January 2010

The New Year in London starts with a colourful parade with marching bands and open top buses making their way through the city streets. It's a fun, free family day out and a great way to get celebrate the start of 2010.

New Year's Day Parade

Parliament Square, SW1P 3JX
1st January 2010

On 1st January 2010 London welcomes the New Year in with an American-style parade, with extravagant floats, marching bands from around the country and beyond, street performers and a host of family activities. Around half a million revellers are expected to turn out for the New Year's Parade, a hugely popular start to the New Year. Expect vast, Disney-style floats, with plenty of loud music and a little dancing in the street as 10,000 performers welcome in the New Year. There are also 10 concerts around London including one at Trafalgar Square. This is a great way to get 2010 off to an active start, see the streets of London and work off some Christmas excess. The kids will love it as well. The Parade begins at Parliament Square as Big Ben strikes 12pm, it then travels up Parliament Street and through Trafalgar Square, via Piccadilly Circus to finish at Berkeley Street at approximately 3pm. See www.londonparade.co.uk for details.

More info: New Year's Day Parade Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

The Lions Part - Twelfth Night

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London, SE1 9DT
3rd January 2010

Braving the cold, singing loudly and saying 'wassail' a lot is all part of the fun at the Twelfth Night celebrations performed by the Lions Part theatre group. A green and prickly man emerging from the river is central to the celebrations on Bankside marking the New Year. Don't worry, it's not a monster from the deep; this is Holly Man, the winter guise of the pagan Green Man. The actors give an entertaining mix of street theatre and education, imparting ancient myths, folklore, symbols of fertility and the origins of the British Christmas. After more 'wassailing' of the River Thames, the people and The Globe - an old tradition encouraging good growth - the King and Queen for the day are crowned and, in true English tradition, everyone ends up in the pub. You'll find them in The George Inn in Borough High Street for storytelling, the Kissing Wishing Tree and dancing. Happy New Year!

More info: The Lions Part - Twelfth Night Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

MC Solaar

Jazz Cafe, London, NW1 7PG
8th - 10th January 2010

Francophone hip hop and rap artist MC Solaar makes a rare outing in the UK with a three-day residency at Camden's Jazz Cafe. Responsible for making the French exchanges of hundreds of British teenagers worthwhile, MC Solaar made his mainstream breakthrough with 1994's poetic Prose Combat and is one of the only French rappers to find commercial success in the American-dominated global hip hop market. Born in Senegal to parents of Chadian origin, Solaar - real name Claude M'Baali - moved to the Parisian suburbs when he was just six months old. Now 40, the former philosophy post-graduate student is on to album number seven, a melange of styles entitled Chapitre 7, which includes the whimsically titled single Da Vinci Claude and the catchy Carpe Diem. Expect the Jazz Cafe to be filled to the rafters for what is MC Solaar's first London show in five years. And let's face it, rapping in French - rhyming 'Budapest' with 'Gare de l'Est' - sounds so much more poetic and lyrical than trying the same in English.

More info: MC Solaar Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

The Snow Queen

London Coliseum, WC2N 4ES
8th - 17th January 2010

Images of C.S. Lewis's White Witch spring to mind at the mention of The Snow Queen and these two fantastical characters are not a million miles apart. In fact, they could be sisters and probably inhabit the exact same frosty land where it is forever winter and they can work their evil spells over innocent children. If this frosty fairy tale, returning to the London Coliseum for just 12 performances, all sounds a bit nightmarish after Christmas, never fear; in Hans Christian Andersen's story good will prevail in the end. The plot goes that young Kay's heart turns bad when he catches a sliver of the Snow Queen's mirror in his eye. He is captivated by her beauty and heads off to her palace in the far frozen north before you can say "rescue mission". Luckily Kay's friend Gerda is waiting in the wings with a reindeer (it is the festive season after all) to break the spell. Add 67 dancers, the English National Ballet's full orchestra, and a sprinkling of fairy dust and you've got a spectacular post-Christmas production. The only performance open to children under five is at 2.30pm on 14th January. All under 16s go free and every two children must be accompanied by an adult.

More info: The Snow Queen Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

The London Boat Show

ExCel London Exhibition Centre, London, E16 1XL
8th - 17th January 2010

The London Boat Show brings every type of water faring vessel to the ExCel Centre - its waterside position making it the ideal location for London's biggest exhibition of boats and water crafts of all kinds. Boats, ranging from 1.4 metre sailing dinghies to 37 metre trideck motor yachts go on display as more than 500 exhibitors showcase their seafaring wares. It's not all about boats, one of the highlights of last year's exhibition was the Sea Queen Stage Show, a music and dance spectacular with aerial acrobatics and underwater scenes telling the story of 'A Mermaid's Tale'. With displays ranging from indoor canoeing to sailing, tall ships, historic vessels and a marina full of some the largest exhibitor boats in production (at the Royal Victoria Dock), it's set to be an action-packed event. Add to this all the exhibitors and activities including an anchor watch masterclass, boating for beginners area - free from people peddling products - new boat launches and the Dinghy Racing Weekend. A must-see for anyone who likes messing about on the water.

