A Royal Day Out

A Royal Day Out
When: August 2012
Where: Buckingham Palace State Rooms, The Royal Mews and the Queen's Gallery

Visiting Buckingham Palace was something I'd been looking forward to for a while.  Whilst I'm not a monarchist by any stretch of the imagination, the chance to walk around a modern day working palace located right on your doorstop is something too big to turn down.  So on an Olympic day of sunshine and showers we began our Royal Day Out.  Buckingham Palace is just a short walk from Victoria station and the ticket collection office is easy enough to find, though if coming from the station you have to walk past the other parts of the palace that you will be visiting later on to get your tickets.  The whole complex is highly staffed with lots of friendly uniformed guides that somehow remind me of the temporary staff you see during Christmas at Fortnum and Mason.  The staff left a good first impression with no queuing required to collect our tickets. On leaving the ticket office we made the short walk to the first stop on our Royal Day Out ticket, The Queen's Gallery.


The Queen's Gallery

Tickets for the gallery are for a specific time, so it makes The Queen's Gallery a good place to start the tour.  The current exhibition is Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist on the study of human (and animal) anatomy.  Before going up to the gallery proper you have your tickets checked and pass through "airport style security" which is basically no metal objects in pockets and bags and electronics through the x-ray machine.  There is also a free cloakroom before entering the main exhibition where staff will stamp your ticket for free re-admission to the gallery for the next 12 months.  The main gallery area is upstairs and there is a desk for free multi-lingual audio guides.  The first room of the exhibition contains a short video explaining the background behind this exhibition and placing it into historical context as well as how the contents of the exhibition came in to the possession of the Royal Family.  The exhibit is a series of anatomical sketches made during da Vinci's life as he hoped to better understand the human body.  The exhibition places da Vinci's sketches alongside the beliefs at the time and compares them to what we know today.

During the exhibition we see how da Vinci continually struggles to bridge the gap between his observations and his beliefs, some of the things he observed and documented were not fully reproduced until hundreds of years after his death.  Of particular interest are the sketches of the brain, human reproductive systems and the way in which our muscles work.  We also see by comparison how da Vinci's sketches were very close to what appears in the anatomy books of today.  As we learn, da Vinci never fully completed his work on human anatomy and the sketches from the exhibition are taken from a book made of his collected works and notes on the subject after his death.

 In all this was not the most exciting of exhibitions but it was interesting to see how da Vinci battled between his existing beliefs and his discoveries.  It is fascinating to think how much more advanced the fields of medicine would be today if someone had continued da Vinci's work after he died and had seen it through to completion. Instead all we can do is marvel at his inquisitive mind and his fantastic drawing and presentation skills which are near unmatched to this day.


The Royal Mews

In some way this middle part of the trip was much like visiting the royal car park.  However, being a royal car park you have custom Rolls Royce as well as horses and carriages to contend with rather than the odd motor bike or Ford Mondeo.  Again a complementary audio guide is provided to help understand the history of the Mews.  The tour starts off by explaining the history of the Mews and how it grew as Buckingham Palace grew and that even today it is a fully working area complete with live in staff, not just a museum for tourists.  The tour starts by looking at some of the carriages. There is also a small exhibit on the use of motor cars.  Only Bentley or Rolls Royce will do for the Royals, custom made of course to give the best view of the Queen. There is also information on the change in role of the royal chauffeur over the years.  We then enter the stable area and learn all about the horses and the training and preparation they go through as well as the Royal Family's love of horses and riding.  There is also an interesting riding related gift from US president Obama on display here.  As we move through the stables the end point is the magnificent golden carriage which is truly a special sight.  On the way out there are a few horses you can take a look at, they appear well trained and oblivious to flash photography.  Overall the Royal Mews is an interesting diversion but not something that I would have paid for separately.



