This is simply a rundown of the principal festivals and
annual events in the capital, ranging from the upper-caste
rituals of Royal Ascot to the sassy street party of the Notting
Hill Carnival, plus a few oddities like Horseman's Sunday. Our
listings cover a pretty wide spread of interests, but they are by
no means exhaustive; London has an almost endless roll-call of
ceremonials and special shows, and for daily information, as
always, it's well worth checking Time Out or the Evening
Standard.
JANUARY 1
London Parade To kick off the new year, a procession of
floats, marching bands, clowns, American cheerleaders and classic
cars wends its way from Parliament Square at noon, through the
centre of London, to Berkeley Square, collecting money for charity
from around one million spectators en route. Information tel
020/8566 8586; www.london parade.co.uk. Admission charge for
grandstand seats in Piccadilly, otherwise free.
LATE JANUARY
London International Mime Festival Annual mime festival
which takes place in the last two weeks of January on the South
Bank, and in other funky venues throughout London. It pulls in some
very big names in mime, animation and puppetry. Information tel
020/7637 5661; www.mimefest.co.uk.
LATE JANUARY/EARLY FEBRUARY
Chinese New Year Celebrations The streets of Soho's
Chinatown explode in a riot of dancing dragons and firecrackers on
the night of this vibrant annual celebration, and the streets and
restaurants are packed to capacity.
MARCH
Head of the River Race Less well known than the Oxford
and Cambridge race, but much more fun; there are over 400 crews
setting off at ten-second intervals and chasing each other from
Mortlake to Putney. Information tel 01932/220401;
www.horr.co.uk.
LATE MARCH/EARLY APRIL
Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race Since 1845, the rowing
teams of Oxford and Cambridge universities have battled it out on a
four-mile, upstream course on the Thames from Putney to Mortlake.
It's as much a social as sporting event, and the pubs at prime
vantage points pack out early. Alternatively you can catch it on
TV. Best source of information is the current sponsor's Web site:
www.aberdeen-asset.com.
THIRD SUNDAY IN APRIL
London Marathon The world's most popular city marathon,
with some 35,000 runners sweating the 26.2 miles from Greenwich
Park to Westminster Bridge. Only a handful of world-class athletes
enter each year; most of the competitors are club runners or
obsessive flab-fighters. There's always someone dressed up as a
gorilla, and you can generally spot a fundraising celebrity or two.
Information tel 020/7620 4117;
www.london-marathon.co.uk.
MAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND
IWA Canal Cavalcade Lively celebration of the city's
inland waterways held at Little Venice (near Warwick Avenue), with
scores of decorated narrowboats, Morris dancers and lots of
children's activities. Information tel 020/8874 2787.
SUNDAY NEAREST TO MAY 9
May Fayre and Puppet Festival The garden of St Paul's
church in Covent Garden is taken over by puppet booths to
commemorate the first recorded sighting of a Punch and Judy show,
by diarist Samuel Pepys in 1662. Information tel 020/7375 0441.
MID-MAY
FA Cup Final This is the culmination of the football
(soccer) year: the premier domestic knock-out competition, played
to a packed house at Wembley Stadium. Tickets are pretty much
impossible to obtain if you're not an affiliated supporter of one
of the two competing clubs, though they are often available at
inflated prices on the black market. The game is also shown live on
television. Information tel 020/8902 0902.
THIRD OR FOURTH WEEK IN MAY
Chelsea Flower Show Run by the Royal Horticultural
Society, the world's finest horticultural event transforms the
normally tranquil grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea for four
days, with a daily inundation of up to 50,000 gardening gurus and
amateurs (the general public are allowed in on the last two days
only). It's a solidly bourgeois event, with the public admitted
only for the closing stages, and charging an exorbitant fee for the
privilege. Information tel 020/7834 4333;
www.rhs.org.uk.
MAY 29
Oak Apple Day The Chelsea Pensioners of the Royal
Hospital honour their founder, Charles II, by wearing their posh
uniforms and decorating his statue with oak leaves, in memory of
the oak tree in which the king hid after the Battle of Worcester in
1651. Information tel 020/7730 5282.
LATE MAY/EARLY JUNE
Beating of the Retreat This annual display takes place on
Horse Guards' Parade over three evenings, and marks the old
military custom of drumming the troops back to base at dusk.
Soldiers on foot and horseback provide a colourful, very British
ceremony which precedes a floodlit performance by the Massed Bands
of the Queen's Household Cavalry. Information tel 020/7739
5323.
FIRST OR SECOND SATURDAY IN JUNE
Derby Day Run at the Epsom racecourse in Surrey, the
Derby is the country's premier flat race - the beast that gets its
snout over the line first is instantly worth millions. Admission
prices reflect proximity to the horses and to the watching
nobility. The race is always shown live on TV. Information tel
01372/726311; www.epsomderby.co.uk.
