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Monthly Archives: March 2011

Justin Bieber waxwork coming to Madame Tussauds in Easter

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Posted by trev on March 28, 2011 – 2:30 pm
Filed under Events

The pop superstar Justin Bieber is coming to London to be immortalised in wax at the world famous Madame Tussauds museum in London this Easter.

Justin Bieber seems to have done all the things common to those pop stars who make it really big, except that Justin Bieber aged just 17, has managed to conquer the pop world on both sides of the Atlantic, release his auto-biography, have said auto-biography turned into a film and now arrived at Madame Tussauds.

This Easter sees the arrival of the Justin Bieber waxwork which most likely means 10,000’s screaming fans desperate to get into the museum and most likely ignoring all the other famous faces who have lets be honest, have generally done a little more for the world than one teenage pop star could ever manage.

In keeping with the modern age, the waxwork replica of Justin will even have its own Twitter Hash and Facebook page so fans can sign-in at a special touch screen.

The statue was officially unveiled last week to a select group of fans and journalists at the “Justin meet Justin” event, but won’t be on official display until this Easter holiday. The unveiling is shown in the video below, although we recommend skipping to around the 2 minute mark to get to the action.

More London Links:
Attractions around Madame Tussauds
Hotels near Madame Tussauds

Giant pre-Royal wedding cake unveiled in Central London

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Posted by trev on March 28, 2011 – 1:45 pm
Filed under Eating & Drinking, Events

The folks from VisitBritain have gotten so excited by the forthcoming Royal Wedding that they created a massive wedding cake in front of St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street.

The choice of location was more than simply a random selection, as the tiered design of St Bride’s Church is alleged to be where the idea of a tiered wedding cake came from, a design which is used today all around the world.

This wedding cake, which is edible by the way, is 4 foot high (around 1.2m), and designed to be a pretty good replica to the church design complete with spire. The cake also has royal connections as it was created by Sophisticake who were responsible for the cake at the wedding of HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

In total the cake tookup around 200 eggs, 120lb (54kg) of dried fruit and 18lb (8kg) of butter which presumably earned them quite a few Nectar points if bought at Sainsbury’s. The cake is now being donated to St Bride’s Church for various charitable causes.

Original details from the Visit London blog – Pre-royal wedding cake.

Murder rates soar on the Shetland Isles, but can Jimmy Perez save the day?

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Posted by trev on March 28, 2011 – 1:15 pm
Filed under Miscellaneous

The Shetland Isles are mostly noted as being quite places where you can watch seals, seabirds and just let life go by at a slower pace, but more recently visitors have been flocking to see the places which inspired a series of murder mystery books, the latest of which – Blue Lightening – has just been published.

The isles which were recently named by Lonely Planet as the 6th best place to visit in the world, became the settings for the crime novels by Ann Cleeves in 2003. Cleeves has been a writer for over 20 years, although with limited sales, but she and her husband were keen fans of the beauty of the Shetland Isles.

It was on a trip to the isles that the inspiration for her first Shetland based book came and in 2006 Raven Black was published, winning the Duncan Lawrie Dagger award for Best Crime Novel. With her Fair Isle based detective Jimmy Perez on the scene, the island of Fair Isle went from a small very quiet isle with a population of 70 to the crime capital of the Shetland Isles, much to the delight of her new fanbase.

Today, four crime novels have been published based around what some call Shetland’s answer to Hercule Poirot (love that name!), with the latest Blue Lightening looking to be more popular than any of the previous three.

Shetland Tourism are delighted with their new reputation which takes the pressure off other industries to make up for the slowing revenues of the Shetland Isles, once based on fishing and then North Sea Oil. Now scores of tourists flock to the islands each year to see the real life locations on which the books are set although luckily it doesn’t seem that the services of Hercule Poirot or Jimmy Perez are going to be over stretched too much.

You can find a full range of Anne Cleeves Books on Amazon.

Useful tips for the Shetland Isles:

1) If you don’t do boats very well, then don’t travel during the Winter as you’ll hit Winter storms in the North Sea and from someone who’s done that, it’s not nice. Summer and Spring should be fine however. Northlink Ferries run the majority of services from Aberdeen to Orkney and Shetland.

2) Remember to hire a car as the main island isn’t that big, but is still much more easily accessed by car. For those thinking single track roads – you’ll be very surprised. More car hire details for Shetland.

3) Don’t forget about the Orkney Isles which are equally as magnificent and accessible from the same ferries. There are loads of things to see and do on Orkney too.

More Shetland Resources:
Orkney and Shetland things to see
Orkney and Shetland hotels

Yak Yeti Yak – Awful name but good Nepalese food in Bath

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Posted by trev on March 28, 2011 – 12:07 pm
Filed under Eating & Drinking

They say a name is everything, but then they say location location location and although Yak Yeti Yak ignores all “the rules”, they win out by offering their guests really good quality Nepalese food.

