I haven’t been able to find a map that draws together significant locations in London relating to Diana, Princess of Wales, so I’ve taken the opportunity to create one. A feature that I have left out of this map is the memorial walk which takes you on a route through three of the central London royal parks. You can download this from the Royal Parks website here.

This is an open Google map, so do feel free to add other places that you know of, or if you don’t feel comfortable doing that then please leave your suggestion in the comments box below and I will add it for you. I would like your help to build this map into a useful resource for visitors who would rather make their own way around the important sites relating to Diana rather than go on a guided tour…

View Diana Princess of Wales London Map in a larger map

In this week’s Excess Baggage (the Radio 4 travel programme broadcast on 11 February 2012) John McCarthy talked to sculptor Emily Young, who travelled the world to find cast-off chunks of stone in abandoned quarries which she could then use in her latest art installation. It’s a fascinating story which you should listen to, but the culmination of that journey is now on show in Berkeley Square, London…

‘The Metaphysics of Stone’ is a series of massive sculptures where the artist has incorporated the natural flaws and contours of the rock into the final design – I particularly like ‘Planet’, which looks like it was chewed on by some massive beast before Emily got her chisel to it. Emily Young’s outdoor sculptures are on display in Berkeley Square until 25 April, and you can also see the smaller works from the series at the Fine Art Society on New Bond St  until 29 February.  The full set of photographs I took today can be found here.

Last night I attended the first of a week’s worth of events as part of Social Media Week - one of the regular London Bloggers Meetups, organised by Andy Bargery, on the theme of ‘How Blogging Has Changed My Life’.

The evening featured a Q&A with an panel comprising some of London’s best bloggers; Annie Mole from the London Underground Tube Diary, Tom from Tired Of London, Tired of Life, Matt from the Londonist and Sian from Domestic Sluttery. There was also some erotic poetry (!) from London Bloggers regular (and real character) Godwyns who was also there to tell us about the organisation which he has recently established to address the issues facing LGBT people in Africa, ‘Justice For Gay Africans’.

Much of the conversation last night was inspirational – in fact all of these people’s lives have been profoundly affected by their blogging. For example, due to its popularity Matt is now able to run his site as his full-time job as does Sian, who has also got a gig as a columnist at the Times (she is their ‘wedding editor’). Tom has recently had a fantastic book published which has hit the travel books top five, and Annie attributes the last few stages of her career to the widely-read blog she runs on the quirks of London’s underground transport system.

If you’re not already a reader I commend the sites above to you (although if you’re a hirsute male I’m not sure Sian’s site will be that useful – unless you’re into quick and easy cupcake baking or slingbacks that is…) and can I also ask you to check out Godwyns’ site to see whether you can help with their cause. The London Bloggers Meetup runs every month or two throughout the year, and if you’re looking for some blogging inspiration it’s a great night  out - you’re guaranteed to meet some fascinating people and you may well come away with some new ideas.

Just a quick note to wish all readers who are romantically involved a lovely day today – I hope that your significant other really pushes the boat out for you this evening.

To go with today’s general mood, here’s something I spotted in the protest camp next to St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday. Everyone say ah!

Right next door to the building where I currently work is the first purpose-built theatre complex to be opened in London for 30 years – the St. James. Due to open its doors this September the building, which sits on a sidestreet just across from Buckingham Palace, occupies the same parcel of land as the Westminster Theatre which was sadly demolished in 2002 after a fire gutted 75% of the building.

When it opens in the autumn the St.James will have a 312 seat main auditorium, along with a studio space and a street-facing restaurant and bar. The building was designed by Foster Wilson Architects and the interior has been overseen by Lambart & Browne, with artist Mark Humphrey being responsible for a large installation in the main staircase which will be a focal point for the theatre. The first season of plays and shows for the new theatre are currently being worked on, with an announcement from Artistic Director David Gilmore expected in April – it is hoped that the theatre will host a broad range of productions, from musicals through to touring and regional productions. The studio space in the building will seat 100 or accommodate 150 standing, with the intention of using this part of the venue for live comedy, jazz and cabaret. Being a new theatre they’ve also incorporated as many new innovations as possible – for example there will be a multi-media broadcast facility which will allow shows to be broadcast and streamed live, without the need to park big TV vans outside!

