On Tuesdays and Thursday through August one of London's best-kept secrets – and one of its grisliest museums – opens to the public for the first time outside its compelling events programme. Volunteers will provide access to the collections on the ground floor, a third of some 5,000 specimens held in the building's three mezzanine levels. Among them are such horrors as a gout-inflated hand, the bound foot of a Chinese woman and a liver that has been damaged by 'tight-lacing' - effectively cut almost in two by a woman's excessively tight corset. This last is a specimen from almost in living memory: 1907.
Note: contact the museum in advance of your visit (bartspathology@qmul.ac.uk) to double-check there is a volunteer in place for that day.