What's On in London during November 2008. Hot picks from London's diary of ticketed events, pageantry, Theatre, Fine Art Exhibitions, antiques and retro fashion fairs compiled by Burlington Bertie, Offtolondon's Man About Town

The Royal Mews reopens March 2009. Buckingham Palace State Rooms and Clarence House reopen to the public in August, 2009. The Royal Collection souvenir shop in Buckingham Palace Road remains open

Tower of London: Sparkling Gems and Shining Armour
Venue: The Tower of London.
Date: Autumn specials: 16 November, 6 December only. 10.30am.
Tickets: Included in general admission price. £15.50, booked online. £16.50 at the portcullis!
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Tower Hill. Best access is by riverboat service from Westminster.
Description: Ten centuries of sometimes infamous Tower history is told in this descriptive tour of the Jewel House and exciting interactive hands on history exhibition on the top floor of the White Tower accompanied by a Tower Warden, (the famed Beefeaters).
Wheelchair Accessibility: In parts. Medieval castles were not built with wheelchairs in mind.

Hampton Court Palace: Ghost Tours
Venue: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, KT8, 9AU. Tel: + 44 (0)844 482 7799.
Date: From 31 October - 28 December, 7pm Fris & Suns.
Tickets:. £25 including light refreshments. Concessions.Online booking. Advance booking essential. (Concessions), or at £13.30 at the door. Tickets valid for entire Palace. Check times online or telephone.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Richmond.
Description: Experience the chill of the palace's resident royal ghosts and the infamous haunted gallery after the daytime visitors have gone and the palace if eerily silent and deserted. 90 minute guided tour.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes by day, but NOT for this particular tour. The ground floor of the Palace is wheelchair accessible by day and there are limited facilities for viewing the upper floors with the use of an elevator. Adapted Toilets: Yes. See Palace Disabled Access for full details.

The Golden Hinde
Venue:Pickfords Wharf/Clink St., London SE1 9DG. Tel: 020 7407 7056.
Date: Daily, 10am-5.30pm, 2008.
Tickets: £6. (Concessions).
London Transport: Nearest Tube: London Bridge. Carparking: Union Car Park, 53 Southwark Street.
Description: This is an exact working replica of Sir Francis Drake's Naval Flagship the Tudor warship Golden Hinde in which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world 1577-1580. This exact reconstruction, a fully working ship, was launched in Devon in 1973. Since then she has circumnavigated the globe and sailed over 140,000 miles - many more than the original. Her present berth is the St Mary Overie Dock on Thames South Bank, just a short walk from the Clink Prison Museum, Shakespeare's Globe and Tate Modern. This is a living history experience of particular interest to maritime history buffs. Explore the 5 decks and the 22 cannons.
Venue Hire You can hire the Golden Hinde for entertaining, conferences, wedding and civil partnership receptions, functions or film location. Check website for details and bookings.
Wheelchair Accessibility: No.

Palace of Westminster, (Houses of Parliament).
Venue: Westminster, London SW1A 1AA.
Closed until 2009 Summer recess of Parliament except for private visits at invitation of a sitting Member of Parliament. Westminster Hall will however be open for ticketed Christmas Carol concerts in December. Book now.

Guy Fawkes Night
Venue: Battersea Park, Albert Bridge Road, SW11 or Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, N22 7AY.
Date: 1 or 8 November, 2008. 7.30pm.
Tickets: £5 Battersea Park. £2 donation Alexandra Palace.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Pimlico, (Battersea Park). Wood Green, (Alexandra Palace).
Description: The 5th November anniversary of the foiling of the infamous 1605 plot by Guy Fawkes and fellow conspirators to blow up King James I and Parliament with gunpowder has been celebrated ever since across the kingdom with fireworks and bonfires. Pepes wrote in his 1660 diary: "This 5 of November is observed exceeding well in the City; and at night great bonefires and fireworks." Now celebrated each year on the nearest Saturday throughout UK. See Battersea or Alexandra Palace for relevant London details. The latter venue offers a particularly lively evening's entertainment, together with a dramatic panoramic view across fireworks-lit London.

