The ianVisits guide to April's unusual events, tours, lectures and exhibitions happening around London.
Monday 1st April
£12.00
Kathleen Walker-Meikle traces the history of our feline friends (or foes) in medieval times
7:15pm to 8:30pm
Camden
More London events on Monday 1st April
Tuesday 2nd April
Professor Ringhand discusses how officials in the United Kingdom and the United States have approached the problem, and how they have faced surprisingly similar challenges despite the different underlying approaches to political campaign financing taken by each nation.
1pm to 2pm
Barbican
£15.00
Is there such a thing as culinary appropriation in a field that relies on sharing?
7pm to 8:30pm
Camden
Alan Brown takes us on an epic coast-to-coast trip through the wild and lonely interior of the Highlands.
7pm to 8:15pm
Soho
More London events on Tuesday 2nd April
Wednesday 3rd April
Hear Suresh Singh, author of Memoirs of a Cockney Sikh, tell the story of his father Joginder Singh who came to Spitalfields in 1949.
Starts at 7pm
City of London
More London events on Wednesday 3rd April
Thursday 4th April
This talk will be accompanied by a small display of material relating to Archbishop Laud from the Library’s collections.
6pm to 7:30pm
Southwark
This lecture will track these radical quests and show how they could lead to positions like those of Baruch Spinoza or Thomas Hobbes: God may still exist but is almost wholly out of reach.
6pm to 7pm
Barbican
A talk about the stormy public debates surrounding the first Blackfriars Bridge, which opened in 1769.
6:30pm to 8pm
Trafalgar Square
More London events on Thursday 4th April
Friday 5th April
The Archbishop's garden is open for a few hours each month between April and September.
12pm to 3pm
Southwark
A conversation with the Bishop of London, reflecting on women's leadership, her experiences in the role and her journey so far.
6:30pm to 8:15pm
Holborn
Join The Guardian restaurant critic Grace Dent and food writer, journalist and activist Jack Monroe as they discuss issues around food poverty and food inequality in contemporary Britain.
7pm to 8:30pm
Camden
Known worldwide as the inspiration for Dame Judi Dench’s character ‘M’ in the James Bond films, Dame Stella Rimington is now an iconic face of British espionage.
7:30pm to 9:30pm
Richmond
More London events on Friday 5th April
Saturday 6th April
The final Saturday of London Games Festival will once again see hundreds of games characters take to the streets of London in the very special Games Character Parade.
Starts at 12am
City of London
A delightful old barn now packed full of "clutter" that's oddly enjoyable to visit.
10:30am to 4pm
Upminster
Monthly open day at one of London's more curious and delightful museums, devoted to the history of the sewing machine.
2pm to 5pm
Tooting
More London events on Saturday 6th April
Sunday 7th April
The show is expected to attract around 100 visiting buses and coaches, old and new, from London and all over the UK.
10am to 5pm
Weybridge
Occasional opening of the fairground organ museum.
11am to 5pm
Amersham
A monthly opening of the Victorian museum of industrial testing equipment.
11am to 5pm
Southwark
Monthly(ish) open days at 250 acres of the estate originally laid out by Capability Brown.
1pm to 5pm
Reigate
Free
Expect to see lots of people in very fine hats promenading along the South Bank
2pm to 3:30pm
Southwark
More London events on Sunday 7th April
Monday 8th April
No events are listed for today. Sorry.
More London events on Monday 8th April
Tuesday 9th April
The concept of a ‘good death’, and how it can be achieved will be discussed, including the importance of open conversations with children being bereaved.
1pm to 2pm
Barbican
This lecture will consider the current reality of AI in education and its transformative potential.
6pm to 7pm
Barbican
Julia Eccleshare sneaks into the pantry to taste the edible (and inedible) food found in children’s literature, past and present and consider the role food plays in our literary childhood imaginations.
7pm to 8:30pm
Camden
We all know the saying ‘you are what you eat’ in relation to our bodies – but when it comes to our minds ‘you are what you read’ is equally true. The impact of our mental diet is less visible but just as powerful.
