England

Along with Wagner, Verdi, Britten, the Royal Philharmonic Society and heaven knows what else, the Chelsea Flower Show has a double-zero anniversary this year. It launched in 1913 (just like Britten). And as it’s my annual, unmissable, non-musical indulgence, I’ve just been to press day – where, as always, I was captivated by the fantasy [...]

Decay has its own kind of beauty. What do you think?

Jessica Peace (@poetryinboots) takes a walk around Leeds looking at some new art exhibitions guided by Pavilion

Lisa Farrell enjoys the menu relaunch at Chino Latino - great choice of Pan-Asian dishes, an extensive range of cocktails, a great view and a "Chinopedia".

It’s been a long wait, but first details of the On Blackheath music festival, due to take place on 7 and 8 September, will be revealed in the next few days. Long-suffering 853 readers will remember the festival was initially due to make its debut in 2011, but was derailed by a costly court battle brought by the Blackheath Society, which aimed to overturn Lewisham Council’s decision to award it a licence. The ruling upholding Lewisham’s licence came in July 2011, too late for a festival that year, and the heavy demands on Blackheath during the Olympics kiboshed any chance of a festival in 2012. While it won the court case, Lewisham Council was criticised by magistrates for a lack of transparency in consulting over the event. It failed to formally tell Greenwich Council about the application, which magistrates called “astonishing”. The festival site, at Hare and Billet Road, runs metres from the boundary between the two boroughs, and all six Greenwich councillors for the Greenwich West and Blackheath Westcombe wards formally objected to the event. But Greenwich may try to fight the festival again. At a council meeting in March, Blackheath Westcombe Tory councillor Geoff Brighty asked environment cabinet member (and Greenwich West councillor) Maureen O’Mara if the council had heard anything from Lewisham about the festival. Her response: “Both of us lodged a very strong response against this matter, and if anything happens, we will you know – and I’ll see you at Bromley Magistrates Court!” It’s difficult to know on what grounds Greenwich could object – the magistrates’ decision in 2011 dismissed fears over noise and public order. But with Greenwich boasting of its own festivals down the hill, it’d be sad to see an attempt to stop an event that organisers hope could pump a much-needed £1 million into the local economy. In fact, it’d be downright hypocritical to claim disruption from On Blackheath when Greenwich Council remains determined to host unloved half-marathon Run To The Beat a few hundred metres away on the same weekend, a date pencilled in by On Blackheath for 15 months, an event which is likely to cause many more problems. Sadly, there’ll be no Greenwich Summer Sessions to run alongside On Blackheath this year – just as the Greenwich Festivals lost the comedy festival, the music festival was also kicked out by the Old Royal Naval College, and has been brushed under the carpet by the council which once funded it. But its organisers determined to stay in SE10, and are putting on Deptford boy Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel at the Borough Hall on Royal Hill on 19 July – it’s good to see a criminally under-used venue put to good use, and hopefully GSS will be back next year. Finally, anything about festivals in SE London would be a incomplete without mentioning Leefest, at Highams Hill Farm near Biggin Hill, about as far away from Greenwich as you can get while still staying (technically) in the capital. I went in 2011 and it was a fantastic day out – now it’s ballooned to three days (12-14 July) and has raised £50,000 from fans to fund its future expansion. Tickets are still available, and it’s well worth the trip. Will On Blackheath build up such a dedicated following? We’ll have to wait and see…

I love using Twitter – I follow people who post all sorts of interesting articles, and learn a lot. Like everyone else, I laughed when the Waitrose hashtag campaign backfired, resulting in some very witty tweets. But there’s long been a side of the system that bothers me. My problem was highlighted this week. I’ve been following [...]

