AboutLondon Laura – March 2025
Did you try any of my recommendations from last month? I saw The Face Magazine: Culture Shift at the National Portrait Gallery. While I wasn’t an avid reader, I did enjoy the quality photography in this exhibition. It’ll suit the ‘nostalgia’ audience who will also like Outlaws at the Fashion & Textile Museum (closes 9 March) and Leigh Bowery! at Tate Modern (closes 31 August).
London on Screen
I was talking to a friend in New York recently who told me she enjoyed watching TV programmes filmed in London. Her current favourite is C.B. Strike – a television drama based on the book series Cormoran Strike by JK Rowling. The private investigator has an office on Denmark Street – a central London street best known for its music industry connections as a British ‘Tin Pan Alley’.
I do savour the inner smugness when I see the hint of a location on telly and I know where it is. (For example, Danny Robbins leaving Warren Street station to go to The Ship pub in the latest series of Uncanny but the station name can’t be seen. I just know it from so many times using that side exit.)
A fellow London writer once told me he only reads books with a London connection. Not necessarily by boycotting every other topic but because this is what interested him the most.
I have to confess, as I’m moving to Wales soon, I’ve noticed I’m watching more films and TV programmes with a Welsh connection and my chosen audiobooks at the moment often have a story set in Wales. So it seems we do use different methods of popular culture to expand our knowledge as well as for enjoyment.
Back to London, do you follow @SteppingThroughFilm on Instagram? Thomas goes to a filming location and holds up a photo to line up perfectly. He does travel but as he’s based in London, there are a lot of London posts.
Seeing Hugh Grant here, made me think of the Bridget Jones filming locations – the most well-known being Borough Market. There’s a restaurant in what was ‘Bridget’s flat’ so you can go there.
If you enjoy seeing London on screen, I recommend having a look at Film London as they post regular updates on the movies and shows that have used the capital. Visit London has a helpful article too.
What’s Happening This Month?
The Royal Academy has Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo from 21 March. Victor Hugo was a leading public figure in 19th-century France. His books Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame were printed worldwide. In private, his refuge was drawing. Hugo’s ink and wash visions of imaginary castles, monsters and seascapes are as poetic as his writing.
Victor Hugo, The Town of Vianden, with Stone Cross, 1871, Brown and black ink, brown and purple wash, graphite and varnish on paper, 25 x 34.5 cm. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350 at the National Gallery reunites paintings by some of the greatest Italian artists of the 14th century. Open from 8 March, you can see some of the most innovative works in the Western painting tradition. Many were part of larger ensembles before they were separated and are being brought back together.
Also at the National Gallery, José María Velasco: A View of Mexico is the first UK exhibition of Mexico’s much-loved artist. This is actually the first ever exhibition dedicated to a Latin American artist at the National Gallery. Open from 29 March, this one is free to see.
Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur opens at The Wallace Collection on 28 March. The exhibition to mark Perry’s 65th birthday is in a museum that has inspired him throughout his life.
Edvard Munch Portraits opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 13 March. Regarded as one of the great portraitists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this will be the first exhibition in the UK to focus exclusively on this aspect of his work.
Dress Codes at Kensington Palace examines the traditions and standards of royal attire. Starting from 13 March, visitors can see two coordinating floral cotton dresses from Liberty, worn in 1936 by Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, during their childhood in London. The exhibit also features numerous other royal garments worn by Diana, Princess of Wales and by Queen Victoria.
And finally, see Pamela Anderson’s Baywatch swimsuit at the Design Museum in Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style. Open from 28 March, this exhibition dives into design’s role in shaping our relationship with swimming over the past 100 years.
As a side note, if you’re interested in why Pamela Anderson no longer wears makeup, this recent interview with Drew Barrymore is worth seeing.
I’d love to hear which Welsh locations you spot in shows! I’ve recognised a few in old Doctor Who’s.
As a retired London cabbie I can't watch any London drama without trying to identify the locations. My favourite is John Wayne in Brannigan where after going to Prince of Wales Drive, Battersea he passes the Tower of London. So many famous locations are used (haphazardly) you'd think the film was made by Visit London