Between 6-7pm tonight Tangoing couples will take to seven bridges and seven stations to commemorate the July 7 bombings, and as part of the wider Big Dance 2008 initiative in the capital. The idea is that dancers will dance “compassionately and connected” together to remember July 7 2005.

The dancers will dance in silence, sharing iPods to keep in time. The brain behind the ‘Tango Commute’ is German-born dancer Thomas Lindner, who describes the Tango as “hugging musically” and wants to cheer up the evening commute.

If you want to catch them in action, the couples will be dancing at:

Stations:
Victoria
Paddington
Waterloo
Euston
Kings Cross
Liverpool Street
London Bridge station

Bridges:
Westminster
Charing Cross
Waterloo
Blackfriars
Southwark
London
Tower

The self-proclaimed “greatest rapper alive” admitted his love for playing in secret gambling dens while staying in London.

Jay-Z told Time Out; “I’m a pretty big, almost professional, gambler. I’m not gonna say any names because that’ll mess it all up, but there are these little private clubs you can go to in the West End where you can hang out and gamble, and it’s pretty cool,” said Jay-Z.

As a self made entrepreneur with clothing lines, basketball teams and bars, Jay-Z’s estimated fortune comes in around $320 million. But if you were hoping to take on Mr “I’m Jay-Z and I’m pretty fucking awesome” at a game of poker, you may have a hard time finding him in the West End. But then again, it’s probably for the best, if you want to keep your home and children.

Sir John Soane museum

Architect of the Bank of England, Sir John Soane, turned his home into a museum for his obsessive collection of statues, artwork and books. The museum is now a time-capsule; kept the way Sir John left it, so visitors can wander round the house and discover its wealth of curiosities. Sir John moved himself and his family into no.12 in 1792; he went on to buy and develop the two adjoining buildings to accommodate his collection, making the three houses into his own house museum. He left the museum with the intention that could be freely accessed by students and amateurs of architecture, painting and sculpture.

The museum is now a cornucopia of historical antiquities. Spread across the three buildings, the house is not defined by conventional rooms; corridors square round dome areas and lead down mirrored passages. Beth Kingston, education officer, explains the allure of the museum: “It is the finest example of a house museum, probably, in the world. It’s special because people can come and discover the place themselves by walking around. There is not a huge amount of interpretation either, so people can interpret it themselves and every time they come back they can always discover something new.” Within the collection are Hogarth paintings, a large collection of neo-classical sculptures and 7,000 books, including a rarely exhibited second copy of Shakespeare’s folio.

You have to wait to enter the museum by the outside gates before being led in and signing the large ledger in the narrow hall. You are then allowed to explore the house yourself, with guides in each room to provide extensive historical context for each area. Walking into the dining room, it feels as if Sir John still lived there. The room is warm and invitingly dust-free with the walls filled with shelves of books. Sir John ensured an act of parliament that meant the house is maintained ‘as nearly as possible in the state in which he shall leave it.’

Dominating the ground floor is the colonnade and dome; its high arches rise up to the ceiling window allowing the room to be perfectly lit by daylight. Casts of Renaissance busts hold up shelves and walking round is treacherous since the narrow walkways are lined with cinerary urns. Adjacent to the colonnade is the picture gallery, where a hundred paintings are hidden inside a tiny room. Three walls are covered in Hogarth paintings, but wait for a crowd and the museum staff will show you more; two side walls are panels, and open out to reveal further paintings. One wall opens again to reveal Sir Richard Westmacott’s statue of a nymph, which sits on shelving outside the room.

