Under construction

www.london-performers.co.uk  is what 7 journalism students, including me, have been working on the last couple of weeks.


London Performers is a multimedia website, showcasing the distinguished talent in London. It incorporates informative writing, photography and multimedia content to reveal the unknown side of cult and popular culture.

Our aim is to encapsulate the trends of London's current entertainment scene through publishing issues focussed on certain groups of performers.

It is a website aimed at anyone interested in performing and anyone visiting or living in London.

We hope to expose entertainers who may be beginning their career, or those who have never had the right coverage before.

We want to expose London's entertainment in all its glamour and grime.





We will look at specific groups of performers in London, each aiming to take the theme of 'performing' in a literal and abstract sense.

Every story aims to explain what these performers do, why they do it and how they are doing it.
We are a team of seven international journalists working together to produce a truly original take on what London has to offer.

Check it out: www.london-performers.co.uk

Acting = good. Included history lesson = even better.

The King's Speech. A short review.

Living in London and not knowing too much about the royal family and history just doesn't go together. The King's Speech tells the story of King George VI of Britain, father of Queen Elizabeth II. and his stutter issue.

This movie taught me, Colin Firth is more than just a cheesy englishman that has to cope with various love affairs. He is a real actor and he can do much more than impress with his nice accent and formal conservative affectation.

Seing Westminster Abbey before a coronation - yes it was just a movie - made me realize how fascinating the history of the Royal family is.


The Royal Family

Harry's and William's gossip stories about partying, falling in love and getting married were the only reason I was interested in the royal family's life before. Now I am even more interested in the background and history of the family.


I can't remember the last time a movie didn't just entertain but also activate an appetite for more. This movie released so close to the big wedding of Kate and William sets the reputation of the royal family in a very bright light of even more interest in what is going to happen next.

Seing Queen Elizabeth II. as a cute girl, beloved by her father, changes my impression of a cold, old woman. Well, she is human after all.

Smile For London

The Underground has never been the most welcoming place, but it feels like this time of the year it is especially depressing. 

The Christmas lights have been removed, the sun won’t appear for another few weeks and the recession is still part of our everyday life. 

A cultural company has set up an interesting way to take some colour hundreds of feet below the earth - to the London Underground.


















Eliza Cloppenburg and Laura Geissweiller explored the world of a smile.
Press play to listen:

A Tower.

Press Play to listen:

Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, better known as the Tower of London was build in Middle Ages along the river Thames. It was used as castle, strong house, royal palace and prison for prisoners of the upper class. More over the coin, the city archive, the armory and a observatory was placed there.

Until Jacob the first all British Kings and Queens were living there from time to time. It was common practice that the monarch would sleep in the Tower the night before coronation and would ride in festive procession through the city to Westminster.

Today the British crown jewels are stored in the Tower, also a rich historical collection of arms and armour.

Wilhelm the conqueror ordered to build the White Tower at this place. It was supposed to secure the supremacy of the City of London and further regions to the Normans.

Expansion over the years

In the following centuries the castle was constantly expanded. It is surrounded by a wide moat. An outer wall is protecting the inner buildings. In the middle of the terrain there is the so-called White Tower almighty Keep. From a distance it seems to be quadratically, but three of the corners do not build a right angle and all four sides are of different length.

Today the Tower is a tourist attraction, since the British crown jewels are displayed here. But also the buildings itself, the collection of arms and armour and a last bit of the city wall of the antique city Londinium, what London was called in the Holy Roman Empire are making this place worth a visit.

World Cultural Heritage

By reason of its historical importance the UNESCO announced the Tower 1988 to world cultural heritage.

As postcard-attraction maybe more known but historically and functionally completely independent is the close-by Tower Bridge, which was named after the Tower. It was completed after eight years of construction in 1894.

Old meets New

On a rainy day there is nothing better than visiting a museum. These are the days when I finally try to tick all the things from my list, things I never found time for before. 

This time it was raining really badly so I decided to visit the British Museum. Quite impressive building I must say, I felt small surrounded by huge walls – a fantastic combination of old and new.

People have recommended me to go to the watches and clocks exhibition room somewhere on the third floor. It was a hassle for me finding the right stairs to take, to climb them up and finally reach the third floor.

But there was an old bath tap I touched and wasn’t allowed to, so I got screamed at from the museums supervisor. There were old jewels, coins and battle equipment, but no watches.