The State Rooms at Buckingham Palace and Diamonds Exhibition

The grand finale and for me the real reason for this mini-adventure; to step inside Buckingham Palace and follow in the footsteps of ambassadors, dignitaries, celebrities and possibly some corgis.  Once again it's through security and into a small holding area where we get a quick explanation of what to look forward to.  Then it's time for the audio guide again and on to the Palace!  The tour starts along a corridor that leads out on to the inner courtyard of the palace, the corridor is lined with some more modern pieces of art and the platform overlooking the courtyard contains lots of information on the history of the Palace.  After this there is a trip up a magnificent staircase to the upper floors filled with room after room of precious art and antiques, at the end of the series of rooms is the throne room.  After that there is a room filled with the masters of art from France, Italy and Holland.  It is quite amazing to see such works of art altogether without being in an art gallery or museum.  We then go through some more rooms which overlook the gardens and includes many more famous and fascinating pieces of furniture and decoration.  There is then an exhibition Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration which was the only part of the day that felt crowded and a little rushed through but again there were some amazing pieces that you may never get to see that close up ever again.  After this it was back to the final leg of the tour, down the staircase and into the sculpture gallery before leading out through what looked like a tea room and into the gardens to complete the trip.  It is only after it's all over that you can truly take in the size and scale of Buckingham Palace, the tour covers but a quarter of the building and only a brief glimpse of the gardens and yet takes a good few hours with the assistance and information from the audio guide.  Each room has a wow factor and it proved a fitting end to our Royal Day Out.

In Conclusion

Whilst it was not the cheapest way to spend an afternoon it was certainly worthwhile.  It was interesting to catch a piece of living British History and one of the reasons people from across the planet come to London.  Whilst I don't think the Royal Mews and Queen's Gallery are worth the individual admission costs, the combined ticket is great value as it is only around £10 more than the state rooms alone and £5 for over an hour of entertainment is pretty good value these days.  It's also great that there are complementary audio guides for all three parts of the day out as they really add some depth to various carriages, clocks and other works of art.  The other great thing is that you can visit again as many times as you want for the 12 months after your first visit just in case you want to see it all again...  and you never know, perhaps we will!

Royal Day Out Tickets £31.95
Buckingham Palace , London SW1A 1AA

Simple Pleasures Part 1

Sausage In Batter With Chips, Please
Where: Local Chippy
When: Lunchtime on my day off

Mick's Fish Bar 493 Latimer Road London W10 6RD

The Curry House and James Bond

Tayyabs

When: 21st July 2012

Another Saturday, another trip to East London.  Today however, would be different as I was able to spend my time enjoying two of my favourite British exports, the curry house and James Bond!  For the second week in a row I wanted to dodge the chains and thought we'd try the institutional curry house Tayyabs.

A good old fashioned curry house experience is one of my favourite things.  It brings back memories from my childhood and the novelty of being given a small chocolate at the end of the meal which to me was the height of luxury fine dining.  It was also special being able to have a good meal out whilst being vegetarian.  Anyway, times change, tastes change but the curry house remains as good as ever.

Tayyabs is famous for its tandoori cuisine, which is one of my favourite cooking styles.  We meet our friend and make the short walk from Aldgate East to the restaurant which is hard to miss from the large neon signs out front.  We took the advice to book a table as apparently it can get very busy so we were a little surprised to find only 1-2 other tables in use when we arrived.  Within five minutes of being given our menus our side of the restaurant was full to bursting, it was a good job we booked after all!  We had a table near the kitchen where I could take a good look at the action.  Service was brisk and polite but nothing to get excited about.  We ordered some starters to share:  delicious giant cubes of Paneer Tikka and some Lamb Chops straight from the tandoor in a lovely acidic marinade.  We also had some very tasty Pakoras.  Our starters were accompanied by some Popadoms and chutneys.  There wasn't much wait for the food and we were off to a great start with that addictive acidic tang of the marinated meat, I was enjoying this meal.

Before we'd even finished our starters our mains came along filling up the table.  I had one of the specialty curries, Karahi Lamb Tikka Masala, my partner also had an identical looking, but totally different tasting lamb curry.  We shared a couple of amazing buttery Tandoori Naans and some Karahi Bhindi, which to my taste was the only imperfect item we'd ordered.  This was a really great meal let down only by the rushed and less than perfect service.  It seems they have only one pace of working irrespective of how busy the restaurant is.  I would come back here to eat again, though not without trying one of the other local grills in the area and as good as the food was I would not make a special journey to come here when I have the good old Star of Bombay just a short bus ride away!  Though they did present the bill with two Union Jack chocolates (for the three of us!) to complete that famous curry house experience.

Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style

Where: Barbican Centre, London

As much as I love a good curry, it's no match for anything to do with James Bond.  So after some gentle persuasion we attended this exhibition at the Barbican.  There were 14 separate areas of the exhibition, a perfectly themed entrance and the opportunity to have your photo taken with the classic Aston Martin from Goldfinger.  The exhibition was divided into the various themes that has made Bond iconic over the last 50 years and each was filled with film props including gadgets, guns and the various outfits worn by Bond, the villains and the many Bond girls from the 23 films.

The first room of the exhibition was themed around gold and included the original Ken Adam sketches for Fort Knox from Goldfinger, Oddjob's steel-brimmed hat as well as Scaramanga's golden gun.  So far so good as we squeezed into a small room documenting the colourful life of James Bond's creator, Ian Flemming.  Flemming is just as interesting if not more so than the character he created.  He was a key influence in the cinematic appearance of James Bond in terms of his dress and background.  Also a number of the characters that appear in the books/films were named after Flemming's friends.  The idea of James Bond came from Flemming's time in the military and has passion for travel writing and journalism.

The next section was one that I particularly enjoyed, M's Office.  This section contained a number of Bond artefacts including passports, ID cards, credit cards, dossiers as well as a bit about the characters of M and Moneypenny.  The level of detail in these props are one of the things I love about Bond films.  Despite all the fantastic and often ridiculous elements to these films there is always a strong authenticity to the props used.  Of course once you have been briefed it's time to pick up your supplies from the Quartermaster or Q Branch as we know it.  Here we are treated to a selection of briefcases, watches and other "ordinary" items that can be transformed into lethal weapons, listening devices and escape routes at the flick of a switch.  There was also an extended section on the boat used in the opening sequence of The Wold is Not Enough.

After this was another James Bond staple, the casino.  In this section there was a full scale mock-up of the table and gamblers from Casino Royale forming the centre piece of the room.  In addition there were numerous mock ups of the various casino outfits and clips projected of many of the famous Bond casino scenes.  There was also a dress from the forthcoming Skyfall which was exciting to see.  After the excitement of the casino there was a section on the various countries and exotic places that Bond has visited over the years and how the look of these places was created.  The main focus here was on India as seen in Octopussy and the fabulous space base from Moonraker.

There were two main sections left after this, the next being Villains.  This room was filled with the costumes and props of many of the Bond villains, such as Rosa Klebb's spiked shoe, Jaws' teeth, the "bomb surprise" and Boris from Goldeneye frozen solid with liquid nitrogen.  There was also a section on the Bond girls that help Bond out in the films including Solitaire with her card table and Jinx in her bikini.  Alas it was time to move downstairs in the Bond lifts to visit the final room, the Ice Palace which celebrated Bond and all things snowy from the famous ski stunts to the magnificent Ice Palace from The World is Not Enough.  There was also the famous cello (with skis attached!) that Bond and Kara use to escape in The Living Daylights.

If I had one complaint about this exhibition it would be the lack of any interactive display areas, it would have been amazing to have been able to go hands on with some of the Bond gear as well as take some photos of it, though from reading about the lack of available items it is perhaps understandable.  This exhibition is clearly a must for suckers like me who can't wait till Skyfall later this year!  After finishing up at the Ice Place it was time to go home and reflect on a wonderful day of famous British exports, the curry house and James Bond.

Tayyabs - 83-89 Fieldgate Street London E1 1JU
020 7247 6400

Designing 007:50 Years of Bond Style - Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS Until 5th September 2012

Best of British

Best of British
St John Bread and Wine
When: July 2012
I planned this day with one idea in mind, "Think like a tourist." although my day did not turn out in quite that fashion I had planned it was still a lot more fun than my usual unplanned wanderings.  Sometimes it is easy to take living in Central London for granted.  My original plan was to start the day with a filling breakfast at St John Bread and Wine followed up with an exhibition, then a nice early dinner with a good film to round off the day.

The first key difference between think like a tourist and act like a tourist is getting up.  I had planned to get up for breakfast, but after a hard week at work (or in my case half a week of work and half a week of PS3) it's hard to get up, get ready and go get some breakfast on the other side of town.  Also the inertia of there always being another time to do this starts to kick in.  Anyway, by the time we made it out the house and on to the tube it was approaching lunch time.  Liverpool St is around 25 minutes away on the tube and Spitalfields is only a few minutes walk from the station.  Taking the scenic route along Commerical Street we arrived at St John to take a look and see if we felt like lunch and also like spending good money on lunch.  After some debate, a quick circle of the market and some persuasion on my part we ended up back at St John Bread and Wine and settled in for lunch.