7pm to 9pm
Holborn
How do animals – including humans – find their way around? David Barrie explores the wonders of animal navigation.
7pm to 8:15pm
Soho
In 1855, on a dark and snowy December morning, Emmanuel Barthelemy was hanged for a double murder outside the gates of Newgate prison. What had brought him to this grisly end?
7pm to 8:30pm
Southwark
£12.00
Join Julia Shaw as she delves into the darkest depths of the human psyche, and discover what science can teach us about the link between human psychology and acts of evil.
7:15pm to 8:30pm
Camden
Free
An evening exploring the Easter story through art over the centuries, with Art Historian Dr Nigel Halliday
7:30pm to 9:30pm
Tooting
More London events on Tuesday 9th April
Wednesday 10th April
Occasional open week where tours are offered of a former Archbishop's palace.
1:45pm to 3:45pm
Croydon
Drawing on evidence from contemporary maps, paintings and writings, and modern environmental science, the lecture will offer a 'virtual' walk around the City with Sir Thomas Gresham.
6pm to 7pm
Barbican
More London events on Wednesday 10th April
Thursday 11th April
Occasional open week where tours are offered of a former Archbishop's palace.
1:45pm to 3:45pm
Croydon
This lecture seeks to highlight and explore the common threads of a vibrant bilingual poetic culture that lasted for more than four centuries.
6:30pm to 7:45pm
St James
Learn more about the emotional importance of food for Dickens and his characters as well as the history behind the Victorian sweets and drinks.
Starts at 6:30pm
Clerkenwell
Free
Rachel Reeves MP speaks on her new book Women of Westminster: The MPs who Changed Politics.
6:30pm to 8pm
Holborn
An illustrated overview of opposition postcards under the Tsars, showing how this vibrant new form of communication served to spread revolutionary belief and disrupt the Imperial status quo.
7pm to 8:30pm
Bloomsbury
When parliament changed the law on defamation in 2013, it thought it had solved the problem of libel tourism. It hadn’t.
7pm to 9pm
Paddington
£10.00
How did today’s illicit drugs arrive in Britain, who were the first people to use them, and how did they spread into the culture at large?
Starts at 7:30pm
Highgate
£5.00
Robert Kingham explores London’s historical, mythical and contemporary pagan connections.
8pm to 11pm
Southwark
More London events on Thursday 11th April
Friday 12th April
Discover the secrets that lie behind, or rather underneath, the Charterhouse.
10:30am to 12pm
Clerkenwell
Join Professor Jo Fox as she examines the impact of propaganda and rumour in the Second World War.
Starts at 11:30am
Chelsea
Occasional open week where tours are offered of a former Archbishop's palace.
1:45pm to 3:45pm
Croydon
£12.00
A panel sink their teeth into an overlooked gothic classic.
7pm to 8:30pm
Camden
More London events on Friday 12th April
Saturday 13th April
Free
You are exhorted to visit your local independent purveyor of music and make purchases of physical storage media.
All Day
£16.00
A day of Concorde-themed activities and celebrate the 50th anniversary of her maiden flight
10am to 5pm
Weybridge
£20.00
Join Eva Griffith for a day exploring the London history of clowning.
10am to 4pm
Clerkenwell
Over 30 of the UK’s best artisan hot sauce makers all under one roof.
11am to 11pm
Peckham
£11.10
Stanislaw Lem’s novel The Astronauts provided the basis for this deliciously schlocky, Polish-East German space opera.
Starts at 4pm
Barbican
£5.00
Find out about bats then head out into the darkness with bat detectors to spot them flying on the Marshes.
Starts at 6:30pm
Tottenham
More London events on Saturday 13th April
Sunday 14th April
Monthly opening of the only surviving windmill in inner London.
10am to 4pm
Brixton
To coincide with Telegraph Hill Festival we will be celeberating spring at New Cross Gate Cutting Nature Reserve with four local unamplified folk acts.
1pm to 4pm
Brockley
Nearly a decade before the rise of Nazi Germany, the Austrian film, Die Stadt ohne Juden - The City Without Jews, envisions a chilling dystopia.