I’m very pleased to see a theatre come back to this site, as visitors to Victoria will finally be able to see something other than a big West End musical on stage, which the other two theatres in the area always cater for. I wish the St. James Theatre the best of luck. You can keep an eye on developments on their website here as the opening date approaches.

As part of this year’s LGBT History Month Eltham Palace in Greenwich are putting on special Sunday tours of this amazing building, and today I was lucky enough to get a place on the tour.

Eltham Palace (or properly ‘Eltham Hall’ – more on that later) is  a strange beast. Acquired by English Heritage in 1995 it started its life as a royal palace, and was the place where Henry VIII grew up. After his coronation he increasingly favoured Whitehall, Richmond and Hampton Court palaces amongst others over Eltham, because it didn’t have the advantage that the other palaces shared – being directly on the Thames, which allowed the ‘court’ and its trappings to be moved around easily.

Eltham Hall's main entrance - note the 'chess piece' finials

By the time it was acquired by two members of the wealthy Courtauld family in the 1930s the only building of note that remained was the Great Hall, which had spent many of the previous years being used as a stable for various farm animals. However, this fantastic tudor masterpiece pales into insignificance when set against the building that Stephen and Virginia Courtauld commissioned from architects John Seely and Paul Paget (who were partners in every sense of the word) – an ultra-modern house designed for entertaining. The place is spectacular, with veneers and inlays gracing the walls in every room, complemented by understated furniture with the cleanest of lines. The main entrance hall is probably the most remarkable space – with a blunted triangular shape meant to echo the prow of  a ship it has a dome overhead to provide daylight which is pierced with hundreds of circular skylights, complimented by a circular carpet below it which conceals a circular dancefloor beneath that – the house even incorporates under-floor heating, an integrated vacuum system, as well as concealed speakers in every room!

The dining room is also notable as it has a silver-coated recessed ceiling and doors inlaid with animals which were sketched at Regents Park Zoo. This room also highlights one of the house’s other features – clocks are concealed within the wall decoration of each room, fed by electricity to ensure that they keep perfect time. I should warn you though that  where Virginia Courtauld dictated the taste of a particular room they are a little gaudy in design – the dining room I’ve mentioned could be considered to be a little over-the-top, and her private sitting room has a distinct 1930s picture palace feel about it. However, as you can imagine it is all executed with the finest craftsmanship and materials befitting the family’s ultra-wealthy status. If you undertake a full exploration of the house you will also discover the room with the finest view over the gardens – the 4 feet by 6 feet cage of ‘Mah-Jong’, the Courtaulds’ pet ring-tailed lemur, which is decorated with scenes from the jungles of Madagascar to make him feel more at home…

The bridge, which dates from Edward IV's reign

Unfortunately I can’t share any photographs of these fantastic interiors with you as English Heritage tend to be a bit sniffy about these things – I do however have some exterior photographs which you can see here. I really do recommend a visit to Eltham Palace when you get the opportunity – my jaw was on the floor when we were escorted into the main reception room. It was like stepping into an episode of Poirot or Jeeves & Wooster! There are fantastic ornamental gardens too.

Just in closing, on the subject of the building’s name, the Courtaulds were forced to change it from Eltham Palace to Eltham Hall because their post was continually going astray, often ending up at the Eltham Palace cinema which was doing a roaring trade half a mile up the road!

Yesterday I went on one of the ‘Bowl Of Chalk‘ London in a nutshell walks, which are led by Jonnie. Our group did the first half of what can be a full day affair – the morning route, which takes you from statue of Charles I on Trafalgar Square on a circuitous journey through the City of London to St Paul’s Cathedral.