The restaurant is sparsely decorated despite its smart white and black exterior, there are simple tables and chairs inside with wait staff decked out in all white chef-style uniforms.  We were seated and quickly given menus, a jug of fresh water and a plate with some very tasty slices of brown and white sourdough bread.   The crowd inside was pretty mixed, not fitting a particular scene in terms of age or dress but erring on the casual.  I washed down my food with some Meantime lager, our other drink was apple juice.  The food menu changes daily depending on what is available and today we both went with rabbit after I was talked out of a 40 minute wait for the pigeon.  There was a short wait for our food, a full plate with two large pieces of rabbit each, some nice greenery, baby carrots and some aioli on the side.  The food was really good with everything complementing the rabbit.  The only negative was having to watch out for bones in the rabbit but the food was delicious and filling leaving us with the debate of dessert.

The debate was short lived, though in hindsight we should have had one dessert to share rather than one each.  We had the brioche with apricots and the chocolate cake with crème fraiche ice cream.  The brioche was fresh and buttery to the point of almost tasting like a good croissant, they contrasted well with the sweet, yet sharp apricots in their juices and a little bite of the crème fraiche ice cream to cleanse the palate and set off on another round.  The chocolate cake was almost brownie like and tasted like it was made with good cocoa or chocolate and again the ice cream acted as a cleansing respite from the intensity of the chocolate.  At this point we were stuffed to bursting after enjoying some great food.  Despite the quality of the food with the bill at just over £50 it was not a cheap lunch and perhaps would have made a much better dinner.  Anyway, St John certainly lived up to its Internet hype and is somewhere I'd like to dine at again.
 
Damien Hirst

We then began a brief and much needed walk through the city of London and across Southwark Bridge towards Tate Modern.  We had mixed expectations of this exhibition, which I have to admit I was keen to see after reading some of the reviews.  Not having booked we joined a fairly long queue for tickets as there were only two people issuing tickets for a fairly significant queue.  We made our way upstairs to the exhibition which thankfully was not too crowded.  The exhibition is divided up into 14 rooms displaying Hirst’s work largely in chronological order.

The first room had a rather striking picture of a young Hirst posing with a head from the anatomy department of Leeds University, there were also some pots and pans stuck on one wall and some rather attractively placed coloured boxes in the corner of another wall.  In the next two rooms there were some spot paintings and medicine cabinets.  We also had some   animals suspended in formaldehyde, in this case the famous shark, sheep, fish and sheep's head.  This room was a bit like a larger than life museum exhibition and was quite fascinating to look at.  You can spend time out staring the shark, watching the fluffiness of the sheep's coat and the tranquil but dead eyes of the fish suspended in time and space and strapped to the walls.  My highlight of this room was A Thousand Years, a large glass cabinet with a fresh cows head in it, the cabinet is used to breed flies and you can see them flying around, lying dead or resting.  Somehow it all feels very human when you talk about it, the fear and fascination of the bloody head stuck on the floor and the distance the glass casing gives is quite un-nerving.

Room 4 looks like the kind of thing you might see in a museum on 20th Century life 100 years from now.  The large glass case with the empty office chair and desk.  There is also a cabinet in the style of the pill boxes but filled with various cigarette butts.  Do we see ourselves like this now, or is this how our great grandchildren will see us, in a museum display case much like we now see life in the mines or on a traditional farm today?  Room 5 was overshadowed by Room 6.  In this room butterflies are living their lives in a controlled environment, in the room before they are stuck onto painted canvas to make works of art.  Who is the artist running our lives, it doesn't feel like God/a god.

Room 7 was a giant pharmacy which made me feel quite uncomfortable, the giant floor to ceiling cases filled with medicine and the lack of humanity made the experience of walking around the room in silence with strangers quite unusual.  Being an observer rather than a participant in what is otherwise a familiar domain makes it take on a whole new perspective.  After taking our pills in Room 7, Room 8 gave us the hypnotic Spin Paintings.  Room 9 I found much more fascinating, walking between the halves of a cow and its calf suspended in time and the huge white ashtray filled with the stench of cigarette butts was truly an unpleasant sensation.

