As well as the famous SGI Social programme and the thousands of places to see, restaurants to visit, clubs to dance in, pubs to drink in and the best entertainment in the world, you are spoilt for choice! You lucky people!

1st March until 2nd May: FRANKENSTEIN

Fresh after his unbelievable Oscar success with Slumdog Millionaire and a change of pace with 27 Hours, Director Danny Boyle changed track again by directing a National Theatre production of Mary Shelley’s world famous Gothic story of Frankenstein. Critics and public alike have been wowed by this amazing production. The next lot of tickets goes on sale on March 10th.

6th March: MASLENITSA RUSSIAN FESTIVAL

This free event will cure any homesickness blues for the many Russian students at SGI. This annual festival takes place in Trafalgar Square this year and the crowds will enjoy Russian Dance and musical acts: rock group Moral Codex, pop band Chelsea and folk diva, Ludmilla Rumina. There will be lots of stalls offering Russian cuisines and delicacies, such as pelmeni, blinis, bubliki and I dare say, a vodka or two!

1st March onwards: ANNA NICOLE

The true-life story (so ridiculous that you couldn’t invent it) of Anna Nicole Smith has been turned into an opera! The Royal Opera House has can’t have ever heard so many swear words before as the hilarious opera about the fame-obsessed, white trash, lap-dancer who married an 89-year-old billionaire rolls on in it’s very successful run.

There are English surtitles on the big screens…just to help out SGI students, who will no doubt be going along with teacher Owen on one of his popular theatreland visits.

17th – 19th March: KATY PERRY

If you are into throwaway pop, then you might like to drop in on the HMV APOLLO, Hammersmith, as Katy Perry performs all her hits, including, I kissed a girl, Hot n Cold, California Girls, etc. Make sure you buy tickets early, as this will definitely be sold out on in advance.

23rd March: CAGE THE ELEPHANT

If I did just one thing this month in London, this would be it. Cage The Elephant are a blues/rock/indie band from Kentucky USA, who play it like it should be played! Get down to The Electric Ballroom in Camden to catch this act for only £10 before they become superstars and only play stadiums and festivals. Here’s a video of them in action on British TV with English subtitles to help you understand the lyrics.

26th March: OXFORD & CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE

2011 will see the 157th Boat Race. Last year, the Cambridge crew was victorious with their 80th win. Oxford have only won 75 times, so this year they will be out for revenge and trying to close the gap in the total number of wins.

This is a great event to experience along the banks of The Thames, anywhere between Mortlake and Putney. Make sure you get there early if you want to cheer on the rowers, as the crowds for the race are usually very big.

17th April: LONDON MARATHON

Approximately 30,000 runners will take part this year in the gruelling 26.2 mile (42.2 km) event through the famous streets of London, passing some of the world’s most iconic sights along the way: Tower Bridge, The Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye and many more.

Most people run for charity and it’s estimated that since the first race in 1981, over £300m has been raised for charitable causes. To help the runners along, millions of people support from the sidelines and you can be one of them too – for free!

29th April: THE ROYAL WEDDING

Westminster Abbey will see the long-awaited marriage of Prince William to Catherine Middleton on Friday 29 April, which has been declared a public holiday in the UK. Possibly millions of people will line the streets to try to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds.

At midday, after the ceremony, the happy couple will travel back to Buckingham Palace in a horse drawn carriage along Parliament Square, Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade and The Mall. They are bound to appear on the balcony at Buckingham Palace at around 1.30pm to kiss for the thronging crowds. Don’t miss this chance to see history in the making! The hottest ticket of them all!

18th June – 11th September: SHAKESPEARE”S RICHARD III

This is still a long way off, but if you are thinking of coming to summer school at SGI, then this is going to be a hot ticket. Kevin Spacey will be starring in Richard III, in the lead role as one of Shakespeare’s most famous villains. This will be one of the theatrical highlights of the year, as the team from the classic film, American Beauty (director Sam Mendes & Spacey) join forces again at The Old Vic.

Christmas in London of course means many things, serious shopping definitely being one of them. The city, famous for its shops and shopping streets, is, as always, the setting for an orgy of credit card spending as children’s wish lists are (partly) fulfilled by doting parents, and glittering shops suck you into their glossy warmth shamelessly encouraging you to buy buy buy.

