The Arts On Tour

We’ve picked six unmissable theatre, dance and art exhibitions showing all across the country. From ballet to watercolours, swans to Egyptian queens and lifestyle movements, there’s bound to be something to suit your artistic tastes.

THEATRE

Flare Path

Sienna Miller, James Purefoy and Sheridan Smith star in Terrance Rattigan’s war-time play. It tells the tale of a war-time love triangle, and pulls you along on a story that frankly would be a total cliché, were it not so skilfully executed.

This adaptation was produced by Trevor Nunn, whose attention to detail makes Flare Path an emotional delight.

Theatre Royal, Haymarket, SW1, until June 4th

Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

The play tells the tale of Martha, played by the incomparable Sian Thomas, a loud-mouthed alcoholic who regularly comes to blows with her husband, George, played by Jasper Britton.

The play begins with husband and wife inviting another couple to their home after a party, and what develops is brilliant.

Martha and George hurl a gloriously contemptuous verbal, and sometimes physical, diatribe of abuse at each other, witnessed by the other couple, who seem oddly hypnotised by the display.

The play is now touring.

ART

The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours

If you didn’t glean the purpose of the exhibition from the rather wordy title, this is the most detailed and complete survey of pre-Raphaelite drawings, which include watercolours painted by all seven members of the 19th century artists’ group.

A selection of works by Burne-Jones provides a kind of ‘next generation’ edge to the exhibition too.

The exhibition is in the Birmingham Museum until May 15th.

The Cult Of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900

This exhibition includes drawings and paintings belonging to an artistic movement that actually spawned a lifestyle.

The movement is associated with Wilde and Whistler, and the exhibition attempts to shed light on its intricacies that inspired a way of life.

Waldemar Januszczak says of the exhibition, “This superb look at the aesthetic movement is not just easy on the eye: it charts the birth of modern attitudes to pleasure”.

To experience it for yourself, head to the Victoria and Albert Museum (SW7) before July 17th.

DANCE

Royal Ballet

The unparalleled Swan Lake and the fantastical Cinderella, produced by Anthony Dowell and Frederick Ashton respectively, are playing at the Royal Opera House until the 6th of May, and these performances are truly not to be missed.

Both are set to Sergei Prokofiev’s unmistakable score and will present five new casts as part of the fresh production.

ROH, WC2: Swan Lake, Mon, Fri; Cinderella, Thu, Sun (matinee) until 6th May.

Cleopatra

This brand new production by David Nixon follows the Egyptian Queen’s tempestuous relationships with Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Ptolemy.

The production for the Northern Ballet combines Nixon’s directive talent and composer Claude-Michel Schönberg’s flair to create a truly unique balletic experience.

Cleopatra is touring, starting in Milton Keynes on 3rd of May and ending in Norwich on 15th October.

The Shakespeare Season at The Globe

The end of April sees the beginning of Shakespeare’s theatre season at The Globe. Ending in October, get yourself to London for an unforgettable 17th century theatre experience.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan of the Bard or merely curious, a visit to the Globe theatre on Bankside (London) promises to be an experience you will never forget. The venue, opened in 1997 is an exact replica of the building that stood on the same site in the 17th century.

Open air with a thatched roof, the replica Globe is a physical representation of the love of Shakespeare felt by American actor and director, Sam Wannamaker. Wannamaker wanted to commemorate the fact that Shakespeare worked in Bankside throughout his career as the resident playwright for the acting troupe known as The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

Even if you don’t get on with Shakespeare’s plays a trip to the Globe is well worth it for the sheer spectacle of the building. The real interest is obviously the theatre season though, which begins on the 23rd of April and ends the 2nd October, where first-rate performers interpret works by Shakespeare, as well as more contemporary plays.

Last year, the theme of the season at the Globe was Kings and Rogues, with performances of Macbeth, the two parts of Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Ticket prices range from £15 to £35 for covered seating, or as always there are cheaper standing tickets; these standing areas would have been where the general public stood to watch the plays, giving the performance a real personal edge as the public stood inches from the stage.

