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BRITAIN CALLING MARCH 2008
Tours of Wembley Stadium
It is now possible to take an extensive tour of the new Wembley Stadium in north-west London. It includes a visit to the changing rooms and the players’ warm-up zone, the VIP reception area and the royal box, the press conference room, the treatment rooms and the dugouts where the team managers sit. Fans can experience walking on to the pitch from the players’ tunnel, as well as climbing the steps to the royal box to lift a replica football trophy. Wembley Stadium’s Managing Director Alex Horne said: ‘Wembley has quickly re-established itself as a world-class venue having now staged 25 major sports and entertainment events in an incredible first year. It is a breathtaking stadium with a truly unique heritage and I would urge anyone who is a fan of football, sport, music or architecture to visit London’s most exciting attraction. Come and follow in the footsteps of your heroes and be part of the magic of Wembley.’
Stadium Tours depart daily every 15 minutes from 9.30am to 5.30pm, except on public holidays and during the build-up to and break-down from major sports or music events. They take around 90 minutes and are subject to availability and change. Tours cost £15 for an adult, £8 concessions and children under 16.
Wembley National Stadium
Wembley, London HA9 0WS
Tel: +44 844 800 2755 (booking line)
Website: www.wembleystadium.com/tours
Theatre in a London park
The Open Air Theatre in London’s Regent’s Park is the only permanent professional outdoor theatre in Britain. Since it opened in 1932, the theatre has entertained thousands of people every summer with its successful seasons of Shakespeare, classics, opera, musicals and family shows. The steeply raked auditorium with 1,240 seats is one of the largest in London, yet somehow the theatre seems very intimate. Regulars turn up early to picnic on the lawns of the park, or to visit the theatre’s bar and café set among trees lit by fairy lights.
For 2008 the new Artistic Director, Timothy Sheader, has chosen Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night; a new production of Lerner and Loewe’s classic musical Gigi; and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream re-imagined for young audiences. Golden Globe winner and Fiddler on the Roof Oscar nominee Topol will be making his grand return to the London stage to perform the role of Honoré in Gigi.
And the British weather? Sheader says: ‘Weather and climate add a thrilling contribution to our work, making the complicity between performer, text and audience a truly unique event at every performance. Regulars know to come prepared with rugs and raincoats – just in case.’
This year’s productions run from 2 June to 13 September, with ticket prices from £10 to £35.
Open Air Theatre
Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NR
Tel: +44 844 826 4242
Website: www.openairtheatre.org
Tours of the Palace of Westminster
The site where the UK Parliament sits is officially known as the Palace of Westminster because it was the main residence of the kings of England from the 11th century until 1512, when a fire forced them to move out. During the Summer Recess, when Parliament does not sit and Members of Parliament work away from Westminster, the Palace offers guided tours for the public. Tours start at Victoria Tower and end in Westminster Hall, taking in both Chambers – the House of Lords and the House of Commons – as well as other State Rooms. The layout of the Palace is intricate, with its existing buildings containing nearly 1,200 rooms, 100 staircases and well over 3km (2 miles) of passages. Among the original historic buildings is Westminster Hall, used nowadays for major public ceremonial events.
The Palace is open for tours this year from 28 July to 27 September, Monday to Saturday inclusive (not on Sunday or Bank Holidays). Tours take about 75 minutes. Foreign language tours in French, Spanish, Italian and German are offered at set times. Admission: adults £12, students and seniors £8, children 5–16 £5, children under 5 free, family ticket (max two adults) £30.
Houses of Parliament
Palace of Westminster, London SW1A 2PW
Tel: +44 0870 906 3773 (ticket booking)
Website: www.parliament.uk
Edinburgh’s military spectacular
For three weeks in August, the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle becomes a nightly stage for hundreds of musicians and dancers from round the world. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is often thought of as a very Scottish tradition and it does include very traditional and stirring massed pipes and drums. But performers from all over the world also travel to Scotland’s capital to take part in the Tattoo. This year the 150-piece Golden Eagles from Missouri, one of the most televised university marching bands, will be appearing, and a highland dance troupe of 50 dancers from Canada will join forces with the Tattoo’s own Highland Spring Dancers.
From Singapore comes a detachment of Gurkha pipes and drums together with a 55-strong police military band, an all-woman police pipe band and an animated act reflecting aspects of Singapore’s social and cultural roots. Norway is sending His Majesty The King’s Guards Band with its drill team and there will also be performances by the massed bands of the Royal Marines, 100 musicians drawn from across the UK led by the Marines’ Corps of Drums.
This year’s Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the 59th, runs from 1 to 23 August, with 90-minute shows at 9pm Monday to Friday, 7.30pm and 10.30pm Saturday. Tickets are priced between £13 and £47.
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo
32 Market Street, Edinburgh EH1 1QB
Tel: +44 131 225 1188
Website: www.edintattoo.co.uk
What well-dressed wells are wearing
From May until the end of September, villages and towns in the Peak District and Derbyshire revive the ancient ceremony and craft of well dressing.
Well dressings are mosaic pictures made from natural materials such as flower petals, leaves and berries. These are pressed into clay and held in a wooden frame that is displayed on the site of a well or in some other public place. A dressing will last for about a week, depending on the weather.
The art of well dressing may have originated in Pagan times as a ritual performed to give thanks for the supply of fresh water. Alternatively, the custom may have been introduced into Britain by the Romans. Another theory connects the celebration with outbreaks of the plague.
