Free wi-fi at some London Underground stations has now been turned on.
Transport for London (TfL) said people at King's Cross and Warren Street Tube stations will now be able to pick up the internet at ticket offices, escalators and platforms.
On Friday, Oxford Circus and Green Park Tube stations will go live, followed by Victoria and Euston on Saturday.
By the end of July, 80 stations will have wi-fi access, with 120 expected by the end of the year.
Virgin Media will run the service which will become a pay-as-you-go offering after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Virgin Media's mobile and broadband customers will be offered continued access as part of their subscriptions.
Non-paying users will be limited to a site showing online travel information and some free news and entertainment.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "We need to ensure London is able to cement its position as Europe's leading digital city.
"Our partnership with Virgin Media to make wi-fi available on Tube platforms will be of tremendous benefit as building world class connectivity is critical to supporting new businesses and the jobs they create, especially in the high-tech and creative sectors."
'Ground-breaking' changes for London cancer patients - BBC News
The way London's cancer patients are treated changed on Thursday in a move the NHS hopes will save up to 1,000 lives a year.
Cancer services in the north and east of the capital have combined to be called London Cancer - responsible for more than three million people.
It has brought together hospital specialists, GPs and scientists.
Patients can now receive specialist care at major cancer centres and then the rest of their care closer to home.
London Cancer's chief medical officer Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones said: "We've got some of the best scientists and clinicians in the country in our capital city but we need to get them to work together much more effectively for the benefit of patients.
'Compete with the best'"I think this is a real opportunity to do something ground-breaking for our patients.
"We've been given the opportunity to think really big and to plan services for a population of three and a half million people in north and east London, so this means we can now compete with the very best in the world."
About 13,600 people die from cancer in London each year and more than 27,000 are diagnosed with the disease.
One patient is 46-year-old black cab driver Mark Fitzpatrick.
He is one of the first to experience what life will be like for future patients.
In January he was diagnosed with cancer at Barts Hospital. Since then he has been receiving his chemotherapy treatment at Whipps Cross Hospital - 10 minutes from his home - meaning he does not have to travel into town.
He said: "It's not a journey you'd want to do on a regular basis, particularly at the beginning - because if you are particularly ill you don't want to be travelling into central London.
"It's just so handy to go to your local hospital. I mean, I live 10 minutes away, it just makes life so much easier at a time when you don't feel well.
"It's nice to be treated locally as it's a small unit and they treat you particularly well."
At the moment the average survival rates for cancer in London one year after diagnosis are worse (63.8%) than the rest of the country (66.5%).
Satisfaction rates amongst patients are also lower.
It is hoped this new network, and one for south and west London, to be launched later this year, will change that.
Vauxhall restaurant offers 'Good for the Soul' food - NJ.com
Good for the Soul, is a new soul food restaurant in Vauxhall. It is a family-owned restaurant specializing in good Southern Cuisine. From crispy fried fish to delicious Soul Punch, we have an extensive and inviting menu and offer tasty daily lunch specials. Not only are we the only full service, dine-in Soul Food restaurant in the area but we also provide catering services for either on- or off-premises events. Good for the Soul will be offering patrons a larger, on-site, banquet facility option for parties and events, this summer.
Menu samples are: fried wings and waffles, fried wings and red velvet waffles, baked chicken, fried wings, Buffalo and stick wings, macaroni and cheese, string beans, cabbage greens, Tilapia, fried Whiting, pork chops, sweet mashed potatoes, Soul chips, fish and grits and our very own Soul Punch. Daily specials - beef ribs, pork ribs and assorted salads. Homemade Desserts - Red Velvet Cake, Cheesecake, Red Velvet Cake Pops, Pound Cake.
A meeting room is available for private functions, birthday parties, graduation parties, kids parties, book club meetings, bridal and baby showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties, spa parties and corporate meetings, family reunions and christening parties.
