What's on in London during April, 2008. Offtolondon's guide to London's attractions, ticketed highlights and events, Heritage, Performing Arts, festivals, fairs, exhibitions and museums; compiled by Burlington Bertie, OfftoLondon's Man About Town.

Hampton Court Palace: Tudor Kitchens, Cookery and Recipes
Date: 11am - 3pm First Saturday and Sunday of each month through September. 2008.
Venue: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, KT8, 9AU. Tel: 0870 751 5175.
Tickets: Live event admission included in Palace admission ticket.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Richmond.
Description: Lecture and demonstration. Watch and hear 'Historia' food archaeologists researching Tudor cookery and ingredients, making traditional Tudor recipes which you can later sample in the Palace's Tiltyard Cafe.

Banqueting House Lunchtime Concerts
Date: No April concert. Next concerts are scheduled for 7, 19 May; 9, 23 June. See website for details. 2008.
Venue: Banqueting House, Whitehall, SW1A 2ER, Tel: +44 (0)870 751 5187.
Tickets: 17.50 inc. light buffet lunch at 12.15pm preceding performance at 1pm. Tickets available from the Banqueting House or by telephone 0203 166 6153 or 0870 751 5187
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Westminster; Embankment.
Description: World renowned chamber ensembles and soloists make these lunchtime concerts a memorable event on the London Heritage calender. Check website for details.

22nd London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Date: 27 March - 10 April, 2007.
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.

RHS London Daffodil Festival
Date: 15 - 16 April, 2008. 10am - 5pm.
Venue: Horticultural Halls, Greycoat Street, SW1.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Victoria.
Tickets: 5. Members 3. Buy at the door.
Description: Expect spectacular banks of fragrant golden, tangerine and blush-coloured daffodils to fill the Art Deco Laurence Hall and the Edwardian Lindley Hall at the end of the RHS Show spring season. See also the main camellia and rhododendron competitions, spring ornamental plant, tulip and late daffodil competitions.

The Camden Crawl
Date: 18/19 April, 12noon - 4am. 2008.
Venues: Various, including Abbey Tavern, Barfly, Bar Monsta, Black Cap, Bullet, Camden Tup, Cuban Bar, Dingwalls, Dublin Castle, Earl Of Camden, Electric Ballroom, Enterprise, Koko. The Monarch, NW1, Oh! Bar, Purple Turtle, Underworld .
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Mornington Crescent; Camden Town.
Tickets: 29.70 One Day pass. 49.20 Two Day pass. Buy online.
Description: Showcasing some 80 unknown and upcoming indie and rock bands plus one or two big names, (Amy Whitehouse is booked for 2008), who play gigs almost around the clock in this annual summer music festival. Rub shoulders with talent scouts and spot next year's mega stars before the Record companies tie them up! Its less of a hassle than traipsing out to soggy Glastonbury or the Isle of Wight Festival later in the summer and cheaper than paying to see them next year when they headline at Wembley Arena.

The Real Food Festival
Date: 24 - 27 April, 2008. Trade Only: Thu 10am-6pm; Public: Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 11am-5pm.
Venue: Earl's Court Exhibition Centre, Warwick Road, SW5 9TA.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Earl's Court.
Tickets: 20 Trade; 15 Public.Book online, (recommended), or buy at the door. (Concessions).
Description: Meet all your favourite TV chefs, cookery writers and some 500 organic and specialist food suppliers at this 'Foodie Show'. This is a great opportunity to sample and network with like minded cooks and foodies at what is effectively the world's largest Farmer's Market. Sponsored by the Whole Foods Market, Delicious Magazine and the Telegraph group of newspapers. See Shophound Alexia's This Little Piggy Went to Market and start salivating!

The 5th 'A Place in the Sun Live' Exhibition
Date: 25/26 April, 10am-6pm; 27 April, 10am-6.30pm. 2008.
Venue: ExCel, London. E16 1XL.
London Transport: Check ExCel Online for road, rail and river access details.
Tickets: 10, (Concessions) at the door. Buy online for discounted tickets.
Description:. The world's largest exhibition of overseas property. Over 300 exhibitors showing 1,000s of properties at this official exhibition of the Channel 4 TV programme, A Place in the Sun Live, help you find and buy your dream place in the sun, whether for investment, idyllic holiday home, retirement property, or a permanent home abroad.
Burlington Bertie's Accommodation Choice: Custom House Hotel, 283 Victoria Dock Road, Custom House, E16 3BY, offers nearby 3-Star comfort right opposite ExCel and the DLR station. London city Airport is just 2 km away. Hotel facilities include three restaurants. Excellent convenience accommodation for this and other ExCel fairs and exhibitions. Early booking recommended.