London Eye. Millenium Wheel
Venue:
Westminster Bridge Road, (Riverside Building County Hall), SE1 7PB. Tel: 0870 990 8883
Date: Daily.
Tickets: £15. (Concessions). Book online.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Westminster.
Description: Opened at the beginning of 2000 to celebrate the Millennium, this huge 450-foot British Airways ferris wheel on the South Bank of the Thames gives a fabulous bird's eye view of Royal and Civic London, with spectacular views stretching for 25 miles on a clear day to include views of Windsor Castle. Up to 25 people can fit in each of the wheel's "capsules." The wheel turns surprisingly slowly- it takes thirty minutes to go round, so you will have plenty of time to spot landmarks, take photos, propose to your beloved, get married and celebrate the occasion with champagne! Combine your London Eye experience with a Thames River cruise. Online booking discount, (champagne supplied)!

Festival of Remembrance Venue: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2A
Date: 2 pm, 8 November. 2008.
Tickets: Check Online booking for availability. Evening performance reserved for Legion veterans.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Knightsbridge, Kensington High Street.
Description: The annual sell-out Royal British Legion Festival extravaganza is attended by the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and members of the Royal Family as part of the Remembrance Day weekend. The superbly produced and emotive show in honor of the fallen in battle is televised and inevitably brings a tear to the eye of every one of us veterans. It traditionally includes military displays by current members of the armed forces, choral and solo performances by celebrated singers, and ends with a solemn drumhead service of remembrance for those who died in battle.
This is one of many events, including symphonic, choral and pop concerts, taking place each year at London's historic and most prestigious hall during November, ending with the first Christmas Carol concert of the Festive season. Check website for tour details and onsite dining at this historic architectural wonder, the Royal Albert Hall, opened 1871 by Queen Victoria.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes. Check website for special seating arrangements. Make your requirements known when booking. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

English National Opera's Aida
Venue: The Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4ES.
Date: 22 October - 22 November, 7.30pm. 2008.
Tickets: £12 - £86.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Covent Garden. Car Park: Drury Lane NCP.
Description: This revival of last season's sell-out success for ENO sees the triumphant return of Claire Rutter as Aida, John Hudson as Radames and Iain Paterson as Amonasro. The renowned British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes creates an extravagantly opulent world against whichthe opera's intense personal struggles and magnificent music are played out.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Check website for special seating arrangements and any discounts. Make your requirements known when booking. Mobility friendly toilets.

French and Saunders Still Alive
Venue: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF.
Date: Ends 8 November. 8pm. Mats Sat 3pm. 2008.
Tickets: £19 - £75. Book early to ensure best seats.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Leicester Square. Car Park St. Martin's Lane NCP.
Description: Following their hugely successful UK tour, Britain's most celebrated female comedians Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders bring their sell-out live show to London's West End. This is positively your last chance to see this hilariously funny duo who have entertained us with their modern English humour at its witty best for the past three decades. We shall miss you, dear Ladies!
Wheelchair Accessibility: Check website for special seating arrangements and any discounts. Make your requirements known when booking. Mobility friendly toilets.

Handel House Museum: Handel and the Divas
Venue: 25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB
Dates: Until 16 November 2008
Tickets: £5.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Bond Street. Carpark: Grosvenor Hill NCP, Welbeck street NCP.
Description: London home to the baroque composer George Frideric Handel from 1723 until his death in 1759. It was here that he composed some of the greatest music in history, including Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks. The Museum celebrates Handel's life and works, displaying portraits of Handel and his contemporaries in finely restored Georgian interiors and bringing live music back to his house. Recitals take place every Thursday evening and regularly at the weekends. A special exhibition looks at the composer's great operatic stars, including Margherita Durastanti, Francesca Cuzzoni, Faustina Bordoni, Susannah Cibber and Kitty Clive. These female singers played an important role in Handel's choice of subject and the development of his musical style. Here they're remembered through exhibits such as a rare chalk and graphite sketch of Margherita Durastanti by Phillipe Mercier, oil portraits of Kitty Clive and Susannah Cibber and Willem Verelst's portrait of Anna Maria Strada del Po. Live music recitals of the composer's works complement the exhibition.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes, from Lancashire House entrance. Disabled Toilets: Yes. Disabled parking space in Brooks Mews.