Good for the Soul is located at 2170 Springfield Ave. (near Maple Avenue) in Vauxhall - 908-378-5354. Visit us on Facebook. Dine in or take out; on- and off-premise catering. Hours of operation are Monday, closed; Tuesday, Wednesday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, noon-6 p.m.
London 2012 Olympics: Australian Swimmers Nick D’Arcy and Kenrick Monk Take down Twitter and Facebook Gun Pix - ibtimes.co.uk
Like us on Facebook
"This is a timely reminder for athletes to more be responsible to themselves, the public with whom they engage through social media, and the reputation of the sport.
"The athletes involved are returning from a training camp and competition in the US, and will be spoken to further upon their return
The Australian Olympic Committee said it would wait for the Swimming Australia investigation into the latest episode before considering sanctions for what it described as "foolish and clearly inappropriate for members of the 2012 Australian Olympic team".
Australia's Chef de Mission for the London team said: "These postings are foolish and clearly inappropriate for members of the 2012 Australian Olympic Team.
"There is an investigation by Swimming Australia. SAL's social media policy has a takedown clause. They have enforced that clause today. Our social media policy also contains a takedown clause and we will use that where we see fit during the London Games.
"Anything that is not in the Olympic spirit, or does not follow our guidelines will come down. There is no such thing as privacy on social media. Anything that is put up will be in the public domain."
This incident is not the first time the pair have courted controversy.
D'Arcy was excluded from the 2008 Australian Olympic squad after assaulting fellow swimmer Simon Cowley in a bar fight in Sydney the night he won selection to the squad
Monk was lucky to avoid charges in 2011 for falsely claiming to police that he had been the victim of a hit-and-run auto accident. He later admitted that he was injured when he fell of his skateboard.
To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail:
To contact the editor, e-mail:
London 2012: 50 of the best unusual museums in London - Daily Telegraph
2. Cartoon Museum, Holborn
Just a few streets away from the looming British Museum, the diminutive Cartoon Museum is easily missed but worth seeking out. Its mission is to preserve and promote British cartoon art, comic art and caricature and with a collection that dates from the 18th century to the present, visitors of all ages will discover cartoons that tickle their fancy or spark a childhood memory. Playful and popular cartoon strips featuring The Bash Street Kids, Billy the Whizz and Dennis the Menace are shown alongside rarer and more politically minded works; if you feel the subject matter warrants further exploration you can also make an appointment to access the museum’s library, where comic book connoisseurs can study the medium further.
3. Old Operating Theatre, London Bridge
In the 1800s, the Old Operating Theatre was used as an operating space for the deathly sick interned at St. Thomas’s Hospital. In those times medical equipment was primitive and effective anaesthesia unavailable so invasive surgeries such as amputations were terrifying ordeals for patients – although a skilled surgeon could perform the procedure in under a minute, novices would sometimes hack and chisel at mangled limbs for much longer. Staff talks on the theatre bring the innocuous wood-panelled space to gruesome life so it’s worth timing your visit to coincide with one; the adjacent herb garret exhibition space has complementary medical displays.
4. Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising; Notting Hill
Those same household products that we retrieve from supermarket shelves week-in, week-out are so familiar that we may not consciously consider our relationships with them, but the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising seeks to do just that. Started by consumer historian Robert Opie, the museum’s collection includes over 12,000 original items that should be familiar to all of us, be they packets of cereal, tins of baked beans or sachets of custard powder. Consider an amble through the space a rummage through a particularly well-stocked larder and prepare to encounter plenty of decommissioned products that once held pride of place on your family’s kitchen table.
5. The Vault at Hard Rock Café, Park Lane
With so many unique restaurants in London I despair when I see tourists queuing for a table at the Hard Rock Café but fans of music memorabilia will appreciate The Vault. So named because the space was once part of a Coutts bank and now holds valuable music mementos, the display area houses some impressive exhibits. Items in the collection include the guitar used by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash in the November Rain video, a harpsichord frequently used by The Beatles and, strangely, one of Madonna’s old credit cards. Open seven days a week, The Vault’s opening hours are different from the main dining space (typically it’s open from midday to 9pm) and admission is free.