The 2011 season sees showings of Hamlet, All’s Well That Ends Well, As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing, as well as other plays such as Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.

Shows continue regardless of bad weather and last two to three hours. The venue has its own bar and brasserie. 2011 dates are provisional. For more information go to Shakespeare’sGlobe.com.

Hannah Light

The Monaco Grand Prix

On the 29^th May, the Circuit de Monaco will be injected with the screams of twenty-four engines and cries of adoration from the stands. But where did it all begin?

First held in 1929, the Monaco Grand Prix is part of the triple-crown of motor racing events, the other two being the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hour Le Mans. The race circuit is very narrow because it is comprised of the streets of Monaco, and includes tight corners, a tunnel, and several changes in elevation. These elements make it one of the toughest circuits on the F1 calendar, and therefore demands relatively low average speeds. However, it is a very dangerous circuit and taps every nerve in drivers’ bodies when they negotiate their way around the narrow roads, avoiding the unforgiving stone walls.

The very first race at Monaco was organised by Anthony Noghès, under the patronage of the Automobile Club de Monaco – it seems comical now that such a lavish event was ever in need of support. William Grover-Williams was the victor, behind the wheel of an early Bugatti. The race was part of the pre-World War II European Championship, and was included in the very first Formula One championship in 1950.

It was the venue for the European Grand Prix once in 1955 and then again in 1963. At this time, being the host of the European Grand Prix was an honourary title designated to one Grand Prix race taking place in Europe. For example, the 1960 European Grand Prix was held at the Italian Monza circuit.

Racing in Europe began again after World War II on 9^th September, 1945, taking place at Paris’ Bois de Boulogne Park. A year later, Formula One was recognised by the FIA as the new premium form of motor racing, and Monaco was the designated venue for the very first race adhering to the new structure. Nino Farina won this race driving a Maserati 4CLT.

Juan Manuel Fangio, who would end his career as five-time world champion, won his first World Championship race at Monaco, but no race took place there 1951 and 1952, as the venue played host to the lesser sport of Formula 2.

Drivers scream past some stellar sights of Monaco, namely La Condamine, which includes a route past the beautiful harbour. Those fortunate enough to have boats in Monaco’s harbour may watch the action in comfort, as well as the occupants of high-rise apartments that have a bird’s-eye view of the circuit. The same roads have been used since the first race of 1929, including the famous tunnel; Monaco’s only contender for track history is the Italian Imola Grand Prix circuit of Monza, which has been used every year (bar two) since 1953.

The challenging course of Monaco’s circuit has meant that a couple of drivers have ended up in the harbour, the most famous of which being Alberto Ascari in 1955. In 1929, ‘La Vie Automobile’ magazine gave the opinion that ‘Any respectable traffic system would have covered the track with <<Danger>> sign posts left, right and centre’.

The tunnel also makes for an exciting race, as drivers plunge into semi-darkness in an area that demands the fastest speeds, and are then flung back into the blinding sunshine. It’s the part of the circuit where everyone prays the visors do their job, because there is a rather intimidating wall on the other side of the tunnel that does not move if it’s struck by a carbon fibre motor car that can reach speeds of 186mph in 8.6 seconds.

Graham Hill, father of Damon, was dubbed ‘Mr Monaco’ as a result of his five wins in the 1960s, but Brazil’s Ayrton Senna won the race more times than any other driver. He enjoyed six victories, five of which consecutively between 1989 and 1993. Senna, of course, died in 1994 while leading a race at the San Marino race in Imola, Italy.

Formula One driver, Nelson Piquet, who won the championship three times, said that a race at Monaco was “like trying to cycle round your living room”. He also said that “a win here was worth two anywhere else”, and looking around, surrounded by beautiful buildings, beautiful people and beautiful weather, all steeped in history, it’s not hard to understand what he means.