Offtolondon Theatre Breaks and Offers
Venue: West End and City theatres
Date: Ongoing.
Tickets: Online booking for all seats, accommodation, etc.
Description: Your guide to London's theatre programs, concerts and events with online booking facility. Top musicals Billy Elliot, Chicago, Lion King, Mama Mia, Mary Poppins, Spamalot, Sound of Music, Stomp, We Will Rock You, West Side Story, Wicked and more continue to draw capacity audiences nightly. Book your tickets for these and Christmas shows online now.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Most London theatres, some hotels, (such as the newly refurbished Russell Hotel near the British Museum), and many restaurants are now wheelchair accessible with Accessible Toilets in their public areas, and have special accommodation facilities for wheelchair users. It is however essential that you make your requirements known when booking.

Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian
Venue: Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN
Date: Until 18 January, 2009.
Tickets: £10. Timed entry. Book Online Concessions.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Charing Cross; Leicester Square. Car Park: St. Martin's Lane NCP.
Description: A remarkable exhibition mounted in association with the Prado, Madrid. XV and XVI century paintings, drawings and sculptures from the centers of the European Renaissance highlight work by the great masters such as Botticelli, Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian and Van Eyck. This promises to be a visual delight and a unique opportunity to see all these works assembled in one gallery.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Masters of Flemish Painting
Venue: Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, SW1A 1AA, London. Entrance in Buckingham Palace Road.
Date: Until 26 April 2009. 10am-5.30pm daily, (closed 25/26 December).
Tickets: Book Online, (timed and dated ticket entry), or at door. Take advantage of special online discounts.
London Transport: Nearest Tubes. Green Park, Hyde Park Corner (Piccadilly Line), Victoria Rail Terminal, (Victoria, Circle and District Lines).
Description Superbly appointed gallery at the Palace dedicated to changing exhibitions of items from the Royal Collection, the wide-ranging collection of art and treasures held in trust by The Queen for the Nation. The new exhibition (from 17 October), is the first ever London exhibition of the finest Flemish paintings in the Royal Collection. Comprising 51 works created during the period 1500-1665 in the Southern, (Spanish-ruled), Netherlands, it includes masterpieces by Hans Memling, Van Dyck and Teniers and a wonderful group of landscapes by Jan Brueghel and Rubens depicting the blessings of harmony and fertility. Pieter Bruegel's Massacre of the Innocents forms a powerful centrepiece to the exhibition which emphasises the artistic legacy of the Stuart kings, Charles I and his son, Charles II, whose refined taste so profoundly influenced the character of the British Royal Collection and popular taste.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Byzantium 330 - 1453
Venue: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W.1.
Date: Until 22 March, 2009. 10am-6pm. Ongoing.
Tickets: £12, (Concessions). Book Online or pay on the door. Various.
London transport: Nearest Tube: Piccadilly, Green Park.
Description: A thrilling and epic exhibition of over 300 objects including icons, detached wall paintings, micro-mosaics, ivories, enamels plus gold and silver metalwork. Mounted in collaboration between the Royal Academy of Arts and the Benaki Museum in Athens, this exhibition highlights the splendours of the Byzantine Empire over 1000 years of its history that began with the with the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great and ended with the capture of the city by the Ottoman forces of Mehmed II in 1453.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Francis Bacon
Venue:Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG
Dates: Until 4 January, 2009.
Tickets: £12.50, (Concessions).
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Pimlico.
Description: Marking the centenary of Bacon's birth in 2009, this touring exhibition, (Prado, Madrid and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York next year), is the first major retrospective in London of Bacon's work since 1985. Love him of hate him, Bacon will exert an influence on painting for generations to come.
Wheelchair accessibility: Yes. Adapted Toilets: Yes.

Royal Academy Autumn Season Exhibitions
Venue: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W.1.
Date: 10am-6pm. Ongoing.
Ticketing Information: Various prices and concessions. Online booking or at the door.
London transport: Nearest Tube: Piccadilly, Green Park.
Description: Highlighting the achievement of the famous Galerie Maeght, Paris. 70 Works by Miró, Calder, Giacometti and Braque.

Sothebys Sales
Venue: Exhibition and Sales; 34-35 New Bond Street, W.1. Tel: 020 7293 5000.
Date: Various. November, 2008.
London Transport: Nearest Tube. Bond Street.
Description: Fine Art and Artifacts. London and New York Exhibition days, London Sales. Online illustrated catalogues, estimated sales prices, etc.