6. British Dental Association Dental Museum, Marylebone
Its origins may date back almost 100 years but there are still plenty of lifelong Londoners oblivious to the existence of the BDA Dental Museum. Its foundations date back to 1919 when Lilian Lindsay, the first female to qualify as a dentist in the country, donated a number of old dental instruments to the association. Today the museum’s collection includes some 20,000 items with dental instruments, furniture, photographs and art all on display. With few people enthusiastic about a trip to the dentist, going to the museum might be another way to pay your respects to this field of medicine.
7. Pollock’s Toy Museum, Fitzrovia
The space is cluttered and the collection of old, beady-eyed dolls could be considered somewhat creepy, but Pollock’s Toy Museum is an intriguing place. The museum itself occupies two conjoined houses near Goodge Street and when wandering from one small room to another prepare to encounter toys from your own childhood. Despite the ostensibly juvenile subject matter this museum is possibly better suited to adults who want to wallow in nostalgia than parents who want to provide their kids with distraction.
8. The Crime Museum, New Scotland Yard
London has plenty of macabre museums, but perhaps the most morbid is The Crime Museum, better known as The Black Museum, at New Scotland Yard. Housing an extensive number of weapons which have been used to commit murders or serious assaults in London, its collection includes items used by Jack the Ripper and Charlie Peace. The cases the displays are connected to remain shocking and emotive and it’s perhaps for that reason the museum isn’t open to the general public; however, members of the police forces or associated bodies sometimes access the space to attend lectures on forensic science, pathology, law and investigative techniques.
9. Geffrye Museum, Hackney
Anyone with an interest in interiors or design will be charmed by the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. Based in a series of connected 18th century almshouses, the museum shows typical middle-class living quarters in a succession of period rooms. Visitors start their journey in a traditional 17th century living space and gradually work their way up to the present day. Period gardens in the grounds repeat the process so there’s even more to discover outdoors when weather permits.
10. Household Cavalry Museum
The imposing, Grade I listed Horse Guards in Whitehall makes an impressive setting for the Household Cavalry Museum. The Household Cavalry guards the Queen on ceremonial occasions and also forms an operational regiment that serves around the world; visitors to the museum can learn about its role in detail through interactive displays and can often see members of the cavalry tending to their duties and caring for their horses in the Horse Guards’ 18th century stables.
11. Magic Circle Museum, Euston
By Euston Station, The Magic Circle is a private club where magicians converge; the Magic Circle Museum is a connected space that gives the rest of us insight into how the world’s greatest illusionists operate. Accompanied by guides, visitors can view props used by the likes of Harry Houdini and Chung Ling Soo, the rifles used for Maurice Fogel’s ‘bullet catch’ and hundreds of rare posters.
12. Freud Museum, Hampstead
A short stroll from Finchley Road Underground station, the Freud Museum is housed in what was once the home of Sigmund Freud and his family. They moved here after escaping the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938 and it was occupied by the family until the death of Freud’s youngest daughter Anna Freud in 1982. It was her wish that the home become a museum that paid tribute to her father’s efforts, and the space remains crammed with his and her accoutrements. Most popular is Freud’s psychoanalytic couch, but visitors will also discover his collection of antiquities, Freud’s writing desk and items from his library.
13. London Sewing Machine Museum, Balham
Part of the Wimbledon Sewing Machine Company, the London Sewing Machine charts the history and evolution of sewing machines both domestic and industrial and contains some 700 different types. Those especially interested in these tools might be excited by an example of the first Singer machine and a machine originally owned by Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, but this idiosyncratic space is also enjoyed by all manner of designer. It’s usually open only on the first Saturday of each month.
14. London Fire Brigade Museum, Southwark
The London Fire Brigade Museum in Southwark is a must-visit for any adult who aspired to work in the fire brigade as a child, and an interesting attraction for everyone else too. Housed in what was once part of the original Southwark fire station, the museum’s most impressive exhibits are its historical fire engines and Victorian-era gear room but there’s plenty to explore. Visits must be arranged by prior appointment and guests are accompanied by an expert guide.
