During difficult times, it is challenging to maintain a healthy lifestyle due to various reasons such as stress and anxiety. Which is why we believe dance is your ultimate solution, check out all the dance choices and where to gdo them here.
Read MoreAn immersive experience at the National Gallery where visitors could journey through an interactive high-resolution image of a picture with sound, poetry and light in socially distanced pods has now been reimagined as an online experience, the first of its kind for the Gallery.
Read MoreThe Southbank Centre today confirms the dates for the reopening of its venues after a year of closure due to the pandemic.
Read MoreThe Barbican announces an exciting programme of new live events and digital content for spring and summer. In line with the latest government guidance, the Barbican is preparing to reopen its Art Gallery, Cinemas, Shop and Cafes, and welcome back live audiences in the Hall, in the week of 17 May 2021.
Read MoreThe National Theatre has announced three new filmed productions have been added to its streaming service National Theatre at Home
Read MoreThroughout the current lockdown, the National Gallery has remained open online, continuing to bring the nation’s gallery into the nation’s homes.
Read MoreThe Barbican has announced line-up details for its newly curated spring concert series as part of Live from the Barbican. The new series of concerts will be accessible for a reduced, socially distanced live audience in the Barbican Hall and online for a global digital audience through a livestream on a pay-per-view basis.
Read MoreLondon has been hit by many deadly epidemics over the centuries, including plague, cholera, smallpox, influenza and HIV/AIDS. They used their collections, new historical research and interviews with public health experts and epidemiologists to consider what impact a future outbreak could have on London.
Read MoreThe Barbican announces the reopening of the Centre to the public, in line with government guidance, on Wednesday 2 December 2020, as well as an exciting programme of live events and digital content for the festive period.
Read MoreA curated mix of livestreams, podcasts, playlists, films, videos, talks and articles enables audiences to continue to enjoy the Centre’s rich and varied programme from home or on the go during this second lockdown, inspired by the Barbican’s international arts programme.
Read MoreHarry Potter playing Quidditch will be the newest statue to join ‘Scenes in the Square’, a film sculpture trail in London’s Leicester Square, it has been revealed.
Read MoreLondon Bridge City Summer Festival can today announce their full programme of events scheduled for this year’s festival. Running from Thursday 1st June to Thursday 31st August, the jam-packed schedule features a myriad of daily events to suit kids, parents, film buffs, fitness gurus, sports fans and everyone in-between.
Read MoreWhen Henry VIII died in 1547 his son, Edward VI, was still too young to ascend the throne. Edward Seymour, the boy's ambitious and successful uncle, seized this opportunity and had himself created Lord Protector and Duke of Somerset. The new Duke and Protector, "desirous of possessing a residence suitable to his high rank", was determined to build himself a palace.
The Duke already owned land on a prime site between the Thames and the Strand and it was here that he began building his great mansion, Somerset House, in 1547. Although he had commissioned one of the most influential buildings of the English Renaissance, the Duke had little opportunity to enjoy Somerset House. In 1551 his opponents had him arrested and tried for the much more serious crime of treason. This time there was no escape. The Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England, was executed on Tower Hill in January 1552.
After this, Somerset House saw many Kings and Queens and great institutions and then at the time of Henry VIII, this was the start of when records of births, marriages, and deaths were kept there. In 1836 the General Register Office was created to set up a comprehensive system for the registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths and appoint the first Registrar General based at Somerset House. It was not until 1970, after slightly less than a century and a half at Somerset House, that the General Register Office moved out.The Principal Probate Registry relocated to Somerset House in 1874 which was where all wills, either originals or copies, had to be registered. The wills of many famous historical figures were among them.
Shakespeare's will made various provisions including the following: "In the name of God Amen I William Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon give unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture". Jane Austen's will is there and Napoleon's will was kept there until it was returned to France.Stamp duty on documents, including newspapers, was only one of many revenue-raising methods administered by the Stamp Office, one of the government departments which moved to the new Somerset House in 1789.
In 1834 the Stamp Office united with the Affairs of Taxes and in 1849 Stamps and Taxes joined the Excise to form a new Board of Inland Revenue.
The Board of Inland Revenue occupied the east and west wings of Somerset House until 2011.
Read MoreHackney Empire is a grade II* listed building. The theatre was built as a music hall in 1901, designed by the architect Frank Matcham.
Charlie Chaplin, WC Fields, Stanley Holloway, Stan Laurel and Marie Lloyd all performed there, when the Hackney Empire was a music hall.
ATV bought the theatre to use as studios in the 1950s, and shows such as Take Your Pick and Oh, Boy! were broadcast live. Certain episodes of Opportunity Knocks were also filmed at the theatre. From 1963 to 1984 the theatre was used by the Mecca Organisation as a bingo hall.
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