Moving into Room 10 we entered a giant supply cupboard for a hospital with wall to wall cabinets of beautifully organised, spotless pieces of metallic medical equipment.  We were being prepared for death and now that science has failed to preserve us we head back to Religion and Room 11.  In this room there are beautiful stained glass style butterfly paintings and a marble statue of an angel, however one that is distinctly and fatally real with its organs and insides on show.  In Room 12 maybe we head one step closer to hell with a 70s shag rug made of flies and a beautiful sheep in a case to keep the neighbours talking.

Room 13 offers its own vile conclusion as we are offered a selection of recent Hirst works which feel like horrible blinged our parodies of his previous work.  All the mysticism of life, death and beliefs have been replaced with cold, hard cash.  Items sold for auction and private consumption rather than placed in a gallery for all and everyone to see.  What's left after you buy into consumerism, maybe just death or perhaps an inner peace from selling all your things and a more simple life?  The serene beauty of the dove frozen in time feels like the right way to end this journey.

This exhibition throws up lots of questions on the nature of art.  For me the exhibition was like walking through a museum depicting the last 50 years of life on Earth in abstract.  The emotions gained from the experience though are quite different from walking through the National History Museum, looking at the animals in London Zoo, or wandering through a prefab house at the Science Museum. 
In all we had a day that was much more than the sum of its parts, things we could feel, taste and experience but that felt familiar and close to home and try as we might to break our patterns and do, feel or behave in a different way we ended up exactly the same.
 
St. John Bread and Wine 94-96 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LZ.
Tate Modern  Bankside,  London, SE1 9TGDamien Hirst till 9th September 2012

Found In Nostalgia

Tokyo Diner

When: June 2012
Where: Chinatown, London and Odeon Covent Garden


I think this combination was a match made in heaven, simple delicious Japanese food with a heartwarming, nostalgic romance to follow.  We started going to Tokyo Diner as an alternative to Okawari, a Japanese/Korean restaurant a few doors up the road.  However, as Okawari has now changed name and possibly owners at least twice in the last few years we now are left with Tokyo Diner for cheap Japanese food.  The restaurant is supposed to be authentic Japanese complete with Japanese staff, small chairs and tables and a no tips policy.  The owner is authentically eccentric English.  A perfect combination indeed.

As we sat over green tea debating whether I should join my partner whilst visiting her family that weekend I realised how much I missed coming here and how long it had been.  The menu had changed a little and the prices had increase but once my Katsu Don arrived with steaming hot rice, freshly scrambled egg and pork in breadcrumbs I felt right at home.  As such a simple please was devoured with a cold can of beer and a warm glass life felt really good right down to the last grain of rice.  The one thing I really love is how fresh the food feels, though maybe one day I'll try something else on the menu that isn't Katsu Don!

Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)

After a filling and tasty meal it was time for the film.  We finally decided on Odeon Covent Garden, I can't remember exactly why.  For some reason they had three films starting at the same time and whilst I'm sure it helps with staffing costs the small lobby area was totally over-crowded and it was quite unpleasant to wait for the doors to open.  I was glad we got there early as the surprisingly (even though it was a Wednesday) the screening was completely full bar a few of the Premier seats.

I liked Moonrise Kingdom, the casting, acting and atmosphere was great but in particular it captured a world in transition where the outcasts become the wanted ones and the wanted ones become cast out a little, yet through human decency we all pull through.  I loved the nostalgia of the scout camp and of being 11 years old and taking your fist steps into an adult world.  In the case of our hero it is love and responsibility.  For our scouts it is acceptance of those different from yourself.  Bruce Willis' character is able to start a family and give someone a home.  For Ed Norton his Scout Master saves the day in the face of disaster after he overcomes his own mistakes.

The film is tied together with some Coen Brothers style narration that somehow made me think of the Big Lebowski and adds a layer of distance to the film that we often forget about.  We are watching a re-telling and not the story itself.  I think it also fits well with Wes Anderson's nostalgic images that look like a cross between a fashion shoot and a glossy magazine from the 1960s with a nice dose of exaggeration that comes from re-telling a story.