15. Sherlock Holmes Museum, Baker Street
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote that his fictional characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson lived at 221b Baker Street and that is the location of the real-life Sherlock Holmes Museum. Despite the men never existing, the museum does a good job of creating a setting that seems authentic, with the multi-storey space crammed with antique artefacts that could have been used by the sleuth and his associate. An added attraction is the man in period costume usually stationed outside the door, providing a popular photo opportunity for visiting tourists.
16. The Royal London Museum, Whitechapel
Within the Royal London Hospital, the Royal London Museum documents the history of the hospital and the most notable cases treated there. Surgical instruments, old uniforms and assorted trinkets make for atmospheric displays but the venue is perhaps most known for its showcase on forensic medicine – which includes original material related to the Jack the Ripper murders – and its association with Joseph Merrick, the ‘Elephant Man’. He spent the last four years of his life in a specially adapted room within the hospital, and some of his personal effects (including his hat, veil and a cardboard church he made as a gift) remain on show.
17. Bank of England Museum, City of London
Global financial markets are more confusing than ever, so this could be considered a good time to visit the Bank of England Museum for some contextualisation and education. Tracing the history of the Bank of England from its 1694 foundation to the present day, the museum includes displays of old banknotes and coins, antique furniture, historic pictures and glistening gold bars. Entry to the museum is free which, given how much financial pain everyone’s already in, is just as well.
18. Garden Museum, Lambeth
Beautiful and tranquil, the Garden Museum lays in the church of St Mary’s in Lambeth, with the Thames surging past its door. Within the tastefully adapted church, changing exhibitions consider issues related to British gardens and are supplemented by a series of talks; permanent displays of paintings, tools and garden equipment provide further interest. Outside, the grounds contain a well-tended knot garden and the tombs of the celebrated gardeners John the Elder and Younger.
19. World Rugby Museum, Twickenham
Within Twickenham Stadium, the World Rugby Museum is home to one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of rugby memorabilia. Many of its 10,000 objects are kept in storage but trophies, historical photographs and early match programmes and tickets are typically on display. If visiting the museum, consider timing your visit to coincide with one of the tours of Twickenham Stadium (for which there’s an additional charge). When running, they allow fans to take a walk around the pitch itself, the players’ tunnel and the England dressing room.
20. New London Architecture, Holborn
New London Architecture concerns itself with all issues related to London-based architecture, planning, development and construction, and its publicly accessible galleries seek to inform Londoners about the capital’s rapidly changing cityscape. An ongoing programme of debates and discussions consider pertinent issues in depth, but if you only have time for a quick visit, be sure to check out the giant scale model of central London. Measuring 12 metres, the 1:1500 scale model also includes proposed London buildings that have secured planning permission and are in development.
21. The Cinema Museum, Kennington
The Cinema Museum celebrates all aspects of cinema, with a particular appreciation for the pre-digital days when ‘going to the pictures’ was a ticket to escapism and fantasy. The extensive collection deserves detailed exploration, including as it does countless photographic images, old cinema posters, cinema staff uniforms and antique cinema fixtures. Guided tours of the museum are available most days but must be booked in advance as they’re lead by volunteers; a varied complementary programme of talks and screenings attract all manner of cinema enthusiasts and film industry insiders.
22. Leighton House Museum, Holland Park
Its exterior may be unprepossessing, but Leighton House Museum’s beautifully opulent interiors must rival the most lavish private houses in surrounding Kensington. The building was once the home and studio of the Victorian artist Lord Frederic Leighton and it remains a showcase for his spectacular artefacts. The central Arab Hall displays Leighton’s dazzling collection of shimmering Islamic tiles, but other ornate rooms impress with antique furniture and tasteful contemporary art displays. If possible it’s worth timing your visit to coincide with the free tours given at certain times on Wednesdays and Sundays; otherwise it’s possible to download an MP3 tour of the house from the museum website in advance of your visit.
