100 Musical Events in 5 Days in King's Cross

Dates: 1 October 2008 to 5 October 2008
Times: 01 - 05 Oct 2008 8:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Venue: Kings Place

Kings Place opens its doors with 5 days of music for all, beginning with 100 metronomes resonating throughout the Atrium at 9am on 1 October.

Kings Place is a new culture and arts centre in London. The venue will host an exciting new programme of music, painting and sculpture from around the world.

From the avid concert-goer to musical novice, there will be something for everyone as performers take to the stage from 9.30am to midnight for 5 days running.
String ensembles, jazz combos, singers and musicians will fill the halls of Kings Place with music and creativity. After the launch, the cultural events will continue with an exciting programme of concerts already planned.

Highlights of the Kings Place opening festival include:

• The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment


• London Chamber Music Society


• The Classical Opera Company


• Jazz from the F-IRE Collective

Kings Place houses the first new public concert hall to be built in central London since the completion of the Barbican Concert Hall in 1982. It's part of the large regeneration project currently happening in King's Cross.

The space also includes a new 60-seat atrium café Green & Fortune, and the Rotunda Bar which overlooks the waterfront.

The X-Files: London location

The ‘Somerset’ home of the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville) in the X-Files movie is not in England at all, but in California, at 380 South San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, the Tudor-style mansion seen in Topper, Dead Again and Rush Hour.

When Mulder is summoned to attend the meeting of elders, that really is London. The entrance is Queen Alexandra’s House, Kensington Gore, SW7, alongside the Albert Hall in Kensington. The interior, however, is once more back in Pasadena. It’s is the Athenaeum, the dining club of the California Institute of Technology, at 551 South Hill Avenue (a frequently used location, seen in Beverly Hills Cop and True Romance among others).

Elton John's 'J' brooch for sale in London

A sapphire-and-diamond brooch worn by singer Elton John in one of his music videos will go under the gavel this week. The art deco piece is shaped like a "J" and was worn by John in the 1988 music video "I Don't Wanna Go on With You Like That."

It is expected to fetch $22,000 when it goes up for sale at Bonhams auction house in London on Thursday. The 1930s-era brooch has brilliant-cut and baguette-cut diamonds and oval-cut and circular-cut sapphires.

Ten Things to See at the London Design Festival 2008

Kicking off today, the London Design Festival 2008 is a two-week extravaganza with a bewildering array of shows, exhibitions, seminars and general hobnobbing, big names, young talent, highly commercial offerings, as well as work which is so conceptual we’re not really sure if it’s even design.
Here are 10 things to keep a watch in the two weeks ahead.

1. 100% East will be held at the Old Truman Brewery. 21-24 September.
2. Designers Block showcases young design talent at The Nicholls and Clarke Buildings. 21-24 September.
3. [re] Design showcases young design talent at The Nicholls and Clarke Buildings. 21-24 September.
4. New Designers Selection exhibits this year’s top design graduates. Studio 95, Brick Lane. 21-24 September.
5. [re] Design highlights design friendly to the society and the environment. The Boiler House, Old Truman Brewery 20-26 September.
6. Design UK shows 40 new and established designers. 4th floor at Liberty 20-30 September.
7. Design Mart nurtures new talent at the Design Museum 20-30 September.
8. B&B Italia introduces new furniture by Antonio Citterio, Naoto Fukasawa, Patricia Urquiola, Monica Armani, Paola Piva and products by Moooi at their Brompton Quarter store. 15-30 September.
9. Old Truman Brewery on 20 September.
10. Tom Dixon installs polystyrene chairs in Trafalgar Square 20-24 September. You can claim a chair starting at 3pm on 21 September.
11. Canadian artist Jason Young shows his curling stone-based work at The Air Gallery, 16, 17 and 23 September.

English Channel Tunnel Reopens

Limited passenger and freight train service through the undersea tunnel linking Britain and the Continent resumed Saturday after a roaring blaze left thousands of travelers stranded and delayed on both sides.

The closure threatens to disrupt services for several weeks and raises new questions about how such incidents could occur after previous fires in the tunnel, which is relied upon by truckers as well as tens of thousands of tourists and business people shuttling between London, Paris and Brussels each day.

Six people were taken to a hospital in Calais suffering from smoke inhalation. There were no reports of more serious injuries, but a truck driver talking to French media suggested that he and others had narrowly escaped.

The tunnel beneath the Channel consists of two tubes that ordinarily carry passenger trains and freight in opposite directions, and a third tube used for maintenance and evacuations. The fire broke out on a freight shuttle train traveling in the tube heading toward France. Eurostar said Saturday that it had begun running a limited service in the tube that was not affected by the fire.

Eurostar canceled all its trains in both directions Friday. Gareth Headon, a spokesman for Eurostar, said those customers could either seek refunds or reschedule their trips for other dates. On Saturday, Eurostar said there would be further alterations to the limited timetable, without being more specific.

Airports in talks to lift security ban on liquids

The UK government is in discussions with security companies and Britain's airports to lift the ban on liquids being carried in hand luggage as early as next year.

Technology already deployed at Heathrow's new Terminal 5 can automatically detect the presence of liquids in carry-on bags. Now, government scientists are running tests to see if the scanners can be adapted to pick out those that are harmful.