2pm to 5pm
Euston
More London events on Sunday 14th April
Monday 15th April
For some reason, there will be a fleet of helicopters flying over London this morning.
10:30am to 12pm
More London events on Monday 15th April
Tuesday 16th April
In this lecture, we provide a brief history of text processing and look towards the future when the computer sonnet or love poem might become a reality.
6pm to 7pm
Barbican
Based on a short story by Stanislaw Lem, this 70s Polish sci-fi anticipates the anxiety of Blade Runner: non-humans passing among us, unrecognised.
6:45pm to 1am
Barbican
Kondakov reviews texts of court files dealing with sexualised violence in order to understand what the emotional background of this phenomenon is.
7pm to 8:30pm
Bloomsbury
More London events on Tuesday 16th April
Wednesday 17th April
A talk by a structural engineer on the design of theme park rides.
6pm to 7:30pm
Clerkenwell
£4.00
Whether you’re a young person setting off for the first time, or a silver traveller heading out on your next adventure; international security expert, Lloyd Figgins, provides practical and cost effective advice on how to stay safe.
7pm to 8:15pm
Soho
More London events on Wednesday 17th April
Thursday 18th April
Find out what happens the Crown Court. Cell tours, mock trials, easter egg hunt and more.
10am to 3pm
Wood Green
Join Dr. Kathleen Walker-Meikle for this talk on fear, animals and medieval practice in the Middle Ages.
6:30pm to 8:03pm
Southwark
It’s said that we ‘eat with our eyes’, so how does the design of cookery books shape how and what we choose to cook?
7pm to 8:30pm
Camden
More London events on Thursday 18th April
Friday 19th April
On Good Friday money is given to poor widows of the parish and buns to children.
11:30am to 12pm
Barbican
Free
The Wintershall players bring their portrayal of the final days of Jesus to Trafalgar Square.
Starts at 12pm
Trafalgar Square
Free
Each year a fresh hot-cross bun is ceremonially presented by sailors to the pub landlord/lady.
3pm to 3pm
Bow
More London events on Friday 19th April
Saturday 20th April
A delightful old barn now packed full of "clutter" that's oddly enjoyable to visit.
10:30am to 4pm
Upminster
Waterloo Classics is a monthly classic car show/meet in central London.
12pm to 4pm
Southwark
£5.00
Join Friends of Tottenham Marshes bee keepers and explore the work of honey bees as hives are opened for inspection.
Starts at 2pm
Tottenham
To mark its 75th anniversary, Tim Bean reveals the story behind one of Britain's greatest battles.
Starts at 2:30pm
Chelsea
More London events on Saturday 20th April
Sunday 21st April
£5.00
Tour the remains of the western gate of London’s Roman military fort, located beneath the streets next to the Museum of London.
2pm to 3pm
Barbican
More London events on Sunday 21st April
Monday 22nd April
Free
The Blackheath Morris Men once more carry out the ancient tradition of heaving a lady into the air on a decorated chair.
Starts at 12pm
Greenwich
Semi-regular days where they fire up a Victorian steam engine.
12:30pm to 4:30pm
South Tottenham
More London events on Monday 22nd April
Tuesday 23rd April
Join Naomi Games as she takes us on a journey through her father’s professional career.
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Chelsea
50 years after the play premiered, take a look at the lasting impact of Orton's What The Butler Saw and the contemporary issues it addresses.
7pm to 8:30pm
Camden
Who was Queen Victoria? A little old lady, potato-like in appearance, dressed in everlasting black? Or a passionate young princess, a romantic heroine with a love of dancing?
7pm to 8:30pm
Southwark
More London events on Tuesday 23rd April
Wednesday 24th April
This talk will show that stock market trading may contribute to society even if does not lead to firms raising new capital.
6pm to 7pm
Barbican
£18.00
Tim Bouverie discusses his new book, a history of the years of indecision, failed diplomacy and parliamentary infighting that enabled Nazi domination of Europe.
