Compiled & Edited by Adam Scott-Goulding
PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: London Mayor Boris Johnson sparks yet more controversy with perceived racial smears during the Commander-in-Chief's visit…
Churchill's grandson, Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames, who is campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU, called the article "deplorable" and "completely idiotic".
He told LBC Radio: "I like to think, possibly - I'm mad enough to think - that it was probably written by some little twerp who works for Boris. I can't believe that Boris would really have done something so stupid, but whatever it is it bears his name and it is deeply offensive."
Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for Mr Johnson to withdraw his comment, writing on Twitter: "Mask slips again. Boris part-Kenyan Obama comment is yet another example of dog whistle racism from senior Tories."
Full story BBC: www.bbc.co.uk
MAYORAL ELECTION: Candidates should know where the major London museums are…
Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate to be the next mayor of London, was recently asked by a BBC journalist to name the location of the Museum of London. Goldsmith was stumped: ‘The Museum of London is…where is the Museum of London…the Museum of London. I went there very, very recently…I can’t tell you where.’ And when the same journalist asked the Labour candidate Sadiq Khan to name the oldest museum in the city, the politician simply made up an institution on the spot: ‘Is it…er…the History Museum?’ he asked. One of these museum buffs will take the reins at City Hall in the second week of May – assuming they can find it, that is.
Full story Apollo Magazine: www.apollo-magazine.com
And here's a map for Zac…
PRINCE IN LONDON: Prince Tributes Pop Up in London…
Full story Evening Standard: www.standard.co.uk
In Brief…
LONDON MARATHON: Running The Marathon Blind – BBC
PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: The Obamas At Kensington Palace – Daily Mail
LIBRARY CLOSURES: End of An Era For North London Libraries – Enfield Advertiser
PROPERTY: House Prices Along the Route of the London Marathon – Time Out
THEATRE: An American In Paris to Open at Dominion Theatre – London Theatre
DC Catch-Up
Stories you may have missed this week on The Daily Constitutional…
On Monday I was photoblogging in Spitalfields…
April is Music Month on The DC and this week I've been blogging about…
Noel Coward – Great Songwriter, So-So Playwright
Lionel Bart – The Greatest London Songwriter of 'em All
She & Him: A Melancholy Hymn to the London Weather
The Queen at 90: Pop Music At Buckingham Palace
The Rolling Stones: A Critical Look at Their First Single Back In '63
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If You Do One OTHER Thing In London…
Our weekly slot in which we point you in the direction of other happenings and events in our great city. A new exhibition, a gig, a museum, a pop-up-shop – the best of London within a few minutes of a London Walks walking tour.
The Great British Graphic Novel
The ever-reliable Cartoon Museum is putting The Great British Graphic Novel center stage – an exhibition looking at the rise of the British Graphic novel with works by William Hogarth, Kate Charlesworth, Dave Gibbons, Martin Rowson, Posy Simmonds, Bryan and Mary Talbot and many others.
Find the Cartoon Museum at…
35 Little Russell St,
London
WC1A 2HH
Walking & Footwear News…
In defence of NOT walking in Los Angeles by writer Joseph Mailander…
I am admittedly disadvantaged by my native status, unable to see my home of 58 years the way New York developers and Berkeley editors would like me to see it. But scratching the barest bit of history from the city, I know Los Angeles would be merely another Duluth but for the personal and intimate and sexy and violent and controllable and fetishized and all-consuming spaces afforded by automobiles, which L.A. has successfully and indefatigably adapted to its civic identity the same way New Orleans adapted jazz and revelry to its.
Full story here: reason.com/blog
Rolling Stones Coming Soon…
Yesterday I spent a most enjoyable morning in the company of Richard Porter – recently dubbed by London Walks' Pen David Tucker as The Sixth Beatle – putting the finishing touches to our Rolling Stones tour. The walk launches on the 5th May and here's a short trailer…
And Finally…
Good luck to London Walker Dave Howie in Sunday's London Marathon!
Dave hails from Perth in Scotland, but now lives in… Perth, Western Australia.
"I like to keep things simple," he joked last Thursday when he joined us on the Jack the Ripper Tour.
Go Dave!
London Spy will return next Saturday
A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
