What's On in London during October 2009. Hot picks from London's diary of events, Theatre, Fine Art Exhibitions, expos and fairs.

Hampton Court Palace. Henry VIII - Heads and Hearts.
Date: Ongoing, 2009.
Venue: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, KT8, 9AU. Tel: 0870 751 5175.
Tickets: £14, (Concessions and online discount). Book Online. Take advantage of the £39 annual membership giving unlimited entry to the Tower of London, Kensington, Hampton Court and Kew Palaces and Banqueting House.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Richmond.
Description: Hampton Court Palace really comes to life this year, the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne. Historic Royal Palaces, the organization which runs this and the infamous Tower of London where Henry had his cast-off wives beheaded, has marked the occasion with spectacular events, exhibitions and re-enactments here and at the Tower, (joint ticket discount available). Check onlinefor specific dates and event highlights, including archery, fencing, falconry, re-enactments, lectures, Tudor Christmas.
See also my article Hampton Court Palace and Tudor Banquets.
Venue Hire You can hire Henry VIII's magnificent Great Hall and other Palace venues with costumed guides, etc., for entertaining, conferences, wedding and civil partnership receptions, your own sumptuous banquets, functions or film location. Check Venue Hire at Hampton Court Palace for details.
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. Accessible Toilets. See Palace Disabled Access for full details.

Kensington Palace
Venue: Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX. Tel: 0870 751 5170.
Date: Daily. Summer opening times 10am-6pm, 2009.
Tickets: From £11, (concessions and online discount). Book Online. Take advantage of the £39 annual membership giving unlimited entry to the Tower of London, Kensington, Hampton Court and Kew Palaces and Banqueting House.
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, 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

Banqueting House: Whitehall Palace
Venue: Banqueting House, Whitehall, SW1A 2ER, Tel: 0870 751 5187
Date: Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm, 2009.
Tickets: £4.80 (Concessions) Buy Online or at the door. Take advantage of the £39 annual membership giving unlimited entry to the Tower of London, Kensington, Hampton Court and Kew Palaces and Banqueting House.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Westminster, Embankment.
Description: The renowned monthly lunchtime concerts of chamber music and song recitals recommence late Septemver. This is the perfect way to admire the Rubens ceiling, a pictorial paean to the Stuart belief in the 'Divine right of Kings', a concept that cost Charles I his head. See website for concert details and Offtolondon's Banqueting house for descriptive details of this exquisite relic of the great Stuart Palace of Whitehall.
Venue Hire You can hire the historic and impressive Banqueting House for entertaining, conferences, wedding and civil partnership receptions, functions or film location. Check Venue Hire for details and bookings.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes for portable/standard size wheelchairs.

Kew Palace
Venue: Kew Gardens.
Access: Daily. 11am-5pm, Mon. 10am-5pm Tues-Sun, 2009.
Tickets: £5, (concessions). This does not include entry to Kew Gardens. Take advantage of the £39 annual membership giving unlimited entry to the Tower of London, Kensington, Hampton Court and Kew Palaces and Banqueting House.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Kew Gardens.
Description: The country palace of George III, (d.1820) and his Queen Charlotte, Kew Palace has been meticulously refurbished under the dedicated eye of Prince Charles, President of the Royal Collection and is a masterpiece of Georgian taste, decor and furnishings. Venue hire. The King's Dining Room and Queen's Garden are available for intimate catered events. Email kewpalaceevents@hrp.org.uk for details.

Kew Gardens: 250th anniversary Walking tours
Venue: Kew Gardens (Royal Botanic Gardens), Richmond upon Thames, TW9 3AB
Dates: Daily, 11am, 2pm throughout the year. Tours last approximately 1 hour. 2009.
Tickets: Free after payment of entry.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Kew Gardens. Carparking: Outside Brentford Gate, (Thames riverside), entrance.
Description: Each guide presents his or her own one hour tour, taking in the highlights of the season, exploring the exotic plants in the glasshouses and explaining the history and work of Kew.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes, for much of Kew Gardens. Tree top walkway is not disability accessible. Disability Concessions: See website. Hand operated wheelchairs are available on loan. Adapted Toilets: Yes, at Welcome centre.

Buckingham Palace State Rooms and Gardens
Closed to public until Summer, 2010. The famous west facade of the Palace is dramatically floodlit at night throughout the winter months. Check Shophound Alexia's FREE London for times of the Changing of the Guard in the Palace forecourt.
Tickets: Dates and Advance Booking for the 2010 summer opening will be available December, 2009.

Clarence House
Closed to public until Summer 2010.
Tickets: Dates and Advance Booking for the 2010 summer opening will be announced December, 2009.