EARLY JUNE TO MID-AUGUST
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Thousands of prints,
paintings, sculptures and sketches, most by amateurs and nearly all
of them for sale, are displayed at one of the city's finest
galleries. Information tel 020/7300 8000;
www.royalacademy.org.uk.
JUNE
Fleadh Pronounced "flaa", this is a raucous (by no means
exclusively) Irish music festival in Finsbury Park, North London.
Van Morrison has pitched up here on more than a few occasions, but
then so too have Bob Dylan and the briefly reformed Sex Pistols.
Information tel 020/8963 0940; www.meanfiddler.com.
JUNE
Spitalfields Festival Classical music recitals in
Hawksmoor's Christ Church, the parish church of Spitalfields, and
other events in and around the old Spitalfields Market for a
fortnight or so in June. Information tel 020/7377 0287;
www.spitalfieldsfestival.org.uk.
SECOND SATURDAY IN JUNE
Trooping of the Colour This celebration of the Queen's
official birthday (her real one is on April 21) features massed
bands, gun salutes, fly-pasts and crowds of tourists and patriotic
Britons paying homage. Tickets for the ceremony itself (limited to
two per person) must be applied for well in advance; phone 020/7414
2479. Otherwise, the royal procession along the Mall lets you
glimpse the nobility for free, and there are rehearsals (minus Her
Majesty) on the two preceding Saturdays.
MID-JUNE
Royal Ascot A highlight of the society year, held at the
Ascot racecourse in Berkshire, this high-profile meeting has the
Queen and sundry royals completing a crowd-pleasing lap of the
track in open carriages prior to the opening races. The event is
otherwise famed for its fashion statements, and there's TV coverage
of both the races and the more extravagant headgear of the female
racegoers. Information tel 01344/622211;
www.ascot.co.uk.
LAST WEEK OF JUNE AND FIRST WEEK OF JULY
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships This Grand Slam
tournament attracts the cream of the world's professionals and is
one of the highlights of the sporting and social calendar. Tickets
are hard to get hold of, but as they are valid for the whole day
you could always hang around outside in the hope of gleaning an
early leaver's cast-off. Don't buy from touts, even if you can
afford to, as the tickets may well be fakes. Information tel
020/8946 2244; www.wimbledon.org.
LATE JUNE TO MID-JULY
City of London Festival For nearly a month, churches
(including St Paul's Cathedral), livery halls and corporate
buildings around the City play host to classical and jazz
musicians, theatre companies and other guest performers.
Information tel 020/7377 0540; www.colf.org.
MID-JULY
Greenwich & Docklands Festival Ten-day festival of
fireworks, music, dance, theatre, art and spectacles at venues on
both sides of the river, plus a village fayre in neighbouring
Blackheath. Information tel 020/8305 1818;
www.festival.org.
MID-JULY TO MID-SEPTEMBER
BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Commonly known as the
Proms, this series of nightly classical concerts at the Royal
Albert Hall is a well-loved British institution. Information tel
020/7765 5575; www.bbc.co.uk/proms.
MID-JULY
Doggett's Coat and Badge Race The world's oldest rowing
race, from London Bridge to Chelsea, established by Thomas Doggett,
an eighteenth-century Irish comedian, to commemorate George I's
accession to the throne. The winner receives a Hanoverian costume
and silver badge. Information tel 020/7626 3531.
MID-JULY
Mardi Gras Gay and lesbian march through the city
followed by a huge (ticketed) party in the park.
THIRD WEEK OF JULY
Swan Upping Five-day scramble up the Thames, from Sunbury
to Pangbourne, during which liveried rowers search for swans,
marking them (on the bill) as belonging to either the Queen, the
Dyers' or the Vintners' City liveries. At Windsor, all the oarsmen
stand to attention in their boats and salute the Queen. Information
tel 020/7236 1863.
MID-AUGUST
Summer Rites Relaxed annual gay and lesbian festival.
LAST BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND IN AUGUST
Notting Hill Carnival The two-day free festival in
Notting Hill Gate is the longest-running, best-known and biggest
street party in Europe. Dating back 35 years, Carnival is a tumult
of imaginatively decorated floats, eye-catching costumes, thumping
sound systems, live bands, irresistible food and huge crowds.
Information tel 020/8964 0544;
www.nottinghillcarnival.net.uk.
SATURDAY IN EARLY SEPTEMBER
Great River Race Hundreds of boats are rowed or paddled
from Ham House, Richmond, down to Island Gardens on the Isle of
Dogs. Starts are staggered and there are any number of weird and
wonderful vessels taking part. Information tel 020/8398 9057.