If you’ve not already done so, you can subscribe to these daily listings and have them delivered to your inbox at 7am every morning. Alternatively, subscribe to Londonist Daily to hear about events further in the future. Valerie Colin-Russ discusses London's lions at Guildhall Library tonight. Image courtesy of the author. GIVE BLOOD: Today’s opportunities to donate blood are at Paddington Central Building 3 and Cathedral Hall in Victoria. Free, just turn up, see site for times and conditions JAPANESE WHISKY: Award-winning Japanese whisky brand Nikka pops-up on Smiths of Smithfield’s newly opened first floor cocktail bar from today, so you can sample 17 of the brand’s single malt and blended whiskies. Free, just turn up, until 31 May UNICYCLE: Look out for a unique set of unicycle docking stations in London this week. Half hour slots can be booked in advance and come with an expert to help you find your feet (or wheel). Free, prebook, until 25 May LONDON SIGNPOSTS: If you don’t mind going to Sussex today then you could own your very own London signpost. Westminster council are auctioning off 362 signposts at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurt, West Sussex. Free, register beforehand, 1.30pm ROAR!: Last year, Valerie Colin-Russ published a book about London’s 10,000 sculpted lions. Now she’s at Guildhall Library to discuss this colossal pride. Free, just turn up, 2pm GAUCHO POLO: The world’s largest indoor Polo event is trotting (sorry) into London tonight for an evening of sport, wine-tasting, culture and music. The HPA Gaucho Intertnational Polo tournament takes place at the O2 and features a sizzling tango performance by Strictly Come Dancing’s Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace. £20, prebook, from 5.30pm ART AND ARCHITECTURE: Gazelli Art House hosts a panel discussion on art and architecture tonight. £5/£3, prebook, 6pm SMILE: Wellcome Collection’s Roy Porter Lecture, given by Colin Jones, tackles a novel subject: how the toothy smile was invented in 18th Century Paris. Free, prebook, 6.30pm SHORT FILM: Bar Shorts is a free short film and animation screening that showcases some of the best shorts from award-winning directors. Free, prebook, 7pm WRITERS’ CLUB: Chris Wellbelove from Greene & Heaton literary agency is the speaker at London Writers’ Club Live. £20/£15, prebook, 7pm HAPPINESS IS HANDWRITTEN: Make Me Joyful is an initiative to make the world, and the people in it, a bit happier. You can read more about the initiative on their manifesto, but they also put on nights such as Happiness is Handwritten, where to celebrate National Letter Writing Day you can gather with friends and perfect your penmanship by handwriting a letter to a loved one. £12, prebook, 7.30pm COMEDY: Simon Munnery, Aisling Bea, Ben Target, Kieran Boyd and Beasts are the guests at Monster comedy at Leicester Square Theatre – a great line-up, and all for charity. £8, prebook, 8.30pm Random London Fact of the Day It’s The Evening Standard’s birthday today. The newspaper was founded on on 21 May 1827 as The Standard. Confuse a distributor by going up to them, shaking their hand and wishing them a happy 186th. Unintentionally lewd Dickens quote of the Day “When the throbbing I had seen before, came into it as I looked at her, she absolutely lifted up her hand, and struck it.” – David Copperfield, Chapter 32. Good Cause of the Day The NDCS Stolen Futures petition for deaf children is about to close. Please sign and help deaf children today: www.ndcs.org.uk/petition. This is an urgent opportunity to call for a debate about cuts to deaf children’s services. They are 99% of the way to hitting their target of 50,000 signatures – please join in to help with the final push. London Weather Bromidic, banausic and doleful are just three of the words you might use to describe today’s monotone skies — if, that is, you were writing an idiosyncratic weather forecast and wanted an alternative word for

100 years of the Chelsea Flower Show and 150 years of the London Underground. To mark both occasions the Underground has issued a special poster showing the Tube map with its lines represented as common and unusual flowers.The Jubilee line is represented by grey Hydrangeas, Bakerloo line by a Chocolate Cosmos, the District Line by green Chrysanthemums, Piccadilly line by blue tulips, black pansies for the Northern line, red roses for the Central line, Himalayan Blue Poppies for the Waterloo &City line, maroon Lilies for the Metropolitan line, blue geraniums for the Victoria line and brightly coloured ornamental Allamanda Cathartica for the Circle line. Gerberas are used for two lines - pink for the – Hammersmith & City line and cheery orange ones for the Overground.It's the first time the Tube map has been used in a poster for the Chelsea Flower Show and works really well as previous images from the 1930's were a bit unadventurous in comparison.It would be great if Sloane Square Tube had some floral arrangements in it to celebrate as well. Although as it's pretty much underground, the flowers wouldn't get much in the way of natural light. Pinner London Underground Station Garden Winner 1966Last year Finchley Central's station garden was entered into The Chelsea Flower show and there were over 140 entries for TfL's London Underground in Bloom competition in for the best station garden. Displays ranged from the Olympic rings and herb gardens to Japanese meditation-style spaces and beehives. Back in 1966, 3000 flowers and plants were so resplendent in Pinner's station garden you could hardly see the station name. The current poster for the Chelsea Flower Show will be available from London Transport Museum shop in Covent Garden Piazza or online at the following link.You might also likeLondon Underground in BloomFruit and Veg added to Tube Garden competition

Please accept my apologies for any disappointment that may have been caused by the non-appearance of the last two daily mailings. This happened because the titles of both stories ended with the words ‘London’s Oldest Ironmongers,’ so the automated system which picks up the posts and mails them every morning did not recognise these as new stories. Normal service resumes with ‘Canal Dogs’ below and, if you missed the last two stories, you can catch up with them at www.spitalfieldslife.com

Apparently, London is undergoing another building boom, who would have guessed? Building sites can make for interesting photos.