Hannah Light.

May, 1961: A Nostalgic Look back at 50 Years Ago.

4th May, 1961: U.S Freedom Riders Start Bus Campaign

Civil rights activists, known as the U.S. Freedom Riders, started their campaign by riding buses into the segregated southern US to test the Supreme Court’s decision on Boynton vs. Virginia of the previous year. The very first freedom ride left Washington D.C. on this day, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17th.

Boynton vs. Virginia outlawed racial segregation in bus station restaurants and terminals, so the freedom fighters set out to test the integrity of the ruling by boarding various forms of transport and travelling across the southern US. The actions of these freedom riders ultimately bolstered the American Civil Rights movement, which was at its most influential between 1955 and 1968.

5th May, 1961 – Alan Shepard First American In Space Aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.

Mercury-Redstone 3 was a piloted space mission, part of the US’s ‘Mercury program’. The mission launched on May 5, 1961 from Cape Canaveral with the use of a Redstone rocket. The Mercury spacecraft was named Freedom 7 and was piloted by Alan B. Shepard, who became the first American in space. The flight was suborbital, lasting less than 16 minutes, and reached an altitude of just over 116 miles.

Earlier Russian Soviet Vostok 1 flights orbited the Earth, but the US mission was designed simply to test ballistic trajectory, meaning that Shepard simply went up and the down again! However, the simplicity of the mission meant that Shepard became the first astronaut to safely return to Earth inside his vehicle, after Russian, Yuri Gagarin, was forced to parachute prior to landing in the Vostok 1 mission.

6th May, 1961 – Tottenham Hotspur Win Double Title

On this day, 1961, Tottenham Hotspur became the first English team of the twentieth century (and only the third in history) to celebrate a double victory of the league title and the FA Cup, winning 2-0 against Leicester City in the final. The two goals were scored by Robert Smith and Terry Dyson, both of whom were top scorers for the club throughout their respective careers. The last team to achieve this double victory was Aston Villa in 1897, who beat Everton 3-2 at Crystal Palace.

8th May, 1961 – British Spy Found Guilty Of Being A Double-Agent

On this day, British spy, George Blake (christened George Behar) was sentenced to forty-two years in prison for being a double-agent in the pay of the Soviet Union. Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966 and fled to the USSR. Blake’s most notable work involved translating German documents during World War II, as well as interrogating captured Germans in France around the time of the D-Day landings.

He was recruited by MI6 in 1948 after a crash-course in Russian and posted to the Seoul British Embassy. Captured in Korea in 1950, Blake became a Marxist and after his release betrayed details of around 400 MI6 agents to the Soviet Union. He was exposed as a Soviet spy in 1961 by Polish defector, Michael Goleniewski. The maximum prison term for someone committing espionage was fourteen years, but Blake was convicted of three separate counts of spying, so his sentence was tripled to forty-two years of imprisonment. This would be the longest British court sentence ruled until Nezar Hindawi was imprisoned to forty-five years for attempting to bomb an El Al plane. In 2007, Blake was awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin.

15th May, 1961 – Heinrich Matthaei: The Birth Of Modern Genetics

On this day, 1961, J Heinrich Matthaei performed the Poly-U-Experiment on his own, and was the first bio-chemist to understand and recognise the existence of the genetic code. Though Matthaei’s work is widely regarded as the main contributing factor to the birth of modern genetics, it was his fellow scientist, Marshall Warren Nirenberg that shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology.

Matthaei’s not being awarded the prize, as the person who actually deciphered the genetic code, remains one of the biggest Nobel Prize controversies.