23. V&A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green
The V&A Museum in South Kensington is known internationally as one of the world’s greatest museums of art and design; less recognised is its Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. This is where the V&A houses its collection of childhood-related objects and with displayed objects often dating back decades (and in some cases centuries), it’s worth a visit whatever your age. The curators deserve further kudos for providing a complementary programme of free daily drop-in activities for children, all designed to entertain and educate young minds.
24. Petrie Museum, Euston
Found within UCL, the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology may be small but its collection of some 80,000 objects makes it one of the greatest museums of its type anywhere. Among its artefacts are sculptures of lions from the temple of Min at Koptos, dating from around 3000BC and the oldest wills on papyrus paper, as well as various ancient costumes and a series of Roman-period mummy portraits. Admission is free but opening hours are limited so check in advance of your visit.
25. Whitechapel Bell Foundry, Whitechapel
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is best known for two things: being the oldest manufacturing company in Britain, having been founded in 1570 and operating continually since; and for creating the Big Ben bell at the Palace of Westminster. The foundry includes a small exhibition space in its foyer but is best explored on a pre-booked tour. Detailing the efforts undertaken to cast bells and showing the workspaces in which they’re made, the tour provides detailed insight into the company’s operations and the limited numbers accommodated in the small space means places get snapped up quickly.
London’s employers urged to check staff are acting on Olympic Games-time travel plans - HRmagazine.co.uk
As the countdown to the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games continues, London's Transport commissioner has written to the leaders of 500 of the capital's biggest companies, thanking them for their leadership in preparing for Games-time travel and asking them to ensure their staff understand their Games-time plans.
London will be transformed into one huge sporting and cultural venue this summer, which will have a big impact on the public transport and road networks in both central London and in the areas around venues. The transport system will be busier than normal and there will be 'hotspot' locations where, at certain times, it will be exceptionally busy.
To help mitigate the impact the pressures on the transport network will have on businesses, London 2012 and TfL have been working with organisations in affected areas of London and the rest of UK to ensure they have plans in place to run smoothly - and profitably - during the Games.
In the past 18 months, London 2012 and Transport for London (TfL) have worked with 500 major businesses, employing more than 600,000 people, to provide site specific travel advice and help with bespoke business travel plans. Around 80 per cent of those businesses already have written plans in place, which include:
- Reducing or re-timing of deliveries;
- Encouraging staff to take holiday if possible;
- Staggering working days so people can start or finish work earlier or later and avoid peak times;
- Working from home or other locations;
- Encouraging walking or cycling by staff during Games-time.
London's transport commissioner, Peter Hendy, said: "Central London will be transformed into one huge sporting and cultural venue this summer, which will have a big impact on both the road and public. With just eight weeks left until the Games start, it is important that businesses test their plans and communicate them to staff, suppliers, customers and visitors.
"Many companies are already communicating their plans with their staff, suppliers, customers and visitors, and their efforts and leadership in preparing for Games-time travel are commendable. In these final weeks before the Games, it is important that London's business leaders continue to communicate with their employees to ensure they are clear about the plans in place in their own organisations and so they can take action to change their travel as a result."
TfL will continue to communicate important transport information in the run up to, and during, the Games period, including providing twice-daily transport updates to ensure London's businesses and their employees remain fully informed.
Help and support is available on the travel planning website www.GetAheadoftheGames.com.
London's hipsters embrace the original creative, Shakespeare, after rare theater find - msnbc.com
F. Brinley Bruton / msnbc.com
The Horse and Groom pub is on the same site as the Curtain, a recently discovered Shakespearean playhouse in London's trendy neighborhood of Shoreditch.
LONDON - The Horse and Groom pub is known as a drinking hole and dancing venue in the heart of London’s edgy Shoreditch.
It is not known as the place where Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was first performed more than 400 years ago -- that is, until archeologists discovered the remains of the Curtain theater, an early Elizabethan playhouse.