THIRD SUNDAY IN SEPTEMBER
Horseman's Sunday In an eccentric 11.30am ceremony at the
Hyde Park church of St John & St Michael, a vicar on horseback
blesses a hundred or so horses; the newly consecrated beasts then
parade around the neighbourhood before galloping off through the
park, and later taking part in show jumping. Information tel
020/7262 1732.
THIRD WEEKEND IN SEPTEMBER
Open House A once-a-year opportunity to peek inside over
400 buildings around London, many of which don't normally open
their doors to the public. You'll need to book in advance for some
of the more popular places. Information tel 0891/600061;
www.londonopenhouse.org.
LATE SEPTEMBER/EARLY OCTOBER
Soho Jazz Festival Headed by Ronnie Scott's, this
is a week-long celebration of one of Soho's most famous attributes
- its jazz culture. Information tel 020/7437 6437.
FIRST SUNDAY IN OCTOBER
Costermongers' Pearly Harvest Festival Service Cockney
fruit and vegetable festival at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church. Of
most interest to the onlooker are the Pearly Kings and Queens who
gather at around 3pm in their traditional pearl-button studded
outfits. Information tel 020/7930 0089.
LATE OCTOBER/EARLY NOVEMBER
State Opening of Parliament The Queen arrives by coach at
the Houses of Parliament at 11am accompanied by the Household
Cavalry and gun salutes. The ceremony itself takes place inside the
House of Lords and is televised; it also takes place whenever a new
government is sworn in. Information tel 020/7219 3000;
www.parliament.uk.
NOVEMBER
London Film Festival A three-week cinematic season with
scores of new international films screened at the National Film
Theatre and some West End venues. Information tel 020/7928 3232;
www.bfi.org.uk or (nearer the time)
www.lff.org.uk.
EARLY NOVEMBER
London Jazz Festival Big ten-day jazz fest held in all
London's jazz venues, large and small. Information tel 020/7405
5974.
FIRST SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER
London to Brighton Veteran Car Run In 1896 Parliament
abolished the Act that required all cars to crawl along at 2mph
behind someone waving a red flag. Such was the euphoria in the
motoring community that a rally was promptly set up to mark the
occasion, and a century later it's still going strong. Classic cars
built before 1905 set off from Hyde Park at 7.30am and travel the
58 miles to Brighton along the A23 at the heady maximum speed of
20mph. Information tel 01753/681736.
NOVEMBER 5
Bonfire Night In memory of Guy Fawkes - executed for his
role in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up King James I and the
Houses of Parliament - effigies of the hapless Mr Fawkes are burned
on bonfires all over Britain. There are also council-run fires and
fireworks displays right across the capital; Parliament Hill in
Hampstead provides a good vantage point from which to take in
several displays at once. Information tel 020/7971 0026.
SECOND SATURDAY IN NOVEMBER
Lord Mayor's Show The newly appointed Lord Mayor begins
his or her day of investiture at Westminster, leaving there at
around 9am for Guildhall. At 11.10am, the vast ceremonial
procession, headed by the 1756 State Coach, begins its journey from
Guildhall to the Law Courts in the Strand, where the oath of office
is taken at 11.50am. From there the coach and its train of 140-odd
floats make their way back towards Guildhall, arriving at 2.20pm.
Later in the day there's a fireworks display from a barge tethered
between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges, and a small funfair on
Paternoster Square, by St Paul's Cathedral. Information tel
020/7606 3030; www.corpoflondon.gov.uk.
NEAREST SUNDAY TO NOVEMBER 11
Remembrance Sunday A day of nationwide commemorative
ceremonies for the dead and wounded of the two world wars and other
conflicts. The principal ceremony, attended by the Queen, various
other royals and the Prime Minister, takes place at the Cenotaph in
Whitehall, beginning with a march-past of veterans and building to
a one-minute silence at the stroke of 11am.
CHRISTMAS
Each year since the end of World War II, Norway has acknowledged
its gratitude to the country that helped liberate it from the Nazis
with the gift of a mighty spruce tree that appears in Trafalgar
Square in early December. Decorated with lights, it becomes the
focus for carol singing versus traffic noise each evening until
Christmas Eve.
NEW YEAR'S EVE
The New Year is welcomed en masse in Trafalgar Square as
thousands of inebriated revellers stagger about and slur to Auld
Lang Syne at midnight. For the millennium, there was a big firework
display along the Thames, and it remains to be seen whether the
show will be repeated or if the crowds will once more return to
their traditional haunt. Whatever happens, London Transport runs
free public transport all night, sponsored by various
public-spirited breweries