One has to assume that the name of this Bath based Nepalese restaurant was inspired by the rather catchy 1958 song by the Coasters “yakety yak don’t talk back”, but despite this and the fact that the restaurant is located in the basement below a hairdressers, it is winning fans amongst the critics and most importantly, the public of Bath.

Unlike a lot of “foreign cuisine” restaurants which just hint at their connection, Yak Yeti Yak goes all the way including having those padded beanbag-esk seats and low tables which seem to be very popular in Asia. The interior decor also hints at the styles of the east without trying to go daftly over the top – if they did that you’d know this wasn’t authentic.

Going by the glowing writeup about this restaurant by John Lanchester of the Guardian, who unlike most food critics does seem to be on the same planet as us-lot, the food is absolutely spot-on with the classic dishes all lined up and the right combination of herbs and meatyness as seen in the original Nepalese restaurants from London.

If you can forgive the owners (and now me) for putting that song into your head or giving you visions of Clive Anderson Talks Back from Channel 4, then perhaps it’s time to head over to Bath and try something a little different from another Chinese or Balti takeaway…?

Yak Yeti Yak in Bath

More Bath Resources:
Review of Yak Yeti Yak in the Guardian
Things to see and do in Bath
Hotels in Bath
Bath self-catering accommodation

Today in history – First UK driving tests introduced

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Posted by trev on March 26, 2011 – 9:20 am
Filed under Events

Some say the most stressful things you can do are move house, get married and take your driving test, but the latter only started today in 1934.

In today’s traffic it’s hard to believe that prior to 1934, you didn’t need to prove any knowledge of the roads to get in a car and drive, but that’s exactly the case.

Until the 26th March 1934, you could simply apply for a licence and assuming you were of sound body and mind, it would be granted. This possibly explained the number of accidents which was at one point estimated to be 1 accident per year for every car on the road!

To prevent a rush of candidates, the test was only voluntary unless you applied for your licence after the 1st April 1935, so presumably not an awful lot of people actually bothered to take the initial tests.

The introduction of the driving test did at least, in theory, ensure a better standard of driving. The test didn’t really change again until the introduction of the theory test July 1996. There was a brief period when testing was suspended in 1956 during the Suez Crisis, but with the lack of petrol available it is unlikely anyone could take lessons either.

In case you’re wondering – anyone who received their licence before 1st April 1935 can still legally drive without ever taking a test as long as they are deemed medically fit…but that probably doesn’t include the guy driving the white van who cut you up on the A12 this morning.

Books to help you pass your driving test

Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling is on…off…on

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Posted by trev on March 25, 2011 – 2:05 pm
Filed under Events

Gloucestershire’s famous official cheese rolling championship is looking doubtful once more after organisers received a hostile reception to their plans.

History: The famous cheese rolling championship has been taking part on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire on and off for hundreds of years, although the championship was started in the 1940s. The event has always taken place on the hill which is close to the village of Brockworth, about 5 miles from Gloucester.

The event: People gather at the top of the hill where a large specially made rounded cheese is rolled down and the winner is the first to catch the cheese. This is made slightly harder by the hill being 1:2 and occasionally 1:1 (vertical!) gradient.

2010: In recent years, the Cheese Rolling Committee who organise the event have suffered a number of problems including far too many people turning up and lack of insurance which caused it to be cancelled in 2010.

2011: This year the organisers wanted to create a 2 day event, but critically they wanted to sell tickets at £20 per person which is where the problems started. The cheese rolling event has always been free, so locals got very upset that the committee were trying to make the event more commercialised. The committee have therefore cancelled the 2011 event and put doubt on future official cheese rolling.

However, it is very likely that an unofficial cheese rolling championship will be held as it was in 2010 when around 5000 people came to watch or take part in it.The local authorities and police tried to prevent this in 2010, even putting up roadside checks, but as Cooper’s Hill is common land, anyone has a right to gather there.

It just happens that a cheese accidently rolled down a hill which being round wasn’t too unexpected and a number of people thought the cheese needed to be caught before it was damaged or hit the wall at the bottom…honest officer.

The photo isn’t doctored – the hill really is that steep!

Cheese Rolling Links:
Semi-official cheese rolling web site
A few more quirky events in Britain
Hotels and B&Bs in Gloucester (near Cooper’s Hill)
Things to do in Brockworth & Gloucester

Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race this Saturday

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Posted by trev on March 25, 2011 – 1:20 pm
Filed under Events

It bills itself as the “oldest sporting event in the world” with a gruelling four-and-a-quarter-mile race down the River Thames.