Palace of Westminster, (Houses of Parliament)
Access: Closed until 2010 Summer recess of Parliament except for private visits at invitation of a sitting Member of Parliament.
Venue: Westminster, London SW1A 1AA.

Joseph Albert - Ludwig und Malwine Schnorr von Carolsfeld - Tristan und Isolde, 1865. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Royal Opera House: Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
Date: 29 September - 13 October, 2009.
Venue:. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, WC2.
Tickets: £9 - £879.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Covent Garden.
Description:.Antonio Pappano conducts a new production of one of the greatest musical works of the 19th century, which he has already recorded to considerable acclaim with Covent Garden forces and the Swedish soprano Nina Stemme as Isolde. Here, for six performances, Stemme is partnered by leading Wagnerian tenor Ben Heppner as Tristan, with Matti Salminen singing the tragic role of Tristan's uncle, King Marke, betrayed by Tristan and Isolde, and Michael Volle that of Tristan's servant Kurwenal. Sophie Koch makes her role debut as Brangäne. Christof Loy's new staging of Wagner's masterpiece, first performed in 1865, (photo), is keenly awaited. "Never in my life having enjoyed the true happiness of love", wrote Wagner to his friend and supporter Franz Liszt, 'I shall erect a monument to this loveliest of all dreams'. Wagner's score altered musical history with its evocation of a passion that surpasses earthly existence and moves onto a transcendental plane.
Book your table and pre-order your food and wine before the performance at the ROH's excellent Amphitheatre Restaurant.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Royal Ballet: Mayerling
Date: 8 - 29 October, 2009.
Venue:Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, WC2.
Tickets: £5 - £379.60.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Covent Garden.
Description: Kenneth MacMillan's compellingly successful Mayerling set to Litzt's music achieves a nervous balance between sprawling grandiosity and choreographic invention, beginning with the pomp of a royal wedding for Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. MacMillan immediately plunges us into a sordid world of degenerate depravity where sex is both a weapon and a last resort. Rudolf's bride (a cousin he neither knows nor loves), her sister, his mistress and his mother are all tangled up in his obsessions. The ballet compresses the final eight years of Rudolf's life into a relentless downward spiral of political intrigue, drugs and murder. It culminates in 1889 with the suicide pact at the hunting lodge known as Mayerling between Rudolf and his 17-year-old mistress, the fervidly neurotic Mary Vetsera.
Book your table and pre-order your food and wine before the performance at the ROH's excellent Amphitheatre Restaurant.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Cirkus Cirkor
Venue: Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street, Holborn, WC2. Tel: 0844 412 4322.
Date: 7.30 pm, Tues-Sat; Sun 4pm. Mats Sat 2.30pm; 14 -31 October, 2009.
Tickets: £10 - £36.Book online (Concessions). Early booking strongly recommended.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Holborn.
Description: Cult Swedish company Cirkus Cirkör premieres its spectacular blend of acrobatics and storytelling, laced with style and humour in London after a spectacular worldwide tour. Their remarkable show Inside Out is a celebration of circus - its technical skillfulness, enduring magic and refreshing outlook on life. Inspired by the mysteries of the human body, a cast of eight multi-skilled performers balance on knife edges and challenge gravity as they tell the story of two very different characters, whose worlds are quite literally twisted upside down when they come into contact with a circus company of bizarre, magical oddballs.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Check website for special seating arrangements and any discounts. Make your requirements known when booking. Adapted Toilets: Yes.
Burlington Bertie's Memo Book now to ensure your seats for Matthew Bourne's acclaimed Swan Lake which returns to Sadlers Wells for a limited Christmas season 10 December 2009 - 24 January, 2010. See clip.

English National Opera: Turandot
Date: 14 perfs, 8 October - 12 December, 2009.
Venue: The Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4ES.
Tickets: £22 - £89. Book Online
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Covent Garden. Car Park: Drury Lane NCP.
Description: Following Anthony Minghella's Olivier Award-winning Madam Butterfly and Jonathan Miller's 1930s-style La bohème, ENO continues to renew its core Puccini repertoire with a new production of the composer's operatic swansong directed by Rupert Goold - fresh from his multi-award-winning Macbeth and record-breaking West End run of Oliver! German soprano Kirsten Blanck makes her UK stage debut as the man-hating 'ice princess' and Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones (Pinkerton in Minghella's Butterfly) makes his role debut as the unknown prince whose death-defying passion solves the riddle of her tortured heart.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Check website for special seating arrangements and any discounts. Make your requirements known when booking. Mobility friendly toilets.