6:30pm to 8:30pm
St James
The Science Museum will be celebrating 150 years of the periodic table with a special Lates inspired by the UN’s International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.
6:45pm to 10pm
South Kensington
Piers Bizony, author of The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, discusses the production process for his latest book, The NASA Archives.
7pm to 8:30pm
South Lambeth
This spring Southwark Cathedral would like to invite all amateur and professional photographers to spend an evening taking photos of the Cathedral lit by candlelight.
7pm to 9pm
Southwark
More London events on Wednesday 24th April
Thursday 25th April
Our contemporary records specialist Mark Dunton delves deeper into this scandal - one of a series that rocked the Macmillan government in the early 1960s, feeding into a national obsession with spy culture at the time.
2pm to 3pm
Richmond
In this talk Holly Carter-Chappell will examine the ways in which these two calamitous events altered the way in which Britain grieved and memorialised its dead forever.
6pm to 7pm
Southwark
LSE's Rebecca Newton will in this lecture discuss how to build authentic leadership and drive positive change.
6:30pm to 8pm
Holborn
Copies of 'London Made Us' will be available to purchase on the evening along with a book-signing.
7pm to 8:30pm
Southwark
£17.00
Join Huw Cordey and Patrick Morris - the filmmakers behind BBC series Life, Planet Earth and The Hunt - for an evening of the stories that have inspired them across thirty years of wildlife filmmaking.
7:30pm to 9pm
South Kensington
More London events on Thursday 25th April
Friday 26th April
Discussion on the future of Old Kent Road, hearing from keystakeholders and local residents about the opportunities and challenges facing the road now and into the future.
8:30am to 9:30am
Euston
Emma Worrall will discuss the British Army's use of canines during the First World War.
Starts at 11:30am
Chelsea
£12.00
Celebrate a book often considered to be the first English novel.
7pm to 8:30pm
Camden
A panel of energy experts discusses the future of nuclear fusion and solar power, following a screening of the documentary 'Let There Be Light'.
7:30pm to 9:45pm
South Kensington
More London events on Friday 26th April
Saturday 27th April
£5.00
A hall full of film memorabilia traders and a number of Cult TV and film stars in attendance.
10:30am to 4pm
Holborn
Occasional open weekend at the Transport Museum's overflow depot in Acton - lots of events, old buses and trains to see.
11am to 5pm
Acton
King Willem Alexander will celebrate his 52nd birthday, and there will be a street party outside the Dutch Church in London.
2pm to 5:30pm
City of London
More London events on Saturday 27th April
Sunday 28th April
The Reserve is open to the public just once a year at a time when the bluebells are at their most beautiful.
10am to 4pm
Greenford
Celebrate the arrival of Spring by enjoying a rare Open Day at Kilmorey Mausoleum, one of Richmond's most historic yet lesser known buildings.
10am to 3pm
Twickenham
A monthly open day at a quirky transport museum housed in an old water pumping building.
10am to 4pm
Enfield Town
Occasional open weekend at the Transport Museum's overflow depot in Acton - lots of events, old buses and trains to see.
11am to 5pm
Acton
Discover the history of the building and climb the 135 stairs for the best view of Hackney.
2pm to 4:30pm
Hackney
In this talk George discusses what is driving London’s housing market to dysfunction and reveals how the house building industry has managed to exploit the crisis in order to turn an enormous profit.
3pm to 4:30pm
Holborn
More London events on Sunday 28th April
Monday 29th April
As well as viewing the lavish exteriors, you will be given an insight into the workings of the Supreme Court.
6pm to 7pm
Pimlico
More London events on Monday 29th April
Tuesday 30th April
The last 500 years of progress in maths will be reviewed, to see where it is going next and ask whether we are truly living in a mathematical Golden Age.
1pm to 2pm
Barbican
This lecture will investigate the ways in which the working-class poets of Scotland and the North of England engaged with poetry, and new ways of representing industrial labour.
6:30pm to 7:45pm
St James
A panel of experts discuss the role of design in Stanley Kubrick’s films.
6:30pm to 8pm
Kensington