I knew I was lost. After asking a helpful lady at the information desk I finally got what I came for. Kind off.

Time for disappointment 

Maybe I am not easily to be impressed, but these were watches, clocks, and nice ones for sure, but a few of them could also come from my parents’ house. I was disappointed.

But, I must admit, I love this place. Just standing in the massive entrance hall, soughing about how impressive it is – was totally worth a visit.

I might come again, bring a huge lunch bag and have a picnic in the crowd of in ancient history interested people. I am part of it.

The Secret

2800 postcards made by different artists are displayed at the Royal College of Art in London anonymously and signed on the reverse – the artist remains a secret until the cards are purchased.

Each postcard costs 45 pounds and a maximum of four postcards may be purchased per person. The RCA organizes this contemporary art exhibition and fundraising sale every year.

The artists include Grayson Perry, Yoko Ono, Jake Chapman, Olafur Eliasson, Yinka Shonibare, Sir Peter Blake, John Baldessari, fashion designers Manolo Blahnik, Mary Quant and Sir Paul Smith, animator Nick Park, photographer David Bailey, film maker Mike Leigh and designers Ron Arad and James Dyson, as well as students and graduates from the Royal College of Art.

The exhibition ends today at 9 p.m. – tomorrow at 8 a.m. people will already be queuing in front of the college in order to be first in the row – getting the picture that may be a hidden treasure.

Since Tuesday a group of people started camping in front of the college, securing their position in the queue.

The 2800 postcards range from a simple glove glued onto the postcard to fantastic portraits and creative masterpieces. Nobody knows what’s on the reverse side of the postcard. Maybe there is another picture? Maybe it is only the signature.

The pupped player

I pampered myself with the Mahler Anniversary concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

After Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, Mahler’s setting for voice and orchestra of five poems by Friedrich Rückert didn’t really get me.

The French contralto Nathalie Stuzmann put her best German on and had an amazing range of octaves. Still without a microphone it seemed to me her voice ceased to exist in this generous hall.

‘I am dead to the world’s commotion and at peace in a still land’, she sang over a delicate harp-seasoned orchestra. 

Ravel hit it off

In Ravel’s Suites Nos. 1 and 2, Daphnis et Chloé the Japanese conductor Kazushi Ono and its orchestra were fabulous. 

I liked how he played the puppet player and I could see, he’s more than enjoying what he is doing. It even felt like those were the compositions they were all waiting for after starting off with the slower pieces.

The hall wasn’t fully booked; the royal gallery was empty (they really have bigger problems to cope with right now) and the applause wasn’t overwhelming. Still, if I like a concert I expect to get encores. There wasn’t one.

Oktoberfest? Oktoberfest.

There are all sorts of stereotypes in terms of people from different countries. The French are not wearing any bras and the Germans are famous for wearing white socks in open-toe sandals. 

But actually we all know, there are French woman wearing bras and yes, Germans are not always wearing socks and open-toe sandals.

During the Oktoberfest, Germans are wearing dirndls and lederhosen! And that's what everybody loves the Germans for - the beer and a plunging neckline on a girl.

Hanna Essinger is the sales and events coordinator of the Bavarian Beer house in London and knows a lot about this cultural experience in Germany. Hanna, what exactly is the Oktoberfest?

 

Beer rather than wine

Sniffing, sipping and gargling is what comes to ones mind thinking about choosing a drink from the wine list at a restaurant. At http://www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk in the heart of London, rather than a wine list, you will find a beer list.

The Belgian restaurant with its five branches around the city offers a wide range of Belgian beers next to typical Belgian food such as mussels and fries. From beers on tap, blonde beers, blonde ales, white beers, amber beers and dark beers you will also find fruit beers and beers brewed in the monasteries of Belgium. 

Monks were not allowed to drink wine in the older times, which is why they had to come up with something different to allay their thirst. Maybe that’s why the alcoholic strength of the monastery beers goes up to 11,3 percent.

The taste is quite different from the beers we know, it ranges from sweet to sour, from bitterly hopped to roasted malt and especially the girlish ones of us will find themselves with an empty glass before noticing. Here you don’t just drink beer, you live it! To keep up with the Belgians, you have to drink 150 litres of beer a year – can you beat them?