Oliver
Date: Bookings accepted until 11 February, 2011.
Venue: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF.
Tickets: From £32.50.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Leicester Square. Car Park St. Martin's Lane NCP.
Description: The sensational score is full of Lionel Bart's irresistible songs including Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, You've Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two, I'd Do Anything, Oom Pah Pah, As Long As He Needs Me and many more.
Rupert Goold (Best Director, 2008 Olivier Awards), has restaged Sam Mendes acclaimed production, and along with Tony award winning director and choreographer Matthew Bourne has used every inch of London's greatest musical stage with even more sensational sets by Anthony Ward.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Check website for special seating arrangements and any discounts. Make your requirements known when booking. Mobility friendly toilets.

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 programs, concerts and events with online booking facility. Top musicals Billy Elliot, Chicago, Lion King, Mama Mia, Mary Poppins, Spamalot, Sound of Music, Stomp, We Will Rock You, West Side Story, Wicked and more continue to draw capacity audiences nightly. Book your tickets for these and Christmas shows online now.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Most London theatres, some hotels, (such as the newly refurbished Russell Hotel near the British Museum), and many restaurants are now wheelchair accessible with Accessible Toilets in their public areas, and have special accommodation facilities for wheelchair users. It is however essential that you make your requirements known when booking.

Royal Academy: Anish Kapoor
Date: 10am-6pm daily, 10am-10pm, Fridays; 26 September - 11 December, 2009.
Venue: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W.1.
Tickets: £13.50, (Concessions). Book Online or pay on the door. Tickets are time/dated.
London transport: Nearest Tube: Piccadilly, Green Park.
Description:. Elected a Royal Academician in 1999, Anish Kapoor is internationally regarded as one of the most influential and pioneering sculptors of his generation and is celebrated for works which enter into a profound spiritual engagement with the viewer. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the monumental Svayambh; a site specific piece tailored to the architecture of the Royal Academy's Main Galleries and reflecting the artist's exploration of sculptural works that actively participate in their own formation. Another highlight is Shooting into the Corner, an evolving work of extraordinary complexity and drama that constantly changes throughout the duration of the exhibition. The exhibition also contains a number of the artist's signature works from different moments in his career.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Tate Britain: Turner and the Masters
Venue:Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG
Dates: Daily 10am-6pm; 10am-10pm, Fridays/Saturdays. 23 September, 2009 - 31 January, 2010. Closed 24-26 December.
Tickets: £12.50, (Concessions). £15, combined with Turner Prize exhibition, (Concessions). Book Online Tickets are date/timed.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Pimlico.
Description: Featuring world-class masters such as Canaletto, Claude, Poussin, Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian, this magnificent show explores how Turner hoped to imitate, rival and outshine many of the greatest painters in history. In the first exhibition of its kind, this show pairs some of Turners' greatest paintings with outstanding works by old masters, as well as contemporaries such as Constable and Bonington, to reveal his debts and rivalries in exciting, even unpredictable, ways.  This is a truly unique opportunity to understand how Turner established and maintained his reputation as one of the greatest painters of landscape in the European tradition.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.
Image above "The Burning of the Houses of Parliament" by Joseph Mallord William Turner,  1775-1851, courtesy of Tate Britain.

Tate Modern: Pop Life, Art in a Material World
Date: Daily 10am-6pm; 10am-10pm, Fridays/Saturdays. 1 October, 2009 - 17 January, 2010. Closed 24-26 December.
Venue: Bankside, SE1 9TG.
Tickets: £12.50, (Concessions). Book Online. Tickets are date/timed
London Transport: Riverboat to Bankside Pier. Nearest Tube Blackfriars; Cannon Street.
Description: A examination of how artists since the 1980s have cultivated their public persona as a product, and conjured a dazzling mix of media, commerce and glamour to build their own 'brands'. Beginning with the grandfather of Pop, Andy Warhol, the show includes Jeff Koons' infamous Made in Heaven series and his stainless steel Rabbit. sculpture, an iconic array of golden spot and butterfly paintings from Damien Hirst's recordbreaking 2008 auction, and a reconstruction of Keith Haring's Pop Shop in New York. Also included will be works by Richard Prince, Martin Kippenberger, and the notorious YBAs, and a special new commission by Takashi Murakami.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

National Wedding Show
Date: 2-4 October, 2009.
Venue: Earls Court Exhibition Hall, Warwick Road, SW5 9TA. Tel: 020 7385 1200.
Tickets: £12-£16. Buy discounted tickets Online or pay at door.
London transport: Nearest Tubes. Earls Court, West Brompton.
Description: Public Show. 200 experts offer their help in planning the perfect wedding and honeymoon. Champagne bar, catwalk shows, Travel advice, Free makeovers. UK's largest collection of Wedding dresses!
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

