Welcome to the IanVisits alternative guide to London.
Lectures, talks, heritage events, organised walks and other random geeky miscellany.
This is quite an old listings page, did you want: Saturday, 3rd February 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
Prepare for the unknown – on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of ‘Spanish Flu’, this display explores how a future epidemic might hit London. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Feb)
The Museum of London
Featuring over fifty works from across the world, some of which have never been on display before, Gainsborough’s Family Album charts his career from youth to maturity. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Feb)
National Portrait Gallery
£10
Repton Revealed
See how Repton’s career unfolded in this special exhibition which brings together Red Books and watercolour paintings, many never publicly displayed before, to celebrate the bicentenary of his death. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Feb)
Garden Museum
The uncompromising sculpture that emerged in Britain after the Second World War (Ending Soon Mon, 4th Feb)
Tate Britain
A collection of US tabloid front covers, enlarged to two metres high, featuring a headline that relates to Donald Trump’s business dealings, political aspirations or personal life. (Ending Soon Thu, 7th Feb)
Hayward Gallery
Disrupting the Futurecity explores the way in which international artists are positively disrupting our cities, shaping the way we inhabit and engage with public space. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Feb)
Foyles
Discover the expressive sensitivity and immediacy of Lorenzo Lotto’s portraits in the first UK exhibition of its kind (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Feb)
The National Gallery
Come face-to-face with the illusion of a living Jeremy Bentham: philosopher, social reformer and inventor of the Panopticon. (Ending Soon Mon, 11th Feb)
South Cloisters
A landmark exhibition on the history, art, literature and culture of Anglo-Saxon England. (Ending Soon Tue, 19th Feb)
The British Library
One of the last Pre-Raphaelites, Edward Burne-Jones brought imaginary worlds to life in awe-inspiring paintings, stained glass windows and tapestries (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Feb)
Tate Britain
An exhibition exploring the connection between Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dalí, starting from their one meeting, to which Dalí brought his recently completed painting The Metamorphosis of Narcissus. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Feb)
Freud Museum
This major exhibition tells the story of Ashurbanipal through the British Museum’s unparalleled collection of Assyrian treasures and rare loans. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Feb)
The British Museum
This exhibition brings back to Strawberry Hill some of the most important masterpieces in Horace Walpole’s famous and unique collection for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Feb)
Strawberry Hill
Explore the design and culture of contemporary videogames (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Feb)
Victoria and Albert Museum
This exhibition features over 40 original paintings from his time with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Mar)
National Army Museum
Free
Call in the Cavalry
From flamboyant uniforms to fast horses, this exhibition looks at the shared heritage between the Hungarian and British hussars. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Mar)
National Army Museum
Snoopy comes to London in this exhibition of Charles M. Schulz original Peanuts cartoons. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Mar)
Somerset House
This exhibition explores how our built environment contributes to our physical and mental health in both positive and negative ways. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Mar)
Wellcome Collection
This exhibition presents fifty original magazine covers from Time Out’s archive and explores the stories behind them. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Mar)
Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
Free
Cats on the Page
Whether raising a smile, solving a crime, wreaking magical havoc or even performing in theatre, cats take centre stage in this free exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 17th Mar)
The British Library
Free
African Soldier
This multi-screen installation by artist John Akomfrah remembers the millions of African men and women who participated in the First World War (Ending Soon Thu, 21st Mar)
Imperial War Museum
£16
Home Futures
Explore today’s home through the prism of yesterday’s imagination. Are we living in the way that pioneering architects and designers throughout the 20th century predicted, or has our idea of home proved resistant to real change? (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Mar)
The Design Museum
Explore the extraordinary lives and deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and go behind the scenes to uncover the science behind one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Mar)
Science Museum
In this immersive sound installation, 32 people who fought and lived through the First World War share their personal stories of the Armistice. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Mar)
Imperial War Museum
Two artists – born centuries apart – explore the same universal themes with works of transcendent beauty and raw emotional power. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Mar)
Royal Academy of Arts
Discover more about Georgian Black Londoners, alongside a collection of rare and unusual portraits of Black Georgians. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Mar)
Bruce Castle Museum
Through a rich collection of photographs, discover the innovation and resourcefulness that shaped the rebuilding and regeneration of the world post-war, revealing resilience and creativity in times of great change. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Mar)
Imperial War Museum
The Oscar Wilde Temple is a wholly immersive work of art and secular space honouring one of the earliest forebears of gay liberation. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Mar)
Studio Voltaire
Free
War Brides
Collectively these portraits and stories speak across continents and generations of an extraordinary post-war emigration of women who made a leap of faith for the love of an airman. (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Apr)
RAF Museum
An exhibition that looks at how the world has tried (and often failed) to secure peace in the 20th century. (Ending Soon Wed, 17th Apr)
LSE Library
The Charles Dickens Museum explores the pivotal role of food in the author’s life and novels and give new insights into the experience of dining with Dickens. (Ending Soon Sun, 21st Apr)
Charles Dickens Museum
This is the V&A Museum of Childhood’s first major exhibition to focus on fictional pirates and their influence in popular culture. (Ending Soon Mon, 22nd Apr)
V&A Museum of Childhood
The exhibition showcases significant objects from Sheffield’s Guild of St George Ruskin Collection whilst also drawing on the collections of museums and galleries. (Ending Soon Mon, 22nd Apr)
Two Temple Place
Portraits, sculpture, photographs, archival documents and miniature masterpieces by Fabergé illustrate historic events and family meetings between the rulers of the two nations. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th Apr)
The Queen's Gallery
From Rossetti, Millais and Burne-Jones to Perry, Latham and Pecchioli, join the dreamers where reality meets imagination. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th Apr)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
Free
The Lore of the Land
The exhibition features ceramic artworks dispensing scents inspired by the Horniman Gardens, and a soundscape based on the chemical processes occurring in plants and trees.
(Ending Soon Tue, 30th Apr)
Horniman Museum
Explore this surreal lost property office where you will uncover stories in the most unlikely places. (Ending Soon Fri, 3rd May)
Barbican Centre
This exhibition is the story of humanity’s ever-changing relationship with our nearest star. (Ending Soon Mon, 6th May)
Science Museum
This display presents six innovative projects from the collections of the RIBA and the V&A, each demonstrating a unique experiment in social housing design. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th May)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Women were inspired to serve their country by Florence Nightingale's work. But in 1918, as WW1 approached its end, nothing could have prepared them for what was to come - the deadly Spanish Flu. (Ending Soon Sun, 16th Jun)
Florence Nightingale Museum
Free
Sea Nomads
Drector and photographer James Morgan set out to capture the lives of the Bajau Laut, the world’s last true marine nomads. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Jun)
Horniman Museum
This exhibition showcases extraordinary animal behaviour and the breathtaking diversity of life on Earth. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jun)
Natural History Museum
From 1947 to the present day, this exhibition traces the history and impact of one of the 20th century’s most influential couturiers, and the six directors who have succeeded him, to explore the enduring influence of the fashion house. (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Jul)
Victoria and Albert Museum
A selection of Turner’s illustrations for Sir Walter Scott’s poetry and prose, part of the house’s permanent collection. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th Jul)
Turners House
Showcasing the most spectacular space photography of its kind, the exhibition celebrates ten years of awe-inspiring images shot by astrophotographers worldwide. (Ending Soon Sun, 4th Aug)
Royal Observatory Greenwich