So in all a perfect evening of warm nostalgia from the copy of an authentic Japanese restaurant in the heart of London to the re-creation of small town (or in this case island!) American life in the 1960s.

Dinner and a Movie

Dark Shadows, Dark Dinner
When: May 2012
Where: Imli (SoHo) and Empire Leicester Square
Imli

Dinner and a movie, for me two of the things that make my world go around.  If I were to make a film it would be in the style of Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes.  This night out was a way to escape the dreaded nail biting Champions League Final.  Last time in 2008 I shouldn't have been watching, we should have been out doing dinner but the Roman weather forced us to stay in the hotel and everyone suffered...  This time round it was dinner and a movie, two of my favourite things to enjoy and then I could check the scores at the end of the film and celebrate or commiserate depending on the result.  Things started off well as the bus got us to the West End in record time.  Our driver was not a patient man and beeped and swerved his away through town taking no prisoners, it was just like being in India all over again but this time with a little more restraint on the horn.  This set us up nicely for Imli, a modern Indian restaurant.  I really like Indian food and as my partner had been before and quite liked it my expectations were fairly high.  However, our first problem was that she liked the set meals but these were only on at lunch time and we had arrived in the evening.  Secondly our friend booked online and after looking online I noticed you could get a free dessert if you booked online, she hadn't noticed...  Oh well, things can only get better.

We were shown to a nice quiet and decent sized table at the back corner of the restaurant and ordered some drinks.  One of our friends seems to have got into cocktails which is nice as I'm now not the only one to order an alcoholic drink when we go out.  I wasn't feeling too hungry so I shared the Tandoori Mixed Grill  -  Chicken, Fish, Lamb and Paneer with Dal and Naan Bread. This looked like being more than enough and it was.  I love good tandoori food and after having an amazing Tandoori meal in Orchha in India I am hooked for life.  Our friends ordered a mix of dishes from the menu.  Service was good and our waiter was trying hard with some "money saving" upsells.  The food arrived and I was a little disappointed, I think in part because my eyes are greedier than my stomach.  We had one piece of each of the dishes and a bowl of thinish and difficult to share Dal.  The lamb was very good, but was really only a bite as it was a tandoori lamb chop.  The chicken was bland and only just cooked, the paneer was ok, the bread was ok and the dal was ok.  I don't really eat fish but my partner enjoyed it.  The meal was at least filling and we washed it down with some coffees and Masala Chai.  I think I've now become a little stuck in my ways with Indian food.  I find a place I like and keep coming back, again and again and again...  It will take something special to prise me away from the Star Of Bombay on Westbourne Grove or Nayaab off Parsons Green.

Dark Shadows (Tim Burton, 2012)
It seems these days every Tim Burton film is the same with Johnny Depp playing some kind of ageless monster trying to claw back a life that cannot be lived anymore.  Sometimes you have to grow up and move on, Scorsese manages this in Hugo, albeit leaving America to do so as we watch someone who has hit rock bottom get built up and given one last day of glory, rather than be spat out by the American Dream gone bad.  Anyway, getting back to Burton, at his best his creepy Depp led films are fantastic pieces of fantasy with amazing performances and a believable world portrayed well enough for you to completely suspend your disbelief.  At worst there's Alice in Wonderland, worse than that is Alice in Wonderland in 3D...

Dark Shadows is a simple love story with a nice contrast in the narrative.  The Collins family escape Victorian England for a better life in the new world where they see their fishing business go from strength to strength.  The young Barnabas will one day inherit the family fortune which is not only the business but the town where they landed which is named Collinstown in their honour and the large family house filled with wealth and secret passages.  However, life is not so easy as Barnabas has an affair with Angelique who's family are servants to the Collins family.  Barnabas likes her body but doesn't love her as a person and in a fit of jealousy she turns to magic forcing Josette, his wife to be to commit suicide and turns him into a vampire who is locked away in a coffin as a freak of nature.

Time passes and Barnabas is dug up and is very much alive but he does not fit well with the modern world.  He fights to restore his family to their former glory but finds Angelique through various guises has made sure to do everything in her power to thwart the Collins family and their business out of revenge.  The two battle it out as Barnabas wants to move on in his personal life whilst rebuilding his family to what it used to be and find true love again and Angelique who whilst moving on professionally has not moved on personally and is still, 200 years later unable to accept that Barnabas might want to have sex with her but doesn't love her.