Most well dressings have a religious theme, although recently more secular pictures have appeared. The dressings that are on a well are blessed by the local clergy.
Website: www.visitpeakdistrict.com
Britain celebrates silversmiths
The first British Silver Week is being held this year from 10 to 17 June. There will be silversmithing workshops, exhibitions and demonstrations of silversmithing techniques around the country in some 25 locations, including London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bath, Stratford upon Avon, Nottingham, Cambridge, Canterbury and Tunbridge Wells. Events will take place in galleries, fine jewellers and assay offices. The week will highlight the work of more than 100 of the UK’s top and upcoming silversmiths. Selected silversmiths have been invited to make limited-edition pieces to display the finest workmanship in contemporary design. Exhibiting silversmiths include Malcolm Appleby, Rod Kelly, Wayne Meeten, Roger Millar, Pamela Rawnsley and Fred Rich.
British Silver Week is the brainchild of Gordon Hamme, whose ambition is to mark what he calls ‘the renaissance of excellence in UK silver-making and a resurgence in buying interest by corporate and private buyers alike.’
Website: www.britishsilverweek.co.uk
Ramsay takes off at Heathrow
March 2008 sees the launch of Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food at the newly built Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Plane Food will be a 180-seat fine dining restaurant in the world’s busiest international airport. Stuart Gillies will oversee the menu together with Nathan Johnson. The menu will be based on Ramsay’s Boxwood Café and includes dishes such as risotto of butternut squash, parmesan and amaretti, macaroni gratin, treacle cured bacon and maple syrup and rare roast beef. Desserts will include hot chocolate mousse and honeycomb ice cream. There will be an afternoon tea menu and a bar offering a cocktail list and a range of wines available by the bottle and glass.
Celebrity chef Ramsay started his career as a teenage professional footballer. He trained in hotel management and came to London to work with Marco Pierre White. In 1998 at the age of 31, he set up his first wholly-owned restaurant, Gordon Ramsay in London. Today his restaurants have won many accolades including numerous Michelin stars. His books and television programmes Hell’s Kitchen and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares have won him a large following around the world.
Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opens on 27 March. Designed by Richard Rogers, it will be the biggest free-standing building in the UK and will be used for arrivals and departures for British Airways flights.
Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food
Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport
Website: www.gordonramsay.com
Website: www.heathrowairport.com/terminal5
Sleep Inns turn Purple
The Real Hotel Company has re-branded its nine Sleep Inn hotels around the UK and launched them as Purple Hotels. It has also opened new Purple Hotels at Glasgow/ Airport and Braintree/Stansted.
The Purple brand styles itself as no-frill chic and is offering clients a service that is cool, functional and affordable. Rooms are ‘10% bigger than our rivals’ and have large beds and walk-in power showers. Each hotel has a lobby café/bar that serves ‘all you can eat’ hot and cold buffet breakfasts and is open all day and evenings.
The rebranded hotels are at Baldock, Birmingham Star City, Cambridge, Derby, Doncaster, City of London, Peterborough, Shrewsbury and Tewkesbury. The Real Hotel Company plans to open 4,000 rooms in Purple Hotels across the country before the 2012 Olympics.
Prices range from £55 to £85 outside London and £155 to £190 in London midweek.
Purple Hotels
Premier House, 112 Station Road, Edgware, Middlesex HA8 7BJ
Tel: +44 20 8233 2001
Website: www.purplehotels.co.uk
Business at a famous racecourse
Liverpool, this year’s European Capital of Culture, has a racecourse that is also a notable business venue. Aintree is the home of the Grand National and hosts business meetings for top level executives, product launches for up to 500 guests and conferences for up to 400 delegates. All of the areas, including the 30 glass-fronted syndicate rooms, overlook the historic racecourse. There are also 3,700 sq metres of exhibition space with vehicular access.
Aintree can also offer business visitors a Golf Centre (the longest nine-hole course in the country) and The Grand National Experience, an insight into the history of the world’s most famous steeplechase. The course itself has a 4,000-seat capacity. Two new grandstands were opened in 2007, as well as a purpose-built equestrian centre. This year’s Grand National will be run on Saturday 5 April.
Aintree Racecourse
Ormskirk Road, Aintree, Liverpool L9 5AS
Tel: +44 151 523 2600
All the Courtauld’s Cézannes on view
The Courtauld Gallery holds the most important collection in Britain of works by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). An exhibition opening this summer presents the entire collection for the first time. Major paintings such as the iconic Montagne Sainte-Victoire and Card Players will be shown alongside rarely-seen drawings and watercolours.
Also on display will be a previously unexhibited group of nine autograph letters in which Cézanne reflects upon the principles of his artistic practice. Extensive new research by the Courtauld’s Department of Conservation and Technology will add fresh insights into the artist’s working methods and techniques. This celebration of the Courtauld’s Cézannes is the climax of the 75th anniversary programme of the Courtauld Institute of Art, one of the world’s leading centres for the study of the history and conservation of art and architecture.
The exhibition runs from 26 June to 5 October. The Courtauld Gallery is open daily 10am–6pm (last admission 17.30). The admission charge (adults £5, concessions £4) includes entrance to all temporary exhibitions and displays. Admission is free on Mondays from 10am until 2pm (excluding public holidays).
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
Website: www.courtauld.ac.uk |
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Friday, 29 August 2008
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