More info: The London Boat Show Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

London Art Fair

Business Design Centre, London, N1 0QH
13th - 17th January 2010

Despite celebrating its 22nd year, the London Art Fair at the Business Design Centre shows no signs of losing its cutting edge. Whether you're buying or just looking you'll have over a hundred of London's best galleries to look through. Stunning works on display cover the last 100 years or so of British art. With prices going as low as £20 it's an interesting exhibition for the amateur collector as well as the professional. There are two shows within the show: 'Art Projects', showcasing 21 galleries from the UK, Ireland, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands; and 'Photo50', now in its fourth year, where 50 photographs from UK and international galleries are featured in a curated exhibition. A great place to browse, appreciate and shop, even if you're just looking for something nice to put on your wall.

More info: London Art Fair Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

London International Mime Festival

Southbank Centre, London, SE1 8XX
13th - 31st January 2010

If you thought mime was all about white-faced clowns continually plagued by invisible glass and very strong winds, the London International Mime Festival will make you think again. Taking place at five top arts venues across London - the Barbican Centre, ICA, the Southbank Centre and the Royal Opera House - this year's festival brings contemporary visual arts from around the world to London. It's packed with some of the freshest and most inventive physical theatre, dance, circus, puppetry and live art. Selected highlights include the world premiere of The Mill from Ockham's Razor, directed by Toby Sedgwick who won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for the National theatre production, War Horse, and, launching the festival at the Barbican, circus-theatre from Switzerland's Martin Zimmermann and Dimitri de Perrot with Oper Opis (which translates as "someone something"). Theatre groups come from far and wide - from France, Russia, Spain and Belgium - to perform and stage shows are supplemented by 'meet the artist' sessions, workshops and a lecture given by the artistic director of Bristol Old Vic, Tom Morris. Altogether "a very high-level international festival of dance, circus and puppet theatre," according to The Guardian.

More info: London International Mime Festival Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist And His Letters

Royal Academy of Arts, W1J 0BD
23rd January - 18th April 2010

The Royal Academy of Arts heralds the new year with a blockbuster exhibition on the works of Vincent van Gogh - the first major solo exhibition dedicated to the artist in London for over forty years. In The Real Van Gogh: The Artist And His Letters correspondence by the artist rarely on public view due to their fragile state, go on display. There are 35 letters - a fraction of the 120 to view online made available by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam - as well as around 65 paintings and 30 drawings that illuminate the sentiments in the artist's writings. One of the world's best known artists, Van Gogh is famous for his short brushstrokes and bright colours, evident in paintings like his sunflowers, and for his ear-cutting episode. What this exhibition will reveal is a first hand account from the artist himself, challenging established generalisations about his mental state. These letters are displayed alongside paintings including a rare self-portait in which he portrays himself as an artist, still-life drawings and landscape scenes on loan from major museums worldwide.

More info: The Real Van Gogh: The Artist And His Letters Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

ABBA World

Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, SW5 9TA
27th January - 28th March 2010

Sequins and spangley seventies outfits take centre stage at ABBA World, an interactive exhibition which pays tribute to the phenominally successful Swedish pop quartet. Making its world debut at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, the display dedicates 25 rooms to ABBA music, footage, images and never-before-displayed memorabilia. Highlights include a 'Perform with ABBA' bit where visitors get to perform on stage with Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Frida. Entering the exhibition you will have your photograph taken so that you can appear on ABBA album covers, posters and the like. There are more interactive opportunities where you can sing along and dance with ABBA, and even see yourself star in an ABBA video. This is a real treat for ABBA fans who can relive classic songs like 'Chiquitita', 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)' and - their 1974 Eurovision Song Contest winning entry - 'Waterloo'. If the popularity of the musical Mamma Mia! is anything to go by, this will be huge.

More info: ABBA World Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

Chris Ofili

Tate Britain, SW1P 4RG
27th January - 16th May 2010

Best known for his use of elephant dung in his works, Chris Ofili is an artist who has been well rewarded for his talents - winning the Turner Prize in 1998 and representing Great Britain in the Venice Biennale in 2003. This mid-career exhibition at Tate Britain is the most comprehensive review of his work to date and his first solo exhibition in a public institution in this country for more than a decade. The display includes around 45 of the artist's paintings from the mid 1990s to the present day, covering both well known works and previously unseen paintings and new canvases created for the exhibition. His Turner Prize winning painting, The Holy Virgin Mary, 1996, is on show alongside equally recognisable pieces, No Woman, No Cry - a portrait of a weeping woman, created in the aftermath of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry in 1998 - and The Upper Room, 1999-2002. This Tate Britain exhibition offers fans a chance to see what Ofili has been up to in the intervening years.

More info: Chris Ofili Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube