green Park.
Description: The Print Fair offers collectors at every level the opportunity to invest, with works ranging from as little as £100 up to £500,000. Many contemporary artists create original prints as a significant part of their oeuvre - from Tracey Emin to Howard Hodgkin, Lucian Freud to Damien Hirst. Their work sits alongside etchings by Rembrandt, Canaletto and Picasso amongst many others, all of which are for sale at the Fair. Prints by current students and recent graduates from the Royal Academy Schools and Royal College of Art are also on show.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Sherlock Holmes Museum
Venue 221b Baker Street, NW1 6XE. Tel: 020 7935 8866.
Tickets Adult £6, Child £4. Daily 9:30a.m. - 6:00p.m. Discount Group admissions for 10 + persons. Advance booking telephone: 020 7738 1269, Online or email: info@sherlock-holmes.co.uk
London Transport Nearest Tube. Baker Street. Nos 13 and 139 buses run between Baker Street and Trafalgar Square. The trams and horse drawn hansom cabs of Holmes's day are regrettably a thing of the past.
Description Permanent Exhibition. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson lived at 221b Baker Street, (built 1815), between 1881-1904, according to Holmes's biographer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The famous 1st floor study, where the world's most illustrious detective played the violin while pondering and solving those mystifying cases before the use of fingerprints or DNA made detection so much easier, is still faithfully maintained as it was kept in those late Victorian and Edwardian days of gaslight, horse drawn Hansom cabs and London fogs. Nothing has changed. The rooms are exactly as described by Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes's possessions are in their usual places: his deerstalker, magnifying glass, calabash pipe, violin, chemistry equipment, notebook, Persian slippers and disguises, soda water gazogene on the sideboard. Dr Watson's hand-written notes made at the time of the famous case of the Hounds of the Baskervilles may be perused and visitors will be interested to admire a waxwork in the likeness of the infamous Moriarty. Strongly recommended to all admirers of Holmes.
Wheelchair Accessibility: No.

Imperial War Museum: For Your Eyes Only
Venue: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ. Tel: 0207 416 5320.
Date: Until 1 March 2009.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Lambeth North; Elephant and Castle; Waterloo, (wheelchair accessible); Southwark, (wheelchair accessible). Carparks: Union Carparks/53 Southwark Street.
Tickets: £8.(Concessions). Book online. The rest of the museum is FREE.
Description: Temporary Exhibition. A celebration of the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth with a fascinating exhibition devoted to his James Bond, the 007 gizmos and gadgetry, and Fleming's own remarkable life and wartime experiences. A special book is available to accompany the exhibition.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes, on all floors bar the 3rd and 4th. Accessible cafe on ground floor. The Museum has a number of manual, folding frame wheelchairs that can be borrowed for the duration of your visit. Check for full details.

Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
Venue: Clive Steps, King Charles Street, SW1A 2AQ.: 0207 416 5320.
Date: Daily, 9.30am-6pm.2009.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Westminster; St.James's Park..
Tickets: £12.95.(Concessions). Book online. The rest of the museum is FREE.
Description: Experience the Cabinet War Rooms, housed beneath London's streets, where Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet led the country throughout the Blitz and through the Second World War. This is also a museum devoted to the life and work of Winston Churchill.  .
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes, Accessible cafe.

Leighton House Museum and Art Gallery
Venue: 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ.
Date: 11am-5.30 pm daily except Tuesdays, 2009.
Tickets: £3, (Concessions). Pay at door.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Kensington; High Street, Kensington. Carparking: Olympia Hylton NCP.
Description: Permanent Exhibition. Victorian opulence in art and architecture shown at its best and most spectacular, (or worst and most decadent if your taste is for modern minimalist). The former studio-house of the great Victorian artist Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896), who designed and decorated it between 1864 and 1879, the house is one of the most extraordinary buildings of the nineteenth century. Filled with golden mosaics, gilded walls, elaborate paintwork, domed ceilings, trickling fountains, cool marble and peacock blue tiles. Leighton House also became home to the owner's extensive collection of Victorian paintings, 81 of which are exhibited here together with a fine collection of ceramics and lustreware. Over 1000 Islamic tiles adorn the Arab Hall, reflecting the influence the East had on Lord Leighton following his travels. It forms the centrepiece and focal point of the house. The Arab Hall, Dining Hall or Studio are available to hire for receptions and functions.
Wheelchair accessibility: No.

British Museum: Babylon, Myth and Reality
Date: Until 15 March, 2009. 10am-5pm daily.
Venue: British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG. Tel: 020 7323 8299.
Tickets: £8 (Concessions). Buy online, (strongly recommended); Box Office 020 7323 8181, or queue at the door.
London transport: Nearest Tube. Tottenham Court Road; Russell Square.
Description:. The myth of Babylon has haunted the European imagination for two millennia. The Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, Belshazzar's Feast and the Fall of Babylon have inspired artists, writers, poets, philosophers and film makers. See here the 'real' Babylon - an imperial capital, a great centre of science, art and commerce. Drawing on the combined holdings of the British Museum London, the musée du Louvre and the Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, and the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin, this special exhibition explores the continuing dialogue between the Babylon of our imagination and the historic evidence for one of the great cities of antiquity at the moment of its climax and eclipse. Choose from a number of videos of this special exhibition.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.
See also Shophound Alexia's FREE London.

Tate Britain: Van Dyck and Britain
Date: 10am-5.40pm.
Venue: Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG. Tel: 020 7887 8888
Tickets: £12.20. (Concessions), Online booking or at the door. Other parts of the Tate have free entry.
London transport: Nearest Tube: Embankment. Also Riverbus between Tate Britain and Tate Modern via Westminster.
Description:. Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) was the greatest painter in seventeenth-century Britain. Though trained in Flanders, he had a huge impact on British cultural life as the principal painter at King Charles I's ostensibly elegant court, where his impact was similar to that of Hans Holbein at the court of Henry VIII. This visually sumptuous exhibition brings together some of the finest and most magnificent paintings that van Dyck produced during his years in Britain. It also reveals his continuing visual legacy through portraits by artists from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, including Sir Joshua Reynolds and John Singer Sargent. Featuring loans from The Royal Collection and The National Trust, this exhibition explores the context of van Dyck's key English works, examining his innovative approach to painting the British elite. It also looks at his use of costume and his luscious, sparkling depiction of the rich fabrics of the period, and how his art was itself influenced by more local British painting.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes. See also the Tate's special programme for disabled visitors.
See also Shophound Alexia's FREE London.

London Ghost Walks
Venue: Departs from Bank or Blackfriars Underground station.. EC. Tel: 020 8530 8443
Date: Tues/Fri/Sats. 7pm-9pm. Check website for 2009 date confirmation.
Tickets: £7. Online Booking
London Transport: Aldgate East, (District, Hammersmith and City Lines).
Description: Alleyways and Shadows; Ghosts, Ghouls and Graveyards; the titles of these walks, painstakingly researched by author and historian Richard Jones, perfectly conjure the haunting atmosphere of these deliciously spooky tours that venture beyond the busy main roads and twist their eerie way through forgotten medieval and Victorian London. Let Richard Jones lead you to places where the disembodied voices from London's eerie past may just whisper in your ear, as their icy fingers lightly stroke the back of your neck.

The Shakespeare City Walk
Venue: Starts from Blackfriars Tube Station, Exit 8. (Circle and District Line).
Date: Mondays and Fridays, 11am. Ends 7 December, 2007. Tel: 020 7625 5155 before date for confirmation. Recommences 3 January, 2008.
Tickets: £6.(Concessions). Book online or pay guide at start.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Blackfriars.
Description: Thespian Declan McHugh leads you on a 90 minute walk through the City of London, uncovering often little-known monuments and locations with connections to Shakespeare's life, his friends, his loves and his work, while declaiming the Bard's poetry and prose in true Woolfitt style.

Jack The Ripper's Sinister London
Venue: Selected departure points by coach.
Date: Fridays, Sundays. from 6.40pm
Tickets: From $50.13 per person. Pay online.
Description:Tread in the footsteps of the infamous Jack The Ripper down the dark, narrow, gas-lit alleyways immortalized in such films as "From Hell". Led by one of the renowned London Blue Badge Guides, you will visit four murder sights. Your "Ripperologist" will run through some of the suspects who sparked a Victorian Whodunit that will leave you as gripped as its victims. Approx. 4 hours.

London Eye. Millenium Wheel
Date: Daily.
Venue: Westminster Bridge Road, (Riverside Building County Hall), SE1 7PB. Tel: 0870 990 8883
Tickets: £15. (Concessions). Book online.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Westminster.
Description: Opened at the beginning of 2000 to celebrate the Millennium, this huge 450-foot British Airways Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the Thames overlooking Westminster gives a fabulous bird's eye view of Royal and Civic London, with spectacular views stretching for 25 miles on a clear day to include views of Windsor Castle. Up to 25 people can fit in each of the wheel's "capsules." The wheel turns surprisingly slowly, taking 30 minutes to go round, so you will have plenty of time to spot landmarks, take photos, propose to your beloved, get married and celebrate the occasion with champagne! Combine your London Eye experience with a Thames River cruise. Online booking discount, (champagne supplied)!

Choose your Hotel OfftoLondon provides expert advice and secure booking facilities for your overnight, 'City Break' or long term London accommodation requirements; from de-luxe 5-star hotels to comfortable backpacker's hostels.

Burlington Bertie's Highlights Memo
Book online NOW for RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Gala Preview, 6 July, 2009 to ensure your tickets.