28th May, 1961 – Founding Of Amnesty International

Jewish and son of an army officer father, Peter James Henry Solomon chose to keep his mother’s name in later life. At sixteen he helped establish an aid fund for children orphaned by the Spanish civil war. From 1941-1945, Benenson worked as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, and afterwards became a barrister and joined the Labour Party.
In 1958 he became ill and moved to Italy, where he soon converted to the Roman Catholic Faith. In this year, 1961, Benenson was shocked to hear that two Portuguese students had been imprisoned for toasting to ‘freedom’ during the reign of António de Oliveira Salazar – the Estado Novo. This inspired him to write his paper, ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’, which appeared in The Observer on this day, May 28th 1961.

In the paper, Benenson encouraged people to write their own papers and letters to show support for the students. An organisation needed to be created to manage the letter-writing campaigns, and so Amnesty International was founded in Luxembourg.

Grow Your Own Truffles

Reaching thousands of pounds for just a few grams, truffles are one of the most expensive natural food products in the world, but that doesn’t mean you have to bare the expense. Hannah Light looks into what’s involved in growing your own fancy funghi.

When it comes to hunting for truffles, the old stereotypes of solitary nights, greedy pigs and overexcited hounds come to mind, but this need not be your experience. Nowadays, science has come a long way, and some clever botanist somewhere has managed to cultivate tree seedlings actually inoculated with truffle spores.

Imagine, having your very own truffle supply in your back garden!

Commercial cultivation of truffles is actually a process that’s been going on since the 1800s, becoming the most popular botanical pursuit in France in the late 19th century. During this century, huge tracts of land that were formerly vineyards were made available for truffle cultivation, after the fungus, phylloxera, spread across the French countryside.

The migration of the French rural populous to urban areas saw the decline of the cultivation, which was significantly slowed further by the beginning of the First World War. More recently, Australia and New Zealand have begun to develop this fancy funghi, but at the moment we here in the UK are a bit slow on the up-take.

Truffles, or they’re less glamorous name, ‘ectomycorrhizal fungus’, are found in the region of plant roots, and are always associated with the tree to whom these roots belong. The first French cultivation occurred with the plantation of acorns, grown from a tree that was sharing the soil with truffles. The fungus seems to prefer beech, hazel, oak or poplar trees in alkaline soil and takes between five and eight years to produce truffles.

When it comes to finding your truffles, trained hounds may be hired (along with their owners), or you may just like to do it the cost-effective way and have a dig around yourself.

Truffles are associated with France and Italy purely because they were cultivated first in those countries, and there are several different varieties that suit a range of dishes. The most common is the white truffle, which is known as the ‘summer’ truffle, and is not to be mixed up with the Alba variety from Italy. This type of truffle is so expensive to grow it actually cannot be cultivated in the UK.

As with shellfish, truffles are seen as a luxury food nowadays, but that was not always so. In the nineteenth century they were actually associated with peasants, as a huge famine saw people belonging to this class eating truffles as a meat substitute. Gourmet chefs would probably swoon with the thought of these diamonds of the soil being boiled up in a pot with beans, but such was life in the nineteenth century.

So, instead of gazing longingly at chefs grating luxurious wafers of truffle onto dishes and resigning yourself to the fact you’ll never be able to afford them, get hold of an inoculated tree seedling and grow your very own fantastic funghi!

Learn About Your Ancestors

Genealogy is the study of the descendants of families and persons from an ancestor or ancestors, which makes for a very interesting and time-consuming hobby. As genealogy is undertaken professionally there is a specific way of researching information, a way that is recommended by all genealogists. For whatever reason you decide to take up tracing your family, you can be guaranteed to find out many things you did not know about your past and ancestry. All families have their mysteries, some have scandals, so whatever you find out is bound to be intriguing.

If you happen to live near a Family History Centre then do make use of any information available, as in the genealogy game there is no such thing as too much information. For an idea of what you will be working with, visit the London Family History Centre. As you will be up to your elbows in documentation it is a very good idea to plan your strategy before you begin turfing out things in your attic. The first thing to do is decide which side of your family you want to trace, and how far back in to history you would like to go.

