MyMetropole caught up with east London based photographer Adam Brown to talk about how he got into photography, his current work, parts of London he loves best, and a hard lesson in remembering to remove the lens cap! Read on for more with Adam Brown.
As promised, the winner of the Name this London Location post recently (Inamo, Soho hi-tech Asian restaurant) has earned MyMetropole inches to talk about anything in the world. Emyr Thomas has chosen to enlighten us as to the area of Mayfair….
The Magic of Mayfair – Traditional Elegance with a Contemporary Twist
Emyr Thomas, founder of Bon Vivant, a concierge and lifestyle management company in London, shares his thoughts on London’s grande dame.
Who's Jack Issue 32
MissDani and I have two articles in Who’s Jack for January. On page 42-43 I ramble a bit about Supper Clubs in London. This is a topic I’ve really become interested in, and have written about not only for Who’s Jack, but also for Heaver.com – also out this month. The article covers the top current Undergrounds Restaurants, or Supper Clubs, in London including Hoxton Jupiter’s The Secret Ingredient in Stoke Newington, Arno Maasdorp’s The Saltoun Supper Club and The Salad Club in Brixton, Phlight in Fulham, and new kid on the block Civet Cat Club (around the corner from Jupiter’s Secret Ingredient).
The second article on p66 is a photo-article by MissDani and I on the book ‘This Book Will Change Your Life” by Benrik. The photographs feature the Barefaced Theatre Company, a creative bunch of individuals we had the pleasure of working with in November on the photoshoot. Barefaced was really willing to roll up their sleeves and undertake some fairly crazy improv situations such as “See the Virgin Mary in Everything” “Become a Secret Agent for the Day” and “Find a Lost Pet Day” (hang up a poster of a lost cat and see if anyone gives you one).
Another one of Benrik’s suggestions, “Start a Home Restaurant” inspired Horton Jupiter to do just that, sparking one of London’s Culinary Zeitgeists of the 2009.
Enjoy the articles and we would love your feedback! Make sure to have a click around the supper club websites and stay tuned in to what Barefaced is up to next.
Benrik Lost Cast - Barefaced
Saltoun Supper Club
The Salad Club
This holiday staycation included equally extensive stints of slumber and sloth, sprinkled with enough spurts of activity to make sure there was still a pulse. Top of the list was bundling up and heading out to the Odeon on Tottenham Court Road on Boxing Day (December 26th) to check out the opening day of Sherlock Holmes.
Despite an unfortunately thin plot (you might say it was – groan – ‘elementary’), Guy Ritchie managed to deliver the 2009 British Film of the Year in this part mystery thriller, part comedy and all around love letter to London.
Filmed on location in London, Liverpool and Manchester, Ritchie shot scenes at St Paul’s Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament, Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich and Tower Bridge plays a key role of its own alongside Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams and Mark Strong. Other key locations include scenes shot in Manchester at the Manchester Town Hall, in Liverpool at the Albert Dock, and at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.
Robert Downey Jr said, “Sherlock Holmes has great pride in being English. London is an incredibly fascinating city and the centre of the world at the time our film takes place. Holmes knows every inch of it and feels it’s his city.” The Holmes heartthrob added,” It was great fun filming throughout Britain.”
Slightly obsessed both with film locations (MissDani and I are set-jet addicts) and my new iPhone, I recently downloaded VisitBritain‘s Great British Film Locations iPhone App (free) which came out as a result of the release of Sherlock Holmes. The app works fairly well, and it is fun to find out which films were shot nearby. The app is especially useful for tourists to London or Britain who would like to visit film locations of their favourite British films.
From home in southeast London, I can see that Four Weddings and a Funeral was filmed 1.4 miles from here in Greenwich, Bridget Jones Diary scenes were filmed 4.7 miles from me in Southwark, SE1 (as in the location in this MyMetropole post) and that the nearest Sherlock Holmes location is 6 miles away at St Paul’s Cathedral.
While it is fun to imagine Guy and Jude and Robert and Rachel all palling around between shots at St Pauls or up in Manchester at the Town Hall, Guy Ritchie relied heavily on CG and animation technologies in order to recreate Victorian London, and some of the film was even shot as far away as Brooklyn, New York.
Sherlock Holmes is enjoyable, action-packed and brings Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson into the 21st century. Ritchie and the boys have definitely got a sequel or two coming to them, and hopefully this time the rumors will become reality and Brad Pitt will star in the next films to come.
Sherlock Holmes Location London Bridge
Sherlock Holmes in London
Sherlock Holmes location Albert Dock Liverpool
Go on, you think you know this London location? In which famous London market street is this letter box located?
Give it a go in the comments below. The winner can have MyMetropole column inches to use to their heart’s delight – post your pictures, promote yourself or a group your involved with, post a guest post…Good Luck!
Slowly but surely I am coming to terms with the fact that I cant be walkin round talkin like I’m from Chicago, yo. I need say things like, yeah? and Innit? Well-chuffed and bruv.
But I am no where near understanding Cockney!