Down in the basement is the crypt, where the Sarcophagus of Seti, dated to 1370BC, is on display. There is no artificial lighting in the museum, so daylight filters through windows, cloisters and courtyards to light up rooms. As dusk sets in, the crypt is lit by candlelight, adding to the haunting atmosphere. The guide explains the monk’s parlour and yard, next to the crypt, is a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of the gothic tradition. Enthusiastically, he points round the room with a torch, explaining how the room reflects Sir John’s depressed mind at the time. The dark walls and ceiling in the room are covered in stone gargoyles and casts of carvings from Westminster Cathedral. A skull sits in the middle of the dining table, as the only occupier of the room. The guide also explains how Sir John created his own legend of the monk, Padre Giovanni, whose was buried among the ruins of his monestry alongside his dog, Fanny. “Obviously,” the guide continues, “Padre Giovanni, was Sir John, as he perceived himself.” My friend and I murmured our agreement.

Visitor numbers are increasing at the museum, with 92,000 people visiting last year. But the museum is consciously avoiding being on the ‘Top ten things to do in London’ list. Beth Kingston explains: “The museum is so small that we have to have limited numbers. It is a hidden gem and we want to keep it that way. People who come here cite it as one of their favourites, and it inspires a lot of dedication. We don’t advertise and we don’t need to.”

The Royal College of Surgeons

A short walk through the park from Sir John Soane’s museum will lead you to The Royal College of Surgeons. Inside the reception, grab a visitor pass and walk up the stairs into the Hunterian museum. The collection is an array of the hideous, the grotesque and the deeply disturbing. John Hunter’s assortment was purchased by the Government and entrusted to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1799, and was later opened to the public in 1813. The museum begins with the history of the barber surgeons of the fifteenth century and explains how executed criminal’s bodies were used for apprentices to practice their craft on. It is clear that John Hunter found anatomy of humans and animals fascinating, although his passion might not be easily shared. The centre of the museum is the crystal gallery, which sounds more visually appealing than its contents. After a £3.2 million refurbishment, the Crystal Gallery is a space-age shelving enclosure; towering high, it is cleanly lit by tiny lights.

But against these beautiful star-lit cabinets and lilac carpets are jars of human body parts. In old jars with Latin names written in calligraphy, are pickled animals, foetuses and brains. As if in the horror film of a perverse scientist, the containers fill the shelves and include the dissected uterus of a pregnant woman. The crystal gallery alone holds 3,000 specimens that John Hunter collected and prepared himself. But the most disturbing part of the collection is the skeletons of three- and six-month-old foetuses. Jennie Gillions, a volunteer at the museum, says: “Children often get squeamish and so do some of the adults. They are OK with the animal stuff but not the human stuff. People find the foetuses the most upsetting part.” The gallery also has a large collection of partially dissected frogs and newts alongside brains of whales. Notably, the collection has the brain of mathematician Charles Babbage and Churchill’s dentures. The skeleton of Charles Byrne is on display; at over seven foot he was known as the ‘Irish giant’, and was a popular curiosity in London in the eighteenth century.

Behind the crystal gallery on the lower floor is the history of the museum and shows the damage done to the artefacts during the First World War. On the upper floor, the science of surgery gallery charts the history of surgery and surgical equipment. It has stereoscopic images of servicemen with facial injuries from the First World War. Looking into the green-lit pictures, the images are truly horrifying and test the strongest stomach. The museum also provides a study space, as Jenna Stevens, a volunteer at the museum, explains: “The biggest boom in numbers here is when it is revision time – a lot of students come here for work.” The Hunterian museum provides a fascinating insight into the history of surgery and how we came to understand anatomy, but, be warned, it should only be recommended to those with stomachs of steel.

Sir John Soane’s Museum
13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP
Tel: 02074052107 Open Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm. Entry is free. Candle-lit tours on the first Thursday of every month between 6-9pm.

Hunterian Museum
Royal College of Surgeons of England, 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields,
London WC2A 3PE
Tel: 02078696560 Open Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm. Entry is free.

Images from top to bottom: The Sir John Soane Museum, the colonnade in the Sir John Soane Museum and The Crystal gallery in the Hunterian Museum

Before stumbling across Islington’s branch of the women’s institute, Lydia Mossahebi had no idea where to go to learn how to put up shelves and successfully paint multicoloured walls. And now she’s uncovered a place where female Londoners can get empowered, and get tiddly.

