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Eye on London - Gift Guide and The Best Musicals in Town

  • Monday December 12th 2016
  • Music

London from the inside Monday 12th December - Sunday 18th December 2016

It’s ok if you haven’t finished (or started yet), help is at hand on the last minute present buying front in this week’s blog. We’ve got our eye on Lambeth, the best and longest running musicals in town and, as always, what you won’t want to miss this week in London.

LAST CHANCE

Don’t even try to have a chilled out night in your PJs on the sofa in December. These will be going, going, gone unless you catch them this week.

LAST MINUTE PRESENTS

The best gift ideas for Londoners, foodies, coffee addicts, pet lovers, gym bunnies and kids (surely everyone falls into one of these categories?)

Londoners

Amazing London guides and vintage prints from Salmon and Moth for people who love London as much as us.

The Foodie

Stuart Gardiner designs the coolest tea towels, mugs and oven gloves for food lovers from foragers to rockstars in the kitchen.  

The Coffee Addict

Guaranteed there is no better present for a caffeine fanatic than a Bialetti stove-top espresso maker, and the milk frother too if you’re feeling generous.  

Pet Lovers

Protect My Pet deliver health subscription boxes to dogs and cats across the UK. You can subscribe to get your pet’s personalised flea and worming treatments posted to you, saving money on the vet and so you never forget. Or choose one of their one-off eco-conscious treat and toy boxes.

Gym Bunnies

Full of inspirational stories about mind over matter and the greatest athletic performances of all time, the book ‘How Bad Do You Want It?’ by Matt Fitzgerald will keep even the keenest of sporty people glued to the armchair.

Kids

‘My Crazy Inventions Sketchbook’ includes 50 awesome drawing activities for young inventors. They can grab their lab coat and draw their amazing creations, inspired by some of the weirdest and most fantastic inventions ever.

The Impossible One

If you’re still stuck, tickets make fabulous gifts for people when you’re not quite sure what they’ve already got or what to get them. Buy tickets here for the Coca-Cola London Eye and other top London attractions or how about a musical?....

 

THE TOP 10 MUSICALS IN TOWN

Musicals are like Marmite, except we find it hard to believe that anyone who hates them has really seen one… how can you hate musicals? We don’t even want them put in the ‘guilty pleasures’ category, they are just pure pleasure, especially these ten...

 

  1. Les Miserables

Running: 31 years

  1. The Phantom of the Opera

Running: 30 years

  1. The Lion King

Running: 17 years

  1. Stomp

Running: 13 years

  1. Billy Elliot:

Running: 11 years

  1. Wicked

Running: 10 years

  1. Thriller

Running: 6 years

  1. Matilda

Running: 5 years

  1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Running: 4 years

  1. The Book of Mormon

Running: 3 years

 

EYE ON… LAMBETH

There are 32 capsules on The Coca-Cola London Eye, representing the 32 London boroughs, so each week we explore a different London borough.

 

If the musicals don’t get you doing the Lambeth Walk then maybe Lambeth itself will. It stretches from Waterloo to Gipsy Hill and includes Brixton, Herne Hill, Clapham Common, Vauxhall and Streatham.  

Did you know?...

  • It’s name originates from ‘Lambehitha’ meaning the ‘landing place for lambs’
  • Celebrities from the area include David Bowie (born in Brixton), Charlie Chaplin (spent his early life in Lambeth) and Vincent Van Gogh who lived in Stockwell.
  • Lambeth was home to the world’s first ever circus in 1768 in Lower Marsh (now where St Thomas’ Hospital is.)  

 

ON THIS DAY… 16th December 1955 and 1977

On the 16th December 1955 The Queen opened a new terminal at Heathrow Airport (then called London Airport). 22 years later, on the same day, she formally unveiled a £71m underground link from central London to Heathrow’s terminals - the first of it’s kind in the world connecting the capital to its major airport.

 

Number ones on 16th December 1955 and 1977: Dickie Valentine - Christmas Alphabet (1955) and Wings - Mull Of Kintyre / Girls' School (1977).

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