Royal Ballet: Sleeping Beauty
Date: 13 March - 6 May, 2008.
Venue: Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, WC2. Tel: 020 7304 4000
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Covent Garden.
Tickets: 5 - 90. Book Online.
Description: The much loved fairy tale that has become a staple of the Royal Ballet's classical repertoire.

ROH Opera: The Minotaur
Date: 15 April - 3 May, 2008.
Venue: Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, WC2. Tel: 020 7304 4000
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Covent Garden.
Tickets: 5 - 65. Book Online.
Description: The world premiere of a new work commissioned by The Royal Opera brings to the stage a famous character of Greek myth. Part man, part beast, the Minotaur is trapped in a labyrinth and constrained by his violent role there, yet he longs to discover his own identity and his own voice. Among the innocents of a blood sacrifice Athens must pay to Crete is Theseus, who has come to challenge the violent Minotaur, but also attracts the attention of Ariadne and it is her help that ensures his success in the labyrinth.

Sadlers Wells: Wayne McGregor-Entity
Date: 10 - 12 April, 7.30pm. 2008.
Venue: Sadler's Wells, Rosebury Avenue, Islington, EC1R 4NT.
Tickets: 10-34. (Concessions). Online booking, in person at Box Office, or Tel: +44 (0)870 737 7737. Early booking probably essential.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Angel.
Description: Two new works from Wayne McGregoir, the Royal Ballet's Resident Choreographer. Fresh from his success at La Scala Milan, Paris Opera Ballet and Glastonbury and world renowned for his fierce, frantic and yet tenderly unpredictable choreography, WAYNE MCGREGOR | RANDOM DANCE return to Sadler's Wells with ENTITY. Hyper-limbed dancers move to the propulsive beats of two of the hottest new musical talents on either side of the Atlantic, Philip Glass and Bjork collaborator Nico Muhly and electronic master Jon Hopkins. Not to be missed.
Also showing at Sadlers Wells during April: visiting ballet companies Nederlands Dans Teater, (2-5April); Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, (16-19 April); Northern Ballet Theatre, (22-26 April); Phoenix Dance Theatre, (28/29 April).
Dine from 6pm before the performance at the Sadlers Well restaurant. It offers a distinctive and seasonal menu, with dishes such as pear and gorgonzola salad, Crayfish, avocado and watercress on toasted brioche, chicken Caesar salad and a hot smoked salmon. Book online

Gone With The Wind
Date: Previews: 5-21 April, 7.30pm; thereafter 22 April - 27 September, Tues-Sats 7.30pm; Matinees Weds, Sats 2.30pm. 2008.
Venue: New London Theatre, Drury Lane, WC2B 5PW. Tel: 0870 890 0141.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. ~Covent Garden.
Tickets: 27.50 - 60.
Description: London Premiere of Trevor Nunn's much awaited stage musical adaptation of the most successful film of all time. The musical is based on Margaret Mitchell's original novel, rather than the 1939 film, (surely a hard act to follow). Music and lyrics are by Margaret Martin, who jumps in at the deep end with this, her first ever, stage musical. No news at time of writing but, given the remarkable stage facilities at this theatre, (remember Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash hit Cats which ran here for 20 years?), we can be assured that the production and sets will be fabulous, so we shall at least come out whistling the scenery - if not Dixie! Check the GWTW website for news updates.

Shakespeare's Globe: 2008 Summer Season
Date: 23 April - 5 October, 2008.
Venue: 21 New Globe Walk, SE1 9ED. Tel: 020 7401 9199.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Southwark.
Tickets: 5 - 35.
Description: This summer's 'Totus Mundus' season features new productions of 'King Lear', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Timon of Athens' and 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' plus world premieres of three new plays and a return of John Dove's production of 'The Winter's Tale'. 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.

Offtolondon Theatre Breaks and Offers
Date: Ongoing.
Venue: West End and City theatres
Tickets: Online booking for all seats, accommodation, etc.
Description: Your guide to London's theatre programme, concert and events with online booking facility.