(Illustration by Jasmine Foster)

The WI isn’t something my generation has had much contact with. From the dried flower arrangements in the window of my local WI, I thought it nothing more than a group of retired ladies spending afternoons darning and drinking tea.

But the WI is having a revival. It’s been dusted off and remodeled, and, with a glass of wine, it’s attracting a new generation of women. The N1WI in Islington has been running since 2006, with burlesque dancing, car maintenance and ultimate frisbee added to the timetable, alongside traditional WI activities like tea drinking and etiquette or cookery classes. Tonight it’s a DIY workshop.

Preconceptions

After running in from the rain, the venue was exactly what I expected. The village hall was filled with plastic chairs, light fittings from the 1980s and salmon pink velvet curtains. I was surprised to see so many women under 40 though. And on a rainy Tuesday night, around 40 of the 100 members have shown up.

It’s not just groups of young women and their friends though. Ages range hugely and everyone from members who have come alone to mothers and daughters but happily chat away.

I talk to the woman next to me, a GP trying N1WI for the first time. She explains how she wanted to give it a try because she was tired of the competitive attitude of the other groups round Islington. Rather than being a tight knit exclusive group, this WI is warm and welcoming.

DIY masterclass

The team giving the DIY talks are running late, but we’re told not to worry because the wine has arrived. Any preconceptions of WI women drinking the occasional sherry and swapping stew recipes are forgotten as bottles of Tesco’s wine are opened.

Women’s Touch is the group giving the workshop, and they’re not as intimidating or butch as I feared. We are split into two groups and with plastic glasses in hand are given a quick masterclass in DIY.

First, we’re shown how to hang bathroom cabinets, something I’ve never tried. The class wasn’t patronising at all and like I feared, the woman explained how hanging pictures isn’t simple and depends on the kind of wall you have.

The second talk is about painting walls, filling gaps and putting up skirting board. We are shown a complex trick to get perfect edges when painting different walls, different colours. I’m impressed, and now tempted to paint each wall in my house a different colour, just because I know how.

The N1WI is not completely removed from its roots. It still retains the original principle of the WI: a feminist focus on empowering women with knowledge of new skills. But the skills have moved away from cooking and mending, to striptease and photography.

But the characterising feature of this generation’s WI is the focus on socialising and fun, which makes it so relaxed and enjoyable. Plus, I left knowing the difference between a solid and hollow wall anchor, feeling pleased I’d spent my Tuesday evening productively for a change.

Women’s Institute info (WINFO):

• Canadian Adelaide Hoodless founded the WI after losing her son in infancy, believed to be caused by contaminated milk. Adelaide campaigned for better domestic education for women, which led to the first WI in the UK forming in 1915. There are 205,000 members in the UK. To find out more about your local WI visit www.womens-institute.org.uk

• The N1WI has been running since 2006. It was set up by students Katie Best and Ali Budjoanovcanin, who loved the idea of a WI so started their own.

• Meetings are monthly and you can try before you buy and attend your first one for free. You can then visit up to three times for £5, before joining the waiting list for membership. Membership is £26 per year for 11 monthly meetings and the monthly magazine WI Life.

• For more information visit: www.n1wi.typepad.com

We love him so much that William Hill has given him 20/1 odds to become the next London mayor in 2012.

The odds have been issued following a suggestion that Sir Alan is being lined up to stand on behalf of Labour.

Spokesman for William Hill, Graham Sharpe, said: “You can imagine Londoners being keen to decide whether Sugar should be hired or fired if he were to stand.”

So you have 20/1 chance of putting Sir Alan in the firing line for once, and Londoners are pretty sure that Nick and Margaret would be an unstoppable combination and would solve all the city’s problems with one well placed disapproving look.