16th Winter Fine Art & Antiques Fair
Venue: .
Olympia Exhibition Halls, Hammersmith Road, W14 8UX.
Date: 10 - 16 November, 2008. Times vary.
Tickets: Advance £10 single, £17 double . £13 single £19 double at door incl. free catalogue. Advance ticket hotline: 0870 126 1725.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Kensington Olympia.
Description: London's annual winter Antiques Fair at Olympia draws thousands to buy from 235 top International dealers offering fine art, furniture and antiques including exceptional, often rare, examples of crystal, ceramics, textiles, clocks, prints, sculpture, Asian art, lighting, Art Deco, mirrors and maps, all checked for authenticity by over 100 experts across 28 categories.

Country Living Christmas Fair
Venue: Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, N1 0QH. Tel: +44 (0)20 7359 3535.
Date: 12 - 16 November, 2008. 10am-6pm Wed/Thurs. 9.30am-6pm Fri/Sat, 9.30am-3pm Sun.
Tickets: £11.50. Online booking. At door £15. (Concessions). Gala & Sunday Shop: £15.50/£18.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Angel.
Description: Visit a dazzling emporium filled with unique gifts, delicious food and beautiful decorations not available on Main Street. Browse the stalls of over 400 exhibitors and soak up the magical atmosphere while you buy everything for Christmas under one roof: beautiful hand-made gifts, stunning jewellery, unique home accessories and stylish clothing or Festive food.

Frock Me!
Venue/Date: Brighton- Sallis Benney Theatre, ( 23 November). London-Chelsea Town Hall, (14 December) 11am - 5:30 pm. 2008.
Tickets: £3, at door, Brighton. £4, at door, Chelsea.
London Transport: Nearest Chelsea Tube: South Kensington, Sloane Square.
Description: Matthew Adams's now iconic specialist Fashion and Accessories Fair dedicated to Vintage and Period Costumes goes from strength to strength at Chelsea Town Hall and the Sallis Benney Theatre, Brighton. Thrift-shop retro chic and taste for vintage clothes was first espoused by Barbra Streisand back in the 1960s and has been followed ever since by London, Paris, New York and Tinseltown celebs, making this regular period fashion show a colourfully essential and trendy focus point for the classy girl-about-town. Over 50 specialist vendors from UK and Europe offer an unrivalled collection of vintage clothing and accessories including hats, shoes, gloves and jewellery; attracting fashionistas, stylists, models, fashion students, collectors, costume designers for stage and film, and vintage icons of yesteryear. Spot top designers, celebrities and Shophound Alexia amongst the crowds searching for one-off fashion finds.

Jack The Ripper's Sinister London
Venue: Selected departure points by coach.
Date: Fridays, Sundays. from 6.40pm.
Description:Tread in the footsteps of the infamous Jack The Ripper down the dark, narrow, gas-lit alleyways immortalized in such films as "From Hell". Led by one of the renowned London Blue Badge Guides, you will visit four murder sights. Your "Ripperologist" will run through some of the suspects who sparked a Victorian Whodunit that'll leave you as gripped as its victims. Approx. 4 hours.

Blood & Tears Walk
Venue: Start from outside Barbican Tube Station.
Date: Daily except Tues, Sats,Suns. 7pm and afternoons. See website for details. Closes 7 December, 2008. Recommences 3 January, 2008.
Tickets: £7, (Concessions). Pay Guide at start.
London Transport: Nearest Tube: Barbican, (Circle line, Metropolitan line and the Hammersmith & City line).
Description: This award-winning Horror London walk by qualified researcher and former professional actor Declan McHugh is now in its eighth year. The walk took years of research and covers sites connected with London's darkest past, including places associated with grave robbers, serial killers (including Jack the Ripper), secret tunnels, witchcraft and conspiracy. Learn about London's hidden history of Horror! Prisons, Prostitutes and Punishment; Highwaymen, Hangings and Hauntings; Disease, Disaster and Death.

Jack the Ripper Walk
Venue: Aldgate, Whitechapel, Spitalfields. EC. Tel: 020 8530 8443
Date: Daily. 7pm-9pm.
Tickets: £6.50. Online Booking
London Transport: Aldgate East, (District, Hammersmith and City Lines).
Description: Guided Exploration of the Whitechapel and Spitalfields alleys and pubs where serial killer Jack the Ripper murdered at least five and possibly many more prostitutes in a reign of terror during 1888.

John Rutter's Christmas Celebration John Rutter's Christmas and Yuletide Carols with Choral Societies and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer himself in the medieval gothic atmosphere of Westminster Hall, historic scene of royal yuletide celebrations and coronation banquets.