The Time Out London blog team

Sure, if you’re desperate to visit the venue of New York’s iconic fashion gala or see the site of the now legendary crown jewel heist, you’re going to have to grab your passport. But did you know that one of the top museums on the planet is right on our doorsteps? It’s got whale skeletons, taxidermied polar bears and animatronic dinosaurs – and better yet, it’s free to enter. We’re talking, if you hadn’t guessed, about the Natural History Museum. The stunning romanesque structure, which has been standing since 1881, has ranked sixth on Time Out’s list of the 12 museums everyone should visit in their lifetime. It even beat the UNESCO-listed home to the Terracotta Warriors in China and the Vatican Museums at the heart of Italy’s Eternal City. As for what makes it one of the world’s most unmissable attractions, well, to start there’s the 25-metre-long blue whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling of the Hintze Hall (pictured above). Named Hope, she replaced Dippy the Diplodocus who reigned in the Hall between 1905 and 2017. If you grew up in London, you’ll more than likely have headed to the NHM’s hallowed halls on a school trip and will be well acquainted with the galleries of stuffed specimens, including everything from birds and insects to species which have long since gone extinct. It’s also home to a genuine moon rock, an earthquake simulation and a collection of over 300 diamonds.  Photograph: ShutterstockA dinosaur skeleton outside London’s Natural History Museum ...

A big West End revival of Rent has been a long time coming. Jonathan Larson’s classic ’90s musical – which transposed tragic opera La Bohème to New York at the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic – was an instant phenomenon, its success somewhat fulled by Larson’s tragic early death on the eve of its opening in 1996. It made it to the West End two years later and has been back several times since, but we’ve had nothing since a low-ish key revival at The Other Palace a decade ago.  Nonetheless, the intervening 10 years have seen the rise of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has relentless championed Larson and his legacy, most notably in persuading Netflix to foot the bill for a screen version of his other musical Tick, Tick… BOOM!. So here we are, with the first West End revival of Rent in almost 20 years. It’s helmed by musical theatre man of the moment Luke Sheppard (Paddington, Starlight Express, & Juliet) in a reworking of a version that played at Manchester’s small but influential Hope Mill Theatre during the pandemic era.  Stranger casting Photo: Victoria StevensGaten Matarazzo And it’ll come with some heavyweight American casting in the form of Gaten Matarazzo. Best known for his role as Dustin in Stranger Things, at the tender age of 23 he’s actually a pretty damn accomplished musical theatre guy, with roles in Sweeney Todd, Dear Evan Hansen, Godspell and Parade under his belt. He’ll be taking on the the role of Mark Cohen, the aspiring documentary maker central character of...

The British Museum’s blockbuster exhibitions always have a bit of a buzz around them. In 1972, queues stretched round the block as punters battled to glimpse treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb. In 2007, there was a rare chance to see China’s Terracotta Army, with visitors wowed by the sight of hundreds of mysterious, slumbering clay soldiers. Now, there’s another great treasure from the history books set to visit London, and it’s set to be one of the hottest tickets of this autumn. The Bayeux Tapestry is returning to the UK for the first time since it was made nearly a millennia ago, in a huge coup for the British Museum. It’ll be on display from Thursday September 10 until July 11 2027, putting visitors face to face with the historic embroidered cloth. The tapestry’s scenes document the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, offering a fascinating snapshot of 11th century English life and warfare. And of course, because this is 21st century London, its arrival in London won’t just be an exhibition, it’ll be an ‘experience’, with digital elements designed to bring the story to life. Additional items will also be on display, including silver pennies from the Chew Valley Hoard, while the museum itself will be transformed into a ‘medieval forest’. Photograph: British MuseumMedieval woodland on the Bayeux Tapestry All these extras and add ons don’t come cheap, and there’s anticipated to be high demand for this rare event. So that means that the top...