The first thing you want to check is that your family has not already been researched. Have a look at various directories such as the annual Genealogical Research Directory, online regional surname records, published genealogies and books of pedigrees. Do not put your complete faith in the information you find out – rather, use it as a springboard to access more material.

If you would like to produce a family tree then you will of course have to pursue both sides of your family; this method allows you to see the list of your relatives grow, and so create your ‘tree’ of ancestry. Alternatively, you might like to create an extended family tree, which will involve pursuing all lines of ancestry, such as distant cousins. This method involves significant research, but ultimately you will end up with a huge amount of information about your extended family. It’s up to you how far you want to go.

Also, if you are feeling particularly adventurous you may like to create an ‘ancestry chart’, which involves finding as many ancestors as possible from both maternal and paternal lines. This method is the most complicated of all with the sheer amount of information available to you, but, if you are organised there is no reason why you can’t do it, and enjoy it.

The Family History Library has produced the International Genealogical Index, now available online at LDS FamilySearch. This site contains millions of baptisms and marriages taken from parish registers. The records are not 100% complete, so the best thing you can do is treat the information as a benchmark for progressing in your own research. Local archives are bursting with information such as census records, newspaper articles and land records, so are well worth your time. Running with the local theme, consider joining a genealogical society where you may concentrate your research with more specialised information such as parish registers, tax records, census enumerators’ forms, wills, militia muster rolls, military service records, tithe maps and electoral rolls.

The best thing to remember about this is that it should be entertaining. With all the information you will collect it is easy to see why it can become stressful, but if you are organised and don’t lose track of why you are doing it, researching your family history can be very exciting.

Chia Seeds

Chia, or ‘salvia hispanica’, has huge nutritional value as well as medicinal properties. It has been used as a staple food since the time of the Aztecs and revered for its high energy content. As May brings salad season, we take a look at the limitless health benefits of this innocuous little seed.

It was said that Aztec warriors survived on Chia seeds during their warfare, and warriors from the south-western United States could go on a twenty four-hour march having eaten just one teaspoon of chia. The best way of understanding the properties of chia is to simply leave a teaspoon of the seed in a glass of water, come back to it, and the glass will be filled with what looks like gelatin.

The reaction is due to the soluble fibres contained within the seeds, and researchers believe the very same thing happens in one’s stomach. This means that the gelatinous fibres, or mucilages, form a kind of barrier between ingested carbohydrates and digestive enzymes, so the carbohydrate is broken down much more slowly. The chia seed is the ultimate in slow-release energy.

This slow breakdown of carbohydrates is obviously good news for you if you suffer from diabetes, as prolonging the conversion to sugar helps to stabilise metabolic changes, thus lowering the surges of ‘ sugar highs and lows’ which often catch diabetes sufferers out.

Chia seeds are also able to absorb twelve times their weight in water, meaning that when ingested the seed can help prolong hydration. The electrolytes present in fluids support body cells, so the more stable their hydration, the better. This is worth bearing in mind as we enter the warmer months of the year. The seeds also contain hydrophilic colloids, which are contained in most raw foods, and benefit the body in many ways

However, when cooked, these foods lose their colloidal integrity. Uncooked foods contain enough hydrophilic colloid to keep gastric mucosa in the correct condition, so the uncooked chia seeds provide another benefit to the body’s digestion. Chia seeds also build muscle tissue so are a great snack in the gym or before any workout.

The seeds may also be used to aid the digestion of anybody who suffers with unbalanced gastric mucosa; special diets exist to help ease this condition, and chia seeds can be eaten to complement it and further help digestion. Sufferers are usually prohibited from eating raw vegetables, green salads and fruits because their fibrous and sometimes acidic makeup is difficult to digest, but with the introduction of chai into the diet, these may be eaten in small quantities.