Okay kids, its time to play Name this London Location…The winner gets MyMetropole column inches for anything your little heart desires. You want to vent? Show off some pics? Shamelessly plug your blog? Tell me the name of this London location, and a MyMetropole plug and post is all yours!
Good Luck!
A comedy club night with 4 acts headlined by an award-winning burger van owner plus pork and pickle pies for a fiver.
The Britannia Pub on Victoria Park is hosting the Pork & Pickle Pie comedy club with tonight the first night of many to showcase top British talent in night of stand up ‘til you fall over laughing, or full of pork & pickle pies, or both.
Angelos Epithemiou of Shooting Stars headlines, most well known for his work with Vic & Bob on the BBC comedy quiz show (and from his burger van, obviously). 
Supporting acts include Will Andrews, comedy sketch group The Real MacGuffins and Richard Sandling. Combined, these comedians can throw around names like BBC, Channel 4, Bafta and Edinburgh Fringe, making this comedy night some serious stuff. If pork and pickle do not your fancy tickle, no worries – vegetarian options are available. This is just the first night of many, so if you’re interested, stay tuned!
Pork& Pickle Pie Comedy Club
The Britannia
360 Victoria Park Rd
London, E9 7BT
Tickets are £5
I recently wrote a preview for Le Cool London on the Grayson Perry Tapestry at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London. The previews I write are often before I’ve gotten to see it for myself, so I went to the Victoria Miro Gallery to check out the tapestry, and found that the Gallery itself stole the show.
The Victoria Miro Gallery is a privatly-owned venue tucked away down a no-name road in between Angel and Old Street, between Islington and Hoxton.
This free gallery is housed in a converted furniture factory, stretching over two floors in two neighbouring buildings with 10,000 square feet of space and includes a wooded outdoor patio between the two spaces. At the time I was there, the pond had invisible speakers spouting sounds of a choir and people relaxing on benches and enjoying an outdoor exhibit before stepping into the second space where the tapestry was located.
After ringing the buzzer to get in the main non-descript entrance, we stepped into a large white space in front of us and a dark wooden staircase to the left leads upstairs to a second space. 
Back down the stairs, through a narrow hallway, out past the singing pond and through the second door you are confronted with a long white surreal staircase stretching up, up, up to the sky, similar to a dream you must have had once. Halfway up the staircase is a large open well-lit white space, head back out and back up the remaining steps to the sky leads to the top floor space with views over Angel and Regents Canal. Not to mention an absolutely gorgeous space with wooden floors and tall strong walls to hold massive pieces of work.
The exhibits were all top, though of course the Turner Prize winning Grayson Perry pieces here were the most viewed, with over 30 people at a time swarming round the tapestry and his prize-winning vases.
Currently showing at the Victoria Miro Gallery is Phil Collins: soy mi madre through 18 December 2009.
http://www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/_402/
Victoria Miro Gallery
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
I just came across an excellent website called Untold London. The website explores the histories that relate to all the people of London as they are told in museums, galleries, archives and community heritage organisations. The information that is left out or often ignored adds a layer of reality to the stories of the past that, if known, would help us to better relate to and understand the present.
The website is run in collaboration between a number of organisations with experience in the London history and heritage sector, and managed by the London Museums Hub.
Thursday night, Untold London in association with the British Museum launched a downloadable tour of Gay London. You can download this tour here: www.britishmuseum.org/explore/themes/same-sex_desire_and_gender/introduction.aspx
At the launch, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Ben Bradshaw praised the initiative calling it “an excellent marker for the rest of the Museum sector.”
Sara Wajid, Manager of UntoldLondon said, “Richard Parkinson, curator at the British Museum told me a story about the bisexual writer Marguerite Yourcenar. She had been walking amongst the imposing displays of the Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous at the British museum, but she found nothing there about their passionate relationship. It was the silences in the museum version of their life that sparked her imagination to fill in the gaps about one of the greatest untold love stories. The result was the modern classic Mémoires d’Hadrien a fictionalised account of Hadrian’s life and love for Antinous published in 1951 to great critical acclaim. This was the inspiration for the competition.”
The website does not only cover LGBT history and issues, however. This website collates information from all under-represented groups. The lead news article is about London’s new Jewish Museum, set to bring together an impressive collection held at two locations into one new museum opening in Spring 2010 in Camden Town. Related articles cover the history of Yemen and British Yemenis and the Austrian Cultural Forum.
On a related note, a gay tourist office has recently opened in Soho. The Gay Tourist Board, located at 30 Lisle Street, London WC2H 7BA (above Ku Bar), will serve as a hub for both LGBT residents of London as well as for the large number of gay and lesbian tourists to the capital.
Centre director Shaun Newport said, “‘We want to show that London’s exciting LGBT life is the best in the world. We will show off what our city has to offer to local, national and international visitors, as well as to Londoners old and new.”
Follow the Gay Tourist Office on Twitter and be a fan on Facebook or visit the website at http://www.gaytouristoffice.co.uk.