"The technology is there, which will allow these scanners not only to test for liquids but also to determine if those liquids are dangerous or not," said a security industry source. "At the moment, that technology is being tested by the security services and when they are happy that it works, the ban will be lifted."

The aviation industry is keen to see a change in the restrictions, brought in after intelligence experts believed they had foiled a plot to blow up airliners with liquid bombs in August 2006.

Airlines have complained that the rules make the UK's hubs less attractive to passengers. Analysts put the total cost of the liquid bomb plot to the industry at as much as £200m. The hand luggage restrictions dictate that bottles containing more than 100ml of liquid cannot be carried and only one bag is allowed.

BAA, which operates the UK's main airports Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, had to recruit 3,000 extra security staff to cope with the restrictions. It puts the total cost of the measures in the "tens of millions". When you go to airports at the moment, you can see the confusion, with many people still bringing too many liquids.

Four UK airports including Heathrow have bought scanners that will detect dangerous liquids and more are on order. It is believed the Government will not lift the restrictions until all major airports have the new technology.

But The Department of Transport said it took its lead from advice given by the joint intelligence analysis centre. It added that the recent bomb plot court case had proven that potential terrorists were already capable of creating bombs from domestic items.

History of Harrods

Since Harrods first opened its doors, the store has always prided itself on a reputation for excellence, that nothing is too much trouble for their customers, and finding the finest-quality merchandise.

Harrods was established in 1834 in London’s East End, when founder Charles Henry Harrod set up a wholesale grocery in Stepney, with a special interest in tea. In 1849, to escape the filth of the inner city and to capitalise on trade to the Great Exhibition of 1851 in nearby Hyde Park, Harrod took over a small shop in the district of Knightsbridge, on the site of the current store.

Beginning in a single room employing two assistants and a messenger boy, Harrod’s son Charles Digby Harrod built the business into a thriving retail operation selling medicines, perfumes, stationery, fruit, and vegetables. Harrods rapidly expanded, acquired the adjoining buildings, and employed one hundred people by 1880.

Tstore’s booming fortunes were reversed in early December 1883, when it burnt to the ground. Charles Harrod fulfilled all of his commitments to his customers to make Christmas deliveries that year — and made a record profit in the process.

A new building was raised on the same site, and soon Harrods extended credit for the first time to its best customers, among them Oscar Wilde, legendary actresses Lilly Langtry and Ellen Terry, Noël Coward, Sigmund Freud, A. A. Milne, and many members of the British royal family.

In 1898, Harrods installed the world's first moving staircase (escalator); nervous customers were offered brandy at the top to revive them after their 'ordeal'.

London's famous black cabs made in China

London Taxis are as British as bowler hats and Big Ben. But the latest models coming off this new assembly line are unlikely to ever touch an English road.

At a sprawling factor in the lush green suburbs of Shanghai, young Chinese workers are busily gearing up for full-scale production of one of Britain's most iconic vehicles. It is part of an odd alliance that aims to give the distinctive black cab a greater presence outside its namesake city.

London Taxi International which will continue to build nine out of 10 cabs used in Britain at a factory in Coventry, England, could not grow production at its small-scale, high-cost plant. So it turned to a partner and to China, as a way to drive overseas expansion.

"You do need to make progress within the automotive industry." said Paul Stowe, who is overseeing the JV between Britain's Manganese Bronze Holdings PLC, and GeelyGroupHoldings.

Travelling on London transport to be more expensive

The cost of travelling on London transport for adults will rise by more than inflation next year as a fares freeze imposed by Ken Livingstone is scrapped. Several transport schemes announced by the former mayor will also be dropped, but Johnson has pledged that the £16bn Crossrail project and a £30bn upgrade of the underground network will go ahead.

According to Johnson's officials, postponing the planned 2008 fare rise cost £60m, while a cut in some types of bus fare cost £24m. To plug that gap, adult fares will have to rise at least 1% above inflation, equivalent to an increase of 6%. That would mean a single peak-time tube fare in central London would rise from £6.30 to about £6.70, while an adult bus fare would rise from 90p to 95p. Discounted fares for elderly and disabled people will remain.

Some fares will be cut to encourage people to travel off peak.

Kingfisher launches daily flight between London and Bangalore

Kingfisher launch their first international airline service between London and Bangalore. In a typically flamboyant gesture on the eve of the London route's launch, made during a flying visit to attend a conference by the UK-India Business Council (UKIBC), Vijay Mallya presented the 300 guests at a black-tie dinner with free tickets on the new route.

Mallya responded to queries about the project's viability, claiming that Bangalore's growing links to Britain would mean that the route would become profitable, despite the crisis afflicting the aviation sector.
"With respect, that is a view of those who are based in England and Europe, who are listening and watching the problems of airlines over here," he said.
"The truth is that there is a huge amount of potential in flying between Bangalore and London. The links between the two cities are greater than ever, but the only operator (between the cities) is BA — nobody else flies that route. Our first flight is almost 80 per cent full with revenue-paying guests, and so is the flight going back on the same day. And this has been achieved in just about nine days of selling."

Mallya is expected to launch a second Heathrow service, from Bombay, next month. There are also plans for Kingfisher to fly between Bangalore and San Francisco.

Mallya's new route has won the backing of the UKIBC, a government-sponsored body setting up trade and links between India and the UK.