Cactus juice, beetroot juice and agar (edible seaweed) also contain these digestion-easing properties, but these may be too expensive and have undesirable side-effects. Chia seeds are therefore the better option. They also have a very high oil content and are the richest vegetable source of Omega-3 fatty acid. These fatty acids are what the body needs to emulsify and absorb soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Unsaturated fatty acids contained in these seeds are vital for organ respiration, and also aid the transportation of oxygen around the blood stream to cells, organs and tissues. Chia is also rich in Calcium, containing the mineral Boron, which utilises the absorption of Calcium into the body.

Additional benefits for eating Chia are as follows:

•It is thought to aid healing

•It helps clear up impurities, such as eye-related infections

•It is very rich so you do not need to ingest much if you’re not a fan of seeds

You don’t need to just munch on the seeds as they are to feel the benefits – Chia can be used in many recipes, such as banana bread, soups, puddings, salads, dressings, French toast and stir fries. Treat it as you would any other seed in terms of recipes, and just remember, it’s phenomenally good for you.

The Chelsea Flower Show

Held in the grounds of Chelsea’s Royal Hospital, the Chelsea Flower Show replaced the Great Spring Show, which was held in Kensington, and before that, Chiswick. The Chiswick show was moved to Kensington because people struggled to get to Chiswick, and here it became the Great Spring Show. This was held at Kensington for twenty-six years, and then in 1888, the RHS engineered a move to further increase the popularity of the Show by holding it in the centre of London.

The original site chosen was the Temple Gardens, between the Embankment and Fleet Street. These temple gardens had fame of their own dating back to Elizabethan times, when Shakespeare referred to them in his works. Two marquees salvaged from the Kensington show were used, and the 1888 show was a resounding success, featuring exhibits from both amateur and professional gardeners. By 1897, the show was comprised of five tents’ worth of exhibits, and many of the nation’s best plant and seed merchants were attracted to the Show, including Suttons and Sons, founded in 1806.

In 1912, what had become known as the Temple Show was re-located to Chelsea’s Royal Hospital grounds, courtesy of renowned nurseryman, Sir Harry Veitch. This location was only meant to be a one-off, but it proved so popular that the 1913 Great Spring Show was re-located there, and this is what became the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, as we now know it.

The roaring 20s saw the Chelsea Flower Show become even more popular, with the establishment of the famous tea parties, and the influx of Royal visits. In 1937 a fantastic Empire Exhibition was shown at Chelsea to mark King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation Year. The exhibition featured Australian wattles, Canadian pines, East African gladioli and several Palestinian prickly pears!

The show did not take place during World War II, as the War Office required the land for an anti-aircraft site, and there was some worry as to whether it would resume in 1947. People planning exhibits preferred a postponement because the War had seen plant stocks severely decline, fuel for greenhouses was low, and staff numbers had decreased. However, Lord Aberconway, the then RHS President, felt that normal life should resume as soon as possible, and this included the resumption of the Chelsea Flower Show. So, the 1947 show did go ahead, and was a huge success.

The Show continued to increase in popularity so much that it actually became a problem. There was severe crowding in the tents, and throughout the 1970s attendance at Chelsea climbed by as much as 6,000 visitors in one year. Simple opening times and ticket number alterations soon rectified the cramped conditions at the show, and the Council voted for a cap on tickets, which also helped curb busyness. In 1988, a cap of 40,000 daily visitors was imposed, a difference of 90,000 from the previous year. People were also charged for tickets for the first time in 1988, which proved very unpopular, to the extent that people were actually encouraged to come to Chelsea by advertisements, something that was never needed twenty years previous.

Salvation was found with the decision to increase the number of venues involved with the show, such as Hampton Court Palace. This expansion into other venues solved the problem and also provided an element of diversity for both visitors and exhibitors.

Nowadays, the Chelsea Flower Show is attended by 157,000 people every year, and all tickets are purchased in advance of the gates opening. In 2005, the show had an extra day added to its calendar, with the first two only open to RHS members and certain members of the Royal family, who attend as part of the royal patronage of the RHS.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show commences on the 24^th May and ends on the 28^th.