Our small group learned a great deal on the walk as we went along, in fact right at the start I found out some interesting new facts about Trafalgar Square. Were you aware, for example, that the height of Nelson’s Column reflects the height of the mast of his flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar, the HMS Victory, or that the  four reliefs around the base are made from French cannons captured during the battle? Venturing into Covent Garden we came across another London oddity – the only police station in the city to have a white light outside it rather than a blue one.  The now disused Bow St police station changed the colour of its light out of deference to Queen Victoria, a regular visitor to the Royal Opera next door, who remarked that the characteristic police station light reminded her of the blue room where Prince Albert had died.

After Covent Garden we headed down past St Clement Danes, the official RAF church with its imposing statue of the controversial ‘Bomber’ Harris outside, and then moved on to the Royal Courts of Justice for a few more anecdotes before passing the  Temple Bar with its heraldic dragon and thus entering the City of London. A  little further on from here is Fleet St (named after the river that still runs beneath it) which became synonymous with printing and newspapers – there are oddities at every turn along this street, and also two interesting retail establishments – Jonnie imparted the fact that the Twinings teashop here is the oldest in the world and that the Tipperary is London’s oldest Irish pub and the first place to serve Guinness outside of Ireland. After this we got to hear about two of the area’s most colourful characters as we walked – Dr Samuel Johnson, the creator of the modern dictionary (whose favourite cat Hodge is immortalised in a statue that sits opposite the townhouse where the first volumes were penned), and the entirely fictitious Sweeney Todd, whose house we also visited at number 184A…

The next part of our tour took us through the doors of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for some fortification against the cold weather (mind your head if you pop to the loo because you’re going back several centuries as you descend the stairs – back to the low vaulted ceilings of the 13th century Carmelite monastery in fact!) and then past St Bride’s church. Given its name you won’t be surprised to learn that it’s multi-levelled tower is the inspiration for the tiered wedding cakes that appear at almost every wedding to this day. Winding through several more narrow streets found us at tent city outside St Paul’s, and we maneuvered way around that to end our three and  a half hour long walk taking in the view from the top of One New Change next door to the Cathedral.

I really enjoyed going along for the Bowl Of Chalk (cockney rhyming slang for ‘walk’ by the way) yesterday – Jonnie is a great guide and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of London that puts mine in the shade. The nice thing about his walks is that you won’t ever feel short-changed if you go on one, because you can pay what you like at the end. Personally, I handed over what I believe to be the going rate for a half-day walk – it was tremendous value for money and my knowledge of London is now much enhanced.

If you’re interested in joining Jonnie you can find out dates and times of upcoming walks at the Bowl of Chalk website or on their Facebook page. All the other photographs from the day can be found here.

This is a heads-up on a new open-air theatrical performance that’s coming to London for 12 days from 8 to 20 May, called ‘BABEL’.

It’s been devised by the Wildworks team, who developed ‘The Passion In Port Talbot’, which was a 3-day long live performance that saw Michael Sheen carrying a cross through the town and culminated in his ‘crucifixion’ on the town’s seafront on the third day! Details are thin on the ground as to what exactly ‘BABEL’ will entail, but what I do know is that Michael Sheen and Bill Mitchell will star, and will lead a cast of 500 performers during the show’s run. The performances take place outdoors in a space that can accommodate an audience of 1000 and will involve high-tech lighting and projection effects.

The stated purpose of this new project is to echo the word’s historical origins by bringing together people from communities across London to explore our different languages, culture and ethnicity while reminding us that we share a lot of common needs and goals. The press release gives away a few hints about the plot: ‘BABEL tells of a gathering of the tribes. People who have been scattered for an age are returning to finish what they started eons ago. They mean to create a new city, a welcoming haven for strangers. A place to imagine and make the best of what we can be.‘.

More information on this new theatrical experience will be released as May approaches, and you can keep up to date on Facebook, Twitter and on BABEL’s own website. If it’s anything like what they did in South Wales this is really going to be something to remember!