The boat race which takes part between teams of students from the two oldest universities in the country (and possibly the world), takes place this Saturday 26th March from 5pm and will as always be televised on the BBC and watched by an average 7 million viewers.

Run over a course of 4 miles and 374 yards, the modern day course runs from Putney to Mortlake along the River Thames.

Statistics: Currently the statistics for the boat race stand at Cambridge 80 wins and Oxford 75 wins, with one dead heat declared. This year it will be Oxford trying hard to ensure that gap is closed a little more especially as Cambridge won in 2010.

Noteable results: Very often the race result is determined well before the finishing line, but there are occasions when the result is a lot closer. One such example was in 2003 when Cambridge lost by a mere one foot.

In 2002, one of the Cambridge oarsman Sebastian Mayer collapsed from exhaustion close to the end of the race even through Cambridge looked like favourites. This allowed Oxford to overtake Cambridge on the outside of the last bend, something which was last achieved in 1952.

Watching the race: If you want to get out from the TV and watch the actual race from the riverbank, there are plenty of pubs and other locations along the route.

More London Links:
Putney hotel accommodation or try the Putney hotel availability checker
More things to see and do in Putney

London’s Grant Museum reopens bigger & better

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Posted by trev on March 25, 2011 – 12:17 pm
Filed under Attractions

London’s Grant Museum of Zoology has reopened after moving lock, stock and specimen to a new much bigger and more interactive location.

Perhaps not one of the most famous museums, The Grant is owned by University College London and as its name suggests, is responsible for maintaining one of the biggest collections of species in the world.

At first glance, a museum of zoology might not sound the most exciting place to spend a Sunday afternoon, but the re-vamped museum now features cleverly integrated interactive features alongside the 67,000 exhibits on display.

The interactive features are especially good if you’ve got a smartphone as many include Twitter hash tags and barcodes which take you to information online about the exhibits beyond what you see in the museum. Don’t worry if you don’t have a smartphone, as the museum also has 10 exhibits with connected iPad’s to give you online interactivity.

Many of the exhibits can’t be seen anywhere in the wild anymore such as the extinct Tasmanian Tiger, the bizarre Quagga and the Dodo plus there are plenty of skeletons of other creatures around.

If you really want to keep the kids entertained, gory seems to work so perhaps the bisected heads which are reminiscent of the work of the artist Damien Hirst would be a good place exhibit to see.

We suspect the other London museums will now be playing catchup to The Grant Museum, so better get there quick before everyone else discovers it!

Grant Museum Links:
Grant Museum in London
Hotels near the Grant Museum & UCL
More things to see around the Grant Museum

Environment Agency publishes beach quality report

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Posted by admin on March 25, 2011 – 11:28 am
Filed under Attractions, Miscellaneous

Want to know the quality of the bathing water at a particular beach in the UK? Well, now you can.  For the first time, the Environment Agency has published information about the quality of beaches in England and Wales and made the information publicly available online. Unfortunately, they don’t appear to have produced any kind of league table of Britain’s best beaches – instead, you will have to click on a region, then a sub-region and then a sub-sub-region to get the details on a specific location, but it’s nevertheless a start in allowing visitors to get a useful insight into bathing water quality.

Useful link:
Beaches in the UK

Is the 24 hour London Tube really a good idea?

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Posted by trev on March 25, 2011 – 11:14 am
Filed under Transport

With the London Olympics planning well underway, one proposal was to run the London Underground 24 hours a day, but can that really work?

Proposal: The idea being proposed by the London Mayor’s office was aimed at making sure the vast numbers of extra visitors coming to the city during the games could get around without the entire transport network collapsing.

The problem: On the surface this sounds like a good idea and perhaps could be extended full-time. There is however a major flaw with this idea which the majors office don’t seem to have spotted – maintenance.

There are two sides to the maintainance of the tube which the public and perhaps Boris Johnson have never seen.

1) The infrastructure needs checking and fixing and as everyone who’s used the London Tube knows, this is a nightly battle which often overruns into the daytime anyway.

2) Cleaning The London Underground is very important as stray newspapers and litter could cause a fire even worse than the Kings Cross disaster. Imagine a large amount of rubbish getting ignited by a spark inside the tunnels. The cleaners even have a special name – “The Fluffers”.

Other complications: There is also the little question of whether anyone actually wants to use the London Tube at 3am, except perhaps on a Saturday night even during the London Olympics?

Films of London Underground: If you wanted to know what happens overnight when the trains go to sleep, then this film from the 1950s gives a pretty good idea:

 

Part 2 of Under Night Streets – Story of the London Underground at night:

More London Links:
London hotels
Things to do in London (tourist attractions)
Self-catering apartments in London