Hannah Light

The Story of the British Food Market.

We all know that British food is fantastic, so why do we export so much home-grown produce in favour of imported alternatives? I take a look at the food market and if the supermarkets are really to blame for our choices when it comes to buying British.

It seems ridiculous that we British apparently needed to be persuaded to buy home-grown produce, but there it is. The beginning of April saw the last episode in the series of The Great British Food Revival, a programme hosted by ten of the country’s best loved chefs, from veterans Michel Roux Jnr and Clarissa Dickson-Wright, to the fresh-faced Matt Tebbutt and Glynn Purnell. Each episode saw two chefs go on a crusade to promote British produce, the first featuring Chef Roux championing artisan bread, along with the Hairy Bikers, Dave and Si, who were extolling the virtues of the humble cauliflower.

Cheeky chappy, Greg Wallace would follow with his love of potatoes, Clarissa Dickson-Wright travelled to pig farms all over the UK looking at rare breed pork, two ingredients that some of us, apparently, see as dull. There was nothing dull about the recipes that Greg and Clarissa came up with for their products: gnocchi, potato dauphinoise, roast shoulder of pork and damson pies respectively.

James Martin and Matt Tebbutt lead the way on the promotion of apples and mutton, and this episode probably held the most shocking statistics. There are almost 2,000 varieties of apple, most of which can be grown in the UK, yet we picky consumers don’t like the look of anything that isn’t smooth and green or a perfect red. So those more unusual (and much better tasting) UK varieties never make it to the supermarket shelves, in favour of more aesthetically pleasing types from France; little treasures like the ‘Pippin’ and ‘Russet’ hardly ever see the shelves nowadays.

It’s the classic tale of style over substance really. It just seems like if it’s not perfectly spherical and shining in that totally unnatural, plasticky way, we don’t want it, so supermarkets don’t stock it, which means that farmers struggle to sell their produce. This produce will then stop being grown and hey presto!, another British product dies a vain death.

Ainsley Harriott attacked his task of championing British honey with his usual vigour, and was outraged at the amount of foreign honey, mainly from Australia, that is imported into the country when, obviously, our bees produce a wonderful product. Gary Rhodes visited a tomato farm and introduced us to many varieties that I didn’t even know existed – he then made a pudding out of them!

Following on from this, Angela Hartnett set herself the task of promoting crab. Shellfish seems to repel the more squeamish among us, but it is actually very good for us, packed with omega oils, and relatively inexpensive, depending on what you buy.  As we hardly eat it, our British crab is exported to other countries, where the price is jacked up, but people still buy it because it is so wonderful. So why aren’t we eating it? It seems that every country raves about our produce, except us. We want cheaper produce, and we want to be able to eat it out of season, and therein lies the problem.

As this is the situation, we’re often cheated by manufacturers, who brand a product as, for example ‘Cheddar’, when it came from another country, so, clearly, is not Cheddar. Stilton and Melton Mowbray have been awarded PDOs (Protected Designation of Origin) so that consumers know the product is indeed from those places, but at the moment, any cheese can be called Cheddar, but not ‘West Country Cheddar’. This just seems like the PDO system being pedantic to me, as, deemed ‘West Country’ or not, said Cheddar is still located in Cheddar. Confusing? Yes, I thought so too.

As a result of these five BBC episodes, I am now eating sour bread regularly (thanks to Michel Roux Jnr), spreading honey on my toast that came from about half a mile away (thank you, Ainsley), and, as always, making sure any other produce that I buy is British. Hardly any British produce is more expensive than imported produce, but when it is, I for one would rather pay 10p more for an apple that was grown in the same county I live in, than a French one that’s been sprayed with chemicals and coated in wax.

Is it just me? Do people really not care about produce from their country? Am I being harsh? I just wonder, because if this wasn’t a serious problem then we’d have no need for a programme to really bring it home to us.