A guest post from Jade O’Donoghue, who has just completed her MA in Journalism at Brunel University and is the web and social media editor of the UK’s number one course database, Hotcourses.

As every Londoner knows, there are bundles of things you can get up to in London. From museums, to musicians, there’s something to do or see almost every hour of every day in our vibrant capital. I certainly find myself busy most weekends, flitting around the centre, finding things to occupy my time with very little effort.

But what about us Londoners who want to learn? Well there are actually quite a lot of really interesting courses that can be taken in the capital. Courses that will entertain you as much as some of the top attractions, but also leave you with knowledge you can use forever (and in some cases even a qualification for your CV).

Since this month is February – and since that means Valentine’s Day – I thought I’d use that as my inspiration in my search for London courses. I was not disappointed. My first discovery was Peggy’s Cupcakes in Forest Hill who will teach you how to bake cupcakes and decorate them. Though I’m biased thanks to a terrible sweet tooth, I think these could make a brilliant homemade gift for a loved one. Then, for any romantic dates you might have planned, MINK London’s one day introduction to airbrush makeup course will teach you how to beautify yourself in preparation. Plus, I found that in central London, I could actually learn how speak with confidence in order to wow my date with my fantastic conversational skills.

If you don’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, I even found the answer for that. Grab your pals and head to Harry’s Wine and Supper Club in Lambeth for a wine tasting course. There are six different wines to try every week so I will certainly be grabbing a glass and heading down there! If, like me, you like the sound of learning in London, the Hotcourses Facebook page is well worth a like, for deals of the week and other interesting news. Plus, to search for other London courses, check out the homepage.

For now though, I’m off to munch on Peggy’s Cupcakes!

Many years ago I used to regularly wander around the Wood St Indoor Market in Upper Walthamstow – it’s rather quirky and full of odd little stores (including, at that time, a wonderful second-hand bookshop) and this Saturday, 11 February, they’re having a big relaunch event after the market and high street were recently awarded £1.5m from the Mayor’s Outer London Fund for a makeover.

If you get there when the doors open at 10am and are lucky enough to be one of the first 10 customers through their doors, you’ll be able to walk away with a goodie bag from Forsaken Dreams. Over at the Tony Tunes store, there’ll be music all day from their collection of vintage 78s and at midday the local Waltham Forest Arts Club will start an afternoon programme including poetry readings, dramatic performances and music. Elsewhere in the complex Animaux Circus will be creating a mural, and artists Lizzy Hobbs and Emily Tracy will be hosting a “Pop up Picture Palace“, with the goal of creating an animation which will be screened locally at the end of March – if you know the area well and have any knowledge of the old cinema and film companies that used to be in the area they’re very keen to hear from you.

At 2:30pm the official launch takes place, where the new stores in the market will be welcomed and the winner of the local Wood Street Open Art competition will be announced. If you’re not a fan of big speeches there are lots of other diversions – if you’re feeling hungry for example, there’s artisan bread and cakes available from Plumbun and you can get a cuppa at Anja Jane + Coffee. Amongst the arts and crafts stores in the market there’s Folly and Frill, who sell Walthamstow-inspired homewares and gifts, and lots of vintage and vintage-inspired stores including TRASH, Lady Jane’s Vintage Bandwagon, Just Can’t Help It and Little Pad.

There’s also a warning in the press release I’ve received about the Pink Bear Club’s Wood Street Whimsey – apparently the Pink Bear might spring out at odd moments – I dread to think! I”m going to head over on Saturday afternoon to reacquaint myself with the place – I remember Wood Street Indoor Market as being a really magical little spot and it sounds like its even better these days. It’s really nice to find a shopping area in London that supports independent stores and doesn’t rely on the same old national brands for its success – I live around the corner from the new Westfield Stratford City and, while it might be an architectural marvel, I just don’t find it very exciting. It’s just like every other high street but with a bit more glass and chrome – I get the feeling that my trip on Saturday afternoon will be the perfect antidote!