Royal Academy: From Russia 1870-1925
Date: 10am-6pm. Ends 18 April, 2008.
Venue: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Piccadilly, Green Park.
Tickets: 11. (Concessions).Book Online.
Description: French and Russian Master Paintings from Moscow and St. Petersburg. This landmark exhibition presents modern masterpieces drawn from Russia's principal collections: the State Pushkin Museum, the State Tretyakov Museum in Moscow; the State Hermitage Museum and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Over 120 paintings by Russian and French artists working between 1870 and 1925 are displayed together for the first time ever in the United Kingdom in an exhibition which surveys the main directions of modern art from Realism and Impressionism to Non-Objective painting influenced by important patrons such as Diaghilev. Works include paintings by Renoir, Czanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Matisse together with those by Bakst, Chagall, Kandinsky, Tatlin and Malevich.

Tate Britain: Modern Painters - The Camden Town Group
Date: 13 February - 4 May, 2008. 10am-5.40pm.
Venue: Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG. Tel: 020 7887 8888
Tickets: 9. (Concessions), Online booking or at the door.
London transport: Nearest Tube: Embankment. Also Riverbus between Tate Britain and Tate Modern via Westminster.
Description: They were the Camden Town Group, who introduced Post-Impressionism to Britain, inspired by the work of Van Gogh and Gauguin on the continent. Modern Painters focuses on the key themes in their work: life in the city, people, style, sex, and the infamous Camden Town murder. Fascinated by the changing ways of life in the capital, the Group captured the mood of this transitional period in British history, around the time of World War I; images of London buses, audiences enjoying light entertainment and gritty urban interiors evoke the atmosphere of a city and a country moving into the modern era, whilst nudes painted in dingy North London homes explore the changing sexual mores described in the contemporary writing of HG Wells, DH Lawrence, and Rebecca West. The exhibition concentrates on the core of the Group - Spencer Gore, Harold Gilman, Robert Bevan, Charles Ginner with Walter Sickert as a key player. Works have come from numerous different collections in this first exhibition of the Camden Town Group for over twenty years.
See also the remarkable FREE Tate Britain collection of British Art 1500 - 2006, including the stunning Turner Room, and the current William Blake exhibition.

National Portrait Gallery: Vanity Fair - Photos 1913-2008
Date: 10am-6pm. Thurs/Fri 10am-9pm. 14 February - 26 May, 2008.
Venue: Wolfson Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Place, WC2 0H3.
Tickets: 10.(Concessions). Book online or at door.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Charing Cross, Leicester Square.
Description: Some of the greatest portrait photographs of the twentieth century were taken for, or published in, Vanity Fair. This exhibition features 150 classic images from both the magazine's first period (1913-36) and subsequent re-birth in 1983 of significant people in art, film, music, sport, business and politics. Works by legendary photographers such as Edward Steichen and Cecil Beaton are shown alongside those of celebrated modern-day photographers such as Annie Leibovitz and Mario Testino. With subjects as diverse as Claude Monet, Cary Grant and Madonna, this exhibition presents an exceptional range of photographic portraiture from the early years of the twentieth century to the present day.
See also the permanent collection at the NPG, (FREE).

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs
Date: Daily, 10am-5pm. Ongoing. Ends 30 August, 2008.
Venue: O2 Exhibition Centre, Millennium Way, SE10.
Tickets: 15, timed entry. (Concessions). Book online - Weekend tickets are the first to sell out. Book a Hotel & Tutticket Break from 63.50.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. North Greenwich. Thames travel: Riverline O2 Express to Queen Elizabeth II Pier.
Description: For more than 3,000 years Tutankhamun's treasures lay unseen beneath the Egyptian sands until unearthed by Howard Carter in 1922/23. When they were shown at the British Museum in 1972 they were the ultimate 'must see' event. Now Tutankhamun returns in a spectacular new exhibition of 130 priceless treasures from the tomb and other Valley of the Kings royal burials, under the auspices of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and its ebulliant Director, Dr. Zahi Hawass.

For Your Eyes Only
Date: 28 April, 2008 - 1 March 2009.
Venue: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ. Tel: 0207 416 5320.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Lambeth, Elephant and Castle.
Tickets: 8.(Concessions). Book online. The rest of the museum is FREE.
Description: 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.

1. RHS Chelsea Flower Show, May. Most dates will already be sold out. There are no tickets available at gate.
   
2. RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, 8 - 13 July, 2008; and Charity Gala Preview, 7 July, 2008.
   
3. Kew Palace. Sunday Evening guided tour with wine and refreshments, May - September, 2008. 25. Tel: 0203 166 6140.

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