Of course Christmas in London, as elsewhere, also means time spent with family and friends, away from the hurly burly and frenetic pace that characterise the city. To complement this, on Christmas Day, almost everywhere in London closes, so the city seems completely shrouded in silence and the whole day feels like an endless early Sunday morning….peaceful and benevolent.

Of course one item very much desired but usually missing from a Christmas in London, is snow. Well, it seems that this year all those snowy scenes depicted on a million Christmas cards could reflect the reality of Christmas in London 2010. It is predicted by the experts that the white stuff from the sky is expected to fall down upon us on Christmas Day here in London. Hallelujah!

From 10 in the morning, on the 27^th November 2010, the streets of the West End, just minutes from the SGI school, will be handed over to the general public. No need to worry about crazy cyclists, angry taxi drivers or long red buses crushing your toes, you can walk anywhere you want on Oxford Street and Regent Street as they will be traffic free pedestrian zones for the day.

You know it makes sense!

This event is the sixth edition of Shop West End VIP Day (Very Important Pedestrian) – the World’s Biggest Christmas Shopping Day.

Don’t forget your credit card!

Here you’ll see a list of firework displays going on in London with times and dates and other useful information, such as entrance fees and whether they have a bonfire!

www.thefireworkshoplist.com is another good one for finding out what’s going on…

Have a great time!!

London is a great place to spend Halloween, the history of the city is soaked in witches, ghosts, blood and awfulness! London with its haunted towers, where heads have rolled and bodies hung. London with its dark dank dungeons where the imprisoned have wailed chained to walls… where better to spend Halloween than good old London!

Here’s just a sample of some Halloween fun this year:

We found these events on Top 5 Things to Do on Halloween in London…

- Halloween at the London Dungeon, great for kids, features a “Halloween Forest” complete with cackling witches.
- The Halloween of Cross Bones XI, now in its 11th year a recital of (often humorous) poems and songs penned by local writer John Constable. After the main performance, the event concludes with a candle-lit procession to the Cross Bones Graveyard (where prostitutes and all sorts of outcasts in London’s society were buried)

- Medieval Banquet – at the Historic Cellars of the St. Katharine Dock, a Halloween Themed night with a full gourmet meal plus a ghostly and unique re-enactment of the life of King Henry VIII,

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We found some good ghost-themed events here on London’s Best Halloween Events 2010. Here’s one that sticks out…

Ghost Stories at The Duke of York’s Theatre – three chilling tales… a must for lovers of old-fashioned ghost stories, brilliantly enacted.

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A very interesting blog post on the history and meaning of Halloween can be found on Halloween: Old English Folklore or Fact? It shows Halloween or ‘All Hallows Eve’ as it used to be called, has its roots as an ancient festival, held in rural England, that was partly to do with warding off the magic powers of witches, and partly to do with preparing for the hardship of the coming winter by way of a big celebration, feast and the lighting of bonfires.

As you can see there’s a lot of events to choose from… Take your Pick and enjoy yourself!

For the first two weeks in October, food lovers have the chance to experience some of the capital’s fantastic range of cuisines from around the world by visiting the London Restaurant Festival.

You have it all at the festival, from Michelin-starred establishments through to much-loved neighbourhood restaurants and bistros. There’s something for everyone!

To help you enjoy this celebration of London’s exceptionally diverse restaurant scene you can:

• Enjoy a Festival Menu at any of the hundreds of participating restaurants
• Buy tickets for one of this year’s Festival Events

This excellent festival is well worth looking into.

This year, the festival is dedicated to fashion and lifestyle when the iconic “Mile of Style” will host a fashion catwalk, featuring models wearing new collections from Regent Street brands.

During the festivities, Regent Street will be closed to all traffic between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus underground stations. Hooray!

The Festival will be held in Regent Street on Sunday 26th September 2010: starts 12 noon. All events free!

First launched in 1997, The Mayor’s Thames Festival has become London’s biggest and best free outdoor arts festival, with a huge range of events on offer.

There’s also a rare chance to visit Hendrix’s flat, which is normally closed to the public.

This year’s programme kicks off with the People’s Premiere of Knight and Day starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

• paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer and Claude
• sculpture by Canova and Chantrey
• exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain
• some of the finest English and French furniture in the world