The event was organised to protest against oil dependency and car culture, and it’s the fifth time Londoners have had the chance to catch the naked bodies in action. World Naked Bike Ride takes place worldwide, and also is “a celebration of the power and individuality of the human body. A symbol of the vulnerability of the cyclist in traffic.”

Many cyclists covered their modesty with at least one piece of underwear or some jazzy body paint, however there were plenty who took full advantage of the opportunity and risked the saddle starkers. Organisers estimate 1,200 people took part.

The (probably a bit chilly) cyclists completed a six-mile route passed tourist hotspots Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and the South Bank.

The bomb was discovered by construction workers while working on the site near Bethnal Green.

Simon Saunders, a spokesman for the British Army’s London district made the concise and accurate assertion that the bomb was “enormous”.

London was even on the brink of blitz disaster when the bomb began ticking during the week. However, those clever bomb disposal experts were quick to put their high-tech equipment to the test, using super strong magnets to shut down the clockwork, stopping the ticking sound.

The bomb is the biggest to be discovered in London since 1975, measuring a sizeable four feet by two feet. It caused extensive woes for poor old east end commuters for most of the week.

Thankfully, the bomb was disposed of safely and without any injuries.

CBS outdoor, the company which manages advertising on the underground, are currently seeking new sponsorship for the legal busking spots, which were previously supported by Carling. TfL have been running the scheme for five years. According to the London Underground research survey, 82 per cent of commuters enjoy buskers.

But even more interesting is the fact that buskers must audition to be allowed to perform on the underground. Londoners can only hope that this is the same as Britain’s Got Talent auditions, with a strict three buzzers and out rule.

Are you one of the 82 per cent of Londoners who enjoy buskers while on your morning commute? Or are you far too zombie-fied in the morning to care?

The stalls spill out of three main rooms in the town hall, and are crammed with an incredible range of vintage clothes. Frock me! has become popular in the area, and some degree of pushing Chelsea yummy mummies out the way will be required if you are after a good old rummage. Every inch of the town hall is filled with a variety of women and men’s clothes, with each stall bursting with piles and boxes of clothes and accessories.

However, the popularity of vintage clothes does have an effect on prices; don’t expect this to be like finding a bargain at a charity shop. Dresses are at least £50 and up to £200, but all are in beautiful condition and are original. There are amazing things to be found including an extensive Ossie Clark collection, 1920’s silk slips and Edwardian lace-up boots.

The Victorian tearoom is in a room adjacent to the main area, and serves tea and cakes by waitresses in Victorian maid’s outfits. It’s the perfect place to take a break from browsing all the stalls, but the wait for a table can be a long one.

So if you have the strength on a Sunday, battle it out against other fashionistas, designers and students to find gems hidden away at this eclectic fair.

The next Frock Me! fair is being held at Chelsea Town Hall on the 8 June or, if you fancy a trip to the seaside, they are holding one in Brighton on 22 June.

Chelsea Town Hall, King’s Road, Chelsea, SW3

Admission £4; concessions £2; under-16s go free

Open 11am-5.30pm

For more information visit: www.frockmevintagefashion.com

Private tours behind the velvet rope of the capital’s top heritage sites are being auctioned off on Ebay. The money raised will go on the restoration of the sites.

So if you have always wanted to have a snoop at the crown jewels or see the hidden nooks and crannies of the Tower of London, you better scrape together your pennies, and get bidding on Ebay.

On offer is also a candle-lit dinner party at Dr Johnson’s house , where you will be shown a first edition of the dictionary, while sipping Champagne.

But Londoners favourite has to be the “Attack the Tower of London with TV’s Dan Snow” experience. You and Dan will get the opportunity to prepare and fire newly-created replicas of two medieval siege weapons: the springald and the perrier, best described as a giant arrow and catapult.
So if you have always dreamed of attacking London with medieval weapons, look no further.

The auction is part of TopLots and runs 15 May – 15 June.