The Cycle Show
Date: 8-11 October, 2009.
Venue: Earls Court Exhibition Hall, Warwick Road, SW5 9TA. Tel: 020 7385 1200
Tickets: Book £11 Online or more at the door.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Earls Court; West Brompton. Car Parking: Olympia Hilton NCP
Description: Timed to fit with the launch season for new bikes, the Cycle Show offers an opportunity to preview the best 2010 models before they reach the shops. See also the latest clothing, cycling magazines, fantastic new test tracks, cycling clubs, a duathlon challenge, cycling holidays and more - everything for two wheeled enthusiasts.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

London MCM Comic-Village Expo
Date: 11am - 6pm. 24 - 25 October, 2009.
Venue: ExCel, London. E16 1XL.
Tickets: £10 at door.( Early Entry: £13).
London Transport: Check ExCel Online for road, rail and river access details.
Description: London's answer to San Diego's fabulous annual Comic-Con. Ron D Moore, writer, executive producer from Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Carnivale, Roswell, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, & Voyager. He is looking forward to meeting everyone at the UK's Biggest Movie Comic Media Show.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

The Yoga Show
Date: 30 October - 1 November, 2009.
Venue: Olympia Exhibition Center, Hammersmith Road, W14 8UX.
Tickets:. From £5 online.
London Transport: Nearest Tubes. Earl's Court; West Brompton. Car Parking: Olympia Hilton NCP
Description: There is everything here to relax you, tie you up in knots, open the inner door to spiritual enlightenment, discover your life force chakras or take to a new lifestyle to help you and your body to survive the rigors of the 21st Century. Hundreds of stalls offer everything from dietary advice and supplements to contemplative vacations. Cut out the greasy hamburger and chips before you go, and be prepared to join in some of the free workshops for a therapeutic work-out before a Thai massage.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

11th Art London
Date: 8 - 12 October, 2009.
Venue: Royal Hospital, Chelsea, SW3.
Tickets:. £12 for one, £18 for two, inc. illustrated catalogue, (2007 prices). Buy online to avoid queue at entrance.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Sloane Square.
Description: 80 top galleries exhibit for sale some 1,000 antique and modern works of fine art, sculpture, photography and ceramics from around the world at prices ranging from £300 to £100,000 in the grounds of the famed Royal Hospital, Chelsea. An important art event that kicks off London's autumn season. This year major new galleries from Canada, Italy and Spain will be showing, as well as returning exhibitors from as far afield as Australia and Argentina. Among key Modern British artists represented are Graham Sutherland, Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost, Henry Moore and John Piper as well as British painters from an earlier period like Walter Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer, and major international names including Arman and André Lhote. On the contemporary front, as well as artists from all over the UK and Europe, the range extends from Aboriginal and Inuit art through to Asian artists including from Japan and China and, for the first time this year, North Africa and the Arab world are represented.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

The Frieze Art Fair
Date: 11am-7pm, 15 - 18 October,. 2009.
Venue: Regents Park.
Tickets: From £10. Check website for options.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Regents Park. Car Park pay & display at Fair.
Description: A far cry from the National Gallery's figurative art masterpieces, this leading contemporary art fair stocked by 150 art galleries will interest, amuse, perplex or shock the expected 60,000 visitors. You may find some of the visitors quite as interesting, amusing, perplexing or shocking as the exhibits.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Adams Antiques Fair
Venue: Lindley Hall, Royal Horticultural Hall, Elverton Street, Victoria, SW5 9TA. Tel: 020 7385 1200.
Date: 18 October, 8 November, 6 December, 2009.
Tickets: £4 at the door.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Victoria
Description: London's most popular monthly antiques fair! Join real collectors and dealers as they get down to the business of buying and selling! Expect up to 150 specialist British and European dealers offering antiques and collectibles at prices that are considerably friendlier to your wallet and mine than at the antiques fairs in fashionably expensive Mayfair and Duke of York Square, Chelsea. This and the Adams Frock Me Vintage Fashion Fairs at Chelsea Town Hall, (20 September, 1 November, 13 December 2009), are firm diary dates for Shophound Alexia on the look out for special or unusual gifts, and fashion with a difference. Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Imperial War Museum: Terrible Trenches
Date: Until 1 March 2010.
Venue: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ. Tel: 0207 416 5320.
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: An unmissable family exhibition based on the Trenches Handbook, one of the books by Terry Deary in the bestselling Horrible Histories™ series. Find out how soldiers coped with foul food, legions of lice, gruesome gas, sickness and sores. Try on the curious clothing of the British and German soldiers, see real items used by soldiers in the trenches, climb through a mining tunnel and explore an officers' dugout. Peer into no man's land with a periscope, experience the terrible toilets, smell the stenches and splat the rats!.
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.

