| Check out this week's alternative guide to what's on in London.  Welcome to my weekly email of lectures, talks, heritage events, organised walks and other random miscellany which Ian hopes would be of interest. For a regularly updated list of museums and galleries that are slowly reopening, click here  | = Event is free of charge |  | = Pre-Booking required. |
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| | Saturday, 1st August |
| | Sunday, 2nd August | | Monthly open day at Gatton Park, the core 250 acres of the estate originally laid out by Capability Brown. |  | 1pm to 5pm |
|  | Reigate |
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| | Here is an oasis in Camden’s urban density, where resourceful planting outflanks challenges of space and shade and Mrs Dickens, who once lived here, is an amiable ghost. | | 2pm to 4:30pm |
| | Camden |
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| | Monday, 3rd August |
| | Tuesday, 4th August |
| | Wednesday, 5th August |
| | Thursday, 6th August | | Your presenter takes you on a guided 360° virtual tour. You will have a detailed look inside several rooms including the Commons Chamber, Lords Chamber and Central Lobby with its magnificent octagonal ceiling. | | 6pm to 7pm |
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| | Friday, 7th August | | Join Emma Major to find out about the eighteenth-century gin craze. | | 2pm to 3pm |
| | Online |
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| | Emma Major delivers this highly illuminating talk on 18th Century gin crazes. Meet gin-dispensing cats and Old Toms, as you learn who drank gin and how, and why there was a gin craze. | | 2pm to 3pm |
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| | Saturday, 8th August | | Live online Zoom talk. Rosalind McCutcheon and Jill Williams cover the story of Ireland. | | 4pm to 5pm |
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| Exhibitions closing shortly | | Immerse yourself in Picasso’s world of paper and discover how – with this everyday material we know so well – he found the means to explore the furthest reaches of his creativity. (Ends on Sun, 2nd Aug) |
| | Latest blog posts by ianVisits | Design Museum to open late throughout August
With social distancing reducing how many people can get into museums, the Design Museum is extending its opening hours for the month of August. |  | Sponsor the Skynet satellite, or the Red Arrows
There's an opportunity to have your name on a Spitfire plane, or the Skynet satellite, or a jar of sand. |  | The disused North Woolwich railway station is up for sale
Opened in 1854 as a grand terminus station, closed in 1979, then a museum, and now empty, North Woolwich railway station is up for sale. |  | See Charles Dickens in technicolour
One of the curiosities about Charles Dickens is how familiar we are with the image of the elderly bearded classically Victorian man we are. No other author of the time is as instantly recognisable. |  | Hayward Gallery reopens in August with deals for NHS and locals
The Southbank Centre's Hayward Gallery has announced that it will reopen from this Saturday (1st August), with discounts for NHS workers and local residents. |  | London’s Alleys: Shoulder of Mutton Alley, E14
This is a Limehouse street which crops up regularly on lists of odd street names in London, but it had a more interesting history than that. |  | TfL needs an additional £2 billion to keep running until next April
TfL has outlined how much support it will need from the government if it is to keep running services after the current bailout expired in October. |  | Museums visitor numbers jumped – last year
They've been closed for months, and are staggering towards limited openings, but museums and galleries have a lot of pent up demand to visit -- if there are good exhibitions to see. |  | London’s weekly railway news
A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news… |  | Crossrail to miss Summer 2021 launch due to lockdown delays
Crossrail has today confirmed that it will miss the "summer 2021" opening date that had been expected, due to delays caused by the Covid lockdown. |  | Tickets Alert: Midnight Apothecary returns to the Brunel Museum
The Brunel Museum is reopening its open-air cocktail garden built on top of Brunel's original tunnel shaft in Rotherhithe from next Friday. |  | Paddington station reopens western exit following Crossrail works
One of the two western entrances at Paddington station that was closed during Crossrail works has reopened. |  | Venues that won’t sell tickets to single people
There are some venues that are happy to sell tickets to people, but at times, not to single people. |  | Housing development planned for London Transport Museum’s Acton depot
The Acton depot which houses the bulk of the London Transport Museum's collection could need to be rebuilt if plans to redevelop the site for housing go ahead. |  | Tickets Alert: Cycle around Kew Gardens
Bicycles are not normally allowed inside Kew Gardens, but for one evening next month, two wheels can replace two feet for visitors. |  | Now there are two reviews into TfL’s finances
Typical, you wait for ages and then two reviews into Transport for London's finances come along at once. |  | Big office development for Crossrail construction site
One of the last large empty plots of land at Canary Wharf, which was recently used to support the construction of the Crossrail station is to be finally developed into offices. |  |
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