History repeats itself but this time Barnabas is ready and although he doesn't manage to stop his new love plunging off the cliff, she becomes a vampire and they live quirkily ever after whilst Angelique ends up a broken woman (literally).  Although it may not be the greatest story of all time the acting and casting in Dark Shadows is fantastic and for me made it all worth while.  It was nice for the day to finish on a high.  An enjoyable night at the movies followed by a Champions League victory on my phone to read about on the journey home, whilst my ears rung from a THX induced evening.

BBC Studio Tour

This is the BBC!
When: April 2012
Where:  BBC Television Centre, White City

Sometimes it's easy to forget about the things close to home and as the old song goes, "You don't know what you got till it's gone".  With that in mind we decided to book a tour of BBC's Television Centre before it is sold off and possibly shut down.  On a rainy afternoon we made the short journey to White City and began the tour.  I was looking forward to see a live, living, breathing workplace filled to the brim with memories and perhaps a show being filmed.  We were one of the last to arrive at the reception area where we were warmly greeted and handed our BBC Tours identity tag.  We were met by two bright young guides who led us back out into the rain to go through security and then up to a nice little photo op if you are a fan of either Dr. Who of The Voice. I am not a fan of either but it was still a good ice breaker.

Our first stop proper was the news room area.  Most of the filming is no longer done in London but is instead done in Manchester and the majority of the journalists don't work in the news room at the weekends as news rarely breaks at the weekend (mostly it's just sports headlines like Chelsea spanking QPR - YAY!) I did enjoy watching the news tickers they had and I was also unaware that the BBC is the largest news gathering agency in the world ahead of CNN and Reuters.  It was also interesting to know that the BBC only used fully paid up journalists for their news shows rather than TV presenters and this meant that those who read the news could also interview (or often interrogate) their guests to a high and critical standard that was not possible in the past.

We then walked over to the original main entrance to Television Centre where we learned that the circular design of the building was both to compensate for the odd shape of the land and also that it made it very easy to walk from one studio to the next across the atrium in the middle.  The entrance is a listed building and will be preserved in someway when the building is eventually sold.
After that it was on to an actual studio, this studio was the one used to film Strictly Come Dancing, however on this occasion it was empty.  The most interesting part of this section of the tour was that for reasons of cost they would build the set and dismantle it weekly for this show due to the cost of renting out the studio.  The level of detail that goes into setting up a studio is quite frightening and even as someone who likes to think they know a bit about film and TV, from the lighting, soundproofing, flooring and the reason why the walls are painted black!

It was then time to visit the MOTD studios, except it was just a replica as Match of the Day was now shot at the Manchester studios, you could sit and have your photo taken but it didn't feel quite right to do so with a replica set.  Interestingly it seemed as though Channel 5 now shoots its football show here instead.  In fact from walking around it seemed most of the shows shot here were not for the BBC.

Up next was the weather area, this was actually pretty interesting as the studios for the forecast are fully automated and the presenters are all fully trained meteorologists who write and present their own material.  Also they are standard civil servants rather than private employees of the BBC and have contracts and a working day that reflect this.  The forecasters also work across media (TV, Radio and Online) as well.  We got to watch a forecast being delivered and had a little fun with a green screen!

The penultimate stage of our tour was visiting some of the green rooms or dressing rooms where stars are kept before a show.  There are different types of dressing room depending on the star's status, apparently Prince, Jennifer Lopez and James Brown had some of the most interesting demands.  The stories were more exciting than the dressing rooms which were a little crowded for a group of 20+

The final stage was where we got to see the magic happen, four lucky (or unlucky) souls got to participate in a spot of Weakest Link and a News Broadcast for the rest of us to enjoy and watch.  After this it was time to say our good byes as we exited through the gift shop.  In all a fun but slightly underwhelming way to spend a few hours.  At least there was a trip to Wahaca to follow which as usual did not disappoint.  In all the tour did not quite meet my expectations.  I was hoping to see a little more action, but it seems everyone has moved up to Manchester where the new Media Village is whilst Television Centre was cutting edge in its day, HD, the Internet and 24 hour TV have slowly made it obsolete.  Whilst it was not the most exciting afternoon out ever it was worth it to see what would soon be a piece of history.