Science Museum: Dinosaurs
Venue: Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD.
Dates: 4.45pm daily. Until 2 November 2009.
Tickets: £8.(Concessions). To pre-book tickets call 0870 870 4771, (booking fee applies).
London Transport: Nearest Tube: South Kensington, Gloucester Road. Carparks: Union Car Parks/Harrington Road.
Description:IMAX 3D Cinema: Various programmes including Dinosaurs Journey with palaeontologists as they hunt for dinosaur remains in New Mexico and the Gobi Desert, then step back in time as state-of-the art CGI, based on the evidence of their archaeological finds, 'reincarnates' these prehistoric creatures, from the earliest beasts of the Triassic to the giants of the Cretaceous. Narration: Michael Douglas.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

National Gallery: The Sacred Made Real
Venue: Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Westminster, WC2N 5DN.
Dates: 11am-12.30pm. 19, 21 October, 2009 - 24 January, 2010.
Tickets: £8, (Concessions). Book Online.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Charing Cross Rail Terminal, Leicester Square. Carpark: St.Martin's Lane NCP.
Description: This exhibition brings together paintings and painted wooden sculptures by the great Spanish realists of the 17th century and offers a reappraisal of the crucial role of these hyper-realist sculptures in the development of Spanish art. Providing a unique experience, sculpture and painting will be displayed side-by-side. This will be the first major exhibition to explore this relationship. In addition to important canvases by Velázquez, Cano and Zurbarán, 'The Sacred Made Real' features carved by Gregorio Fernández, Juan Martínez Montañés and Pedro de Mena, and polychromed by Francisco Pacheco and Alonso Cano.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Leighton House Museum and Art Gallery
Venue: 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ.
Description: CLOSED for refurbishment. Reopens 2010.

Linley Sambourne House
Venue: 18 Stafford Terrace, W8.
Date: Guided tours: Weds, 11.15am, 2pm; Sat/Suns, 11.15am. Costumed tours: Sat/Suns, 1p,, 2.20pm, 3.30pm. 2009.
Tickets: £6, (Concessions). Booking recommended. Call 020 7602 3316 (9am to 5pm) or email museums@rbkc.gov.uk
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Kensington; High Street, Kensington. Carparking: Olympia Hylton NCP.
Description: The former terrace house of Edward Linley Sambourne, noted Victorian artist, nude photographer and Punch illustrator, who lived here from 1874 - 1914 with his wife Marion. They decorated and filled it with art, artefacts and furniture in the then popular 'aesthetic' style. Victorian domestic life and culture of the 1880s and 1890s is preserved here as if in aspic at this fascinating museum run by the Victorian Society.
Wheelchair accessibility: No.

Blood & Tears Walk
Venue: Start from outside Barbican Tube Station. Ends Holborn
Date: Weds, 7pm & 9.45pm; Thurs/Fris, 2pm & 7pm. See website for details.
Tickets: £7, (Concessions). Online discount or pay your Guide at start.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Barbican, (Circle line, Metropolitan line and the Hammersmith & City line).
Description: This two hour long award-winning Horror London walk by qualified researcher and former professional actor Declan McHugh is now in its tenth year. The walk took years of research and covers sites connected with London's darkest past, including places associated with grave robbers, serial killers (including Jack the Ripper), secret tunnels, witchcraft and conspiracy. Learn about London's PHD - Prisons, Prostitutes and Punishment; Highwaymen, Hangings and Hauntings; Disease, Disaster and Death.

Jack the Ripper Walk
Venue: Aldgate, Whitechapel, Spitalfields. EC. Tel: 020 8530 8443.
Date: Daily. 7pm-9pm, 2009.
Tickets: £6.50. Online Booking
London Transport: Aldgate East, (District, Hammersmith and City Lines).
Description: Guided Exploration of the Whitechapel and Spitalfields alleys and pubs where serial killer Jack the Ripper murdered at least five and possibly many more prostitutes in a reign of terror during 1888.

The Olympia London International Horse Show, 15-21 December, 2009. London's annual Christmas equestrian event. Top show jumping competitions, World Cup Dressage, etc. 15/16 December will be the FEI World Cup Dressage Competitions and 17 - 21 December will be performances with jumping competitions. 

Christmas Pantos at the Hackney Empire, (Aladdin); Peacock Theatre, (The Snowman); New Wimbledon Theatre, (Aladdin).