London: With a Capital L (no pun intended)

Where do we start? London, the capital of England, the hub of Britain, the place of culture, cuisine, diversity, pomp and majesty, but what can it offer those of us in our later years? London may seem intimidating with its sheer size and buzz of traffic, but if you know what you want to do before you go it needn’t be a nightmare of noise and congestion but could instead be the trip of a lifetime!

What to do

Culture –Theatre & Museums

London is home to some of the finest theatres in the world, with actors travelling across the globe to perform in its many theatrical venues, and with a huge range of plays, musicals and operas on offer you really are spoilt for choice.

If you are a fan of Shakespeare then get yourself over to Bankside, Southwark and go to The Globe theatre, the Shakespearian mecca of London. At the moment you can see the Bard’s hilarious 1602 comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor which is on throughout November and December. The Globe really is a sight to behold – with its traditional architecture and place in history you’ll find yourself sucked in to Shakespeare’s theatrical world.

Shaftesbury Avenue is the main port of call in the West End for the best examples of theatre in London, with its exemplary pedigree of actors such as Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Helen Mirren and Dame Maggie Smith treading the boards on a regular basis. The lights, neon signs and flashing famous names are incredibly exciting to see, but if you feel this would be a bit much for you then London has the best museums and art collections in the world as well.

The National Portrait Gallery contains the finest collections of art ever seen, with their Primary Collection for example holding 11,000 portraits of which 4,000 are paintings, sculptures and miniatures, and 7,000 are light-sensitive works on paper. There is also a Reference Collection containing some 80,000 portraits, the Photographs Collection of 220,000 photographic images of which 130,000 are original negatives, and the Conservation, Digital Resource and Support collections which aim to give visitors even greater insight in to the paintings held in the gallery.

The current featured display is a selection of works from Thomas Lawrence named the ‘Regency Power & Brilliance’ collection which will be displayed until the 23^rd of January 2011 and contains public and private works never before seen. The viewer of this exhibition will get a fascinating insight in to the private lives of actresses and actors brilliantly juxtaposed against the grandeur and pomp of international statesmen, military leaders and members of the royal family in the early nineteenth century.

The Natural History Museum is a must-visit, with its exhibitions of dinosaur skeletons, fossils, the brand new Darwin Centre, collections of creepy crawlies and fantastic information about all the animals on the planet, including us. All museums in London are free to enter, such as the Imperial War Museum and the Science Museum also, so for a day of learning and culture get yourself out and steep yourself in history with the help of London’s brilliant museums.

Shopping – Portobello Market, Oxford Street and Regent’s Street

A trip to London would not be complete without a financial splurge in its high streets. Oxford Street is perfect for high street brand shopping, while Regent’s Street is the place to go for an unmissable trip to Hamley’s Toy Shop where you can pick up fabulous presents for your grandchildren. Next stop Knightsbridge where you can truly indulge yourself with a trip to Harrods. Take some spending money with you and peruse the Womenswear, Menswear, Accessories, Beauty, Sport, Children, Food & Wine, Christmas and Hampers sections, picking up special presents for every member of your family.

Do The Tourist Thing

There are thousands of places to get food in London, whether you buy from a street vendor or slip in to a traditional British pub, or, if you’re really feeling luxuriant, go to the Ritz for an afternoon tea. After that you’ll be fuelled up for an afternoon of extra sights and sounds to take in, such as the wonderful Covent Garden, Westminster Abbey, the Tower Of London, Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and anything else you fancy.  If you would like to see all of London’s sights but don’t think your feet will be able to cope with walking around all day then the simplest situation is to take a guided open-top bus tour, which will take you around the main sites of the city and save your legs!

London is not a city to be feared and avoided, it is a city to be explored and loved. So decide what you want to do there, buy yourself a map and go. Just because we’re in our senior years does not mean we have to miss out on an action-packed stay in Britain’s capital – just plan ahead, wear sensible shoes and enjoy the experience!

Hannah Light