“It is cool,” said 26-year-old Sophie McKay, a writer and part-time bartender at the pub as she gazed at the patch of pebbled courtyard under which archeologists recently found remnants of the Curtain, built in 1577. “A friend sent me the link and asked, ‘Isn’t this where you work?’ And I said, ‘Yes it is!’”
The Shakespeare fan -- her favorite character is Lady Macbeth -- heard that the entrance to the theater once stood near the Horse and Groom’s own front door. Pre-dating the more famous Globe, on the south bank of the river Thames, the Curtain first performed ‘Henry V’ and housed William Shakespeare’s company -- the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
Shakespeare's pre-Globe theater unearthed
The remains of the open-air playhouse -- which was covered up again after its discovery -- lies in what was once the home of tanneries, factories, slaughter houses and bombed-out buildings.
F. Brinley Bruton / msnbc.com
Graffiti art decorates a wall on Hewitt Street outside the courtyard where archaeologists uncovered the Curtain, the playhouse where Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was first performed.
But today it is arguably London’s trendiest district, known for crowded bars, dance clubs, boutiques and experimental restaurants. It's an amalgam of graffiti-covered 1960s buildings, glass-fronted offices and converted Victorian factories, giving it a shabby-chic vibe.
That Shakespeare performed his tales of love, lust, ambition, betrayal and war in a place now inhabited by hipster creative-types makes sense to East London resident Trevor Howe, who was having a drink with photographer Amrita Chandradas, 24, at the Horse and Groom.
Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with auto firm Jaguar
“It’s vibrant, alive, exciting,” said the 41-year-old artist and photographer. “It’s always changing, it never stops, there is always something new.”
Howe and Chandradas agreed it was exciting that ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was first performed where they stood -- and upon realizing the tragedy about young love was a favorite of both, they embraced giddily.
Best-preserved Elizabethan theater?
The discovery of the Curtain’s walls and a yard, which came during work on a major regeneration project, is equally exciting for the experts involved in the excavation.
Over six weeks, the World Shakespeare Festival will show all of the Bard's 37 plays, each in a different language, and each by a different international company. Renowned artists and new young companies will celebrate performing Shakespeare in their own language within the architecture he wrote for -- the Globe Theatre in London. NBC News' Peter Jeary reports.
In addition to being one of only a dozen such playhouses believed to have ever been built, the site may well be the best-preserved Elizabethan playhouse, said Heather Knight, a senior archeologist from the Museum of London Archeology who helped uncover the Curtain.
“They are very rare buildings so to find anything of one of these buildings is exciting, but to find a wall that stands to its complete height is unique,” she said.
The reason the Curtain, built in 1577, and other Elizabethan playhouses are so rare is that they were razed by the Puritans after the English civil war.
Shakespeare in Jericho echoes year of Arab strife
“The most bitter and most effective attacks on Shakespeare’s and the other playwrights’ productions came from English Puritans,” leading Shakespearean scholar Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel said. “They thought the theater to be the root of evil.”
F. Brinley Bruton / msnbc.com
Graffiti art covers a building on London's Great Eastern Street close to where archeologists uncovered the Curtain, an ancient Elizabethan playhouse.
No sign of rampaging Puritans in Shoreditch these days, however.
If anything, the current rough-and-tumble creative life in Shoreditch may owe something Shakespeare, said Tom Monaghan, manager of The Queen of Hoxton, a self-described bar, club and art collective near the site where the Curtain was found.
“To think I work right opposite from were Shakespeare used to try out his material,” the 30-year-old said. “Shakespeare could have put Macbeth through his paces over there.”
Monaghan, who interspersed the conversation with barked commands into a mic pinned to his t-shirt, stood amid people sipping European beer and wearing skinny jeans and lank hairstyles.
Then he asked: “Is it a coincidence that the area has become creative again?”
More about Shakespeare:
- Restored scribble may be Shakespeare's signature
- Much ado over The Theater's ruins in London
- The Bard or not the Bard? That is the question
- Shakespeare celebrated at world festival
No comments:
Post a Comment