Where can I find volunteer opportunities in London that involve art, music , or theatre in some way?
-Near South Kensington, but not necessary.
Availability: Mondays and Fridays
Interests: Communication, PR, Marketing, Education
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Happy Birthday Andrew Lloyd Webber
Majorca was the set for the latest big birthday bash for two well-known birthday boys recently.
Andrew Lloyd Webber hosted the event that celebrated his 60th birthday and Michael Caine’s 75th. The party included performances by a Majorcan rock band. The two were surrounded by 40 close friends and family for the celebration. Some of the more well-known guests included Sir Tim Rice, Lord Melvyn Bragg, Sir Trevor Nunn, Ben Elton and Michael Winner.
Andrew Lloyd Webber was born on March 22, 1948 in South Kensington in London, England. His mother, Jean Hermione Johnstone Webber, was a violinist and pianist. His father, William Lloyd Webber was a composer. His brother is the famed cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. Lloyd Webber has always had an ear for music. As a very young lad, he began composing his own music. At the age of nine, he wrote his first published suite of six pieces.
At the insistence of his aunt Viola, he built a fake theater. He would create and compose full productions with his brother Julian and their aunt Viola in his makeshift theater. Viola was an actress and would often take her young nephew to see her shows.
At Westminster School, Lloyd Webber was a Queen’s Scholar. He also studied history for a while at Magdalen College in Oxford. Later, in pursuance of his musical theater career, he abandoned the history course.
Lloyd Webber has been married three times and has five children, of whom he is immensely proud. His eldest daughter Imogen runs a theater production company, ILW Productions. She is also an accomplished author. His son Nicholas (Nick) is also a composer. His younger sons Alastair and William attend Eton College, a prestigious boarding school. His youngest daughter Isabella attends Cheam School.
Over the course of his career, he has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores and a Latin Requiem Mass. He was knighted in 1992. Later, in 1997, he was created a life peer as Baron Lloyd-Webber, of Sydmonton in the County of Hampshire. For his efforts, he has received three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Oscar, an International Emmy, six Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006.
Some of his more notable compositions include “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from Evita, “Memory” from Cats and “The music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera. His second wife, Sarah Brightman, was cast in the lead role of Christine, in The Phantom of the Opera.
Many of his works have been widely recorded and have become hits aside from their original places in musical theater. The Really Useful Group is one of Lloyd Webber’s companies and is one of the largest theater operators in London. The company also issues licenses to reproduce and stage productions of Lloyd Webber’s musicals.
Lloyd Webber has worked with many other notable composers, such as Tim Rice, on multiple occasions. Some of their most famous collaborations include The Likes of Us and Evita. He has also composed music with his brother Julian Lloyd Webber.
In the 1980s he embarked on a new project without a lyricist. Instead, he turned to the poetry of T.S. Eliot. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was one of Lloyd Webber’s childhood favorites.
For his 60th birthday bash, Lord Lloyd-Webber made reservations at La Residencia, his favorite hotel in Majorca. Over the weekend, his guests dined at his favorite restaurant in Deia. He owns an estate in the beautiful village of Deia, as do Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
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London Science Museum
London Science Museum is the world’s greatest Science Museum – for children and adults alike!
First founded in 1857 with objects shown at the Great Exhibition held in the Crystal Palace, today the Museum is world renowned for its historic collections, awe-inspiring galleries and inspirational exhibitions.
- Nearest Tube: South Kensington – District, Circle and Piccadilly Lines
- Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD.
- Switchboard: 0870 870 4868
- Open 10am – 6pm every day except 24 to 26 December.
- Entry is free, but charges apply for the IMAX 3D Cinema, simulators and some special exhibitions.
Special Exhibitions:
Dan Dare and the birth of hi-tech Britain
Wednesday 30 April 2008 until 25 October 2009. FREE
An exhibition which shows the way Britain reinvented itself as a hi-tech nation after the Second World War. It looks at how wartime research boosted industries such as aviation and electronics, while infrastructure projects rolled out new technologies for health, housing and defence. Design, seen as a key to the nation’s rebirth, went in hand with a boom in British consumer goods and the exhibition will reveal a surprising ‘lost world’ of British manufacturing. Dan Dare, hero of Eagle comic, introduces the show to reflect the spirit of optimism and faith in technology of the time.
New! Does Flying Cost the Earth?
Opens 15 May 2008 until 26 October 2008
How bad is flying for the environment? The aviation industry is in the media spotlight as a contributor of emissions that cause climate change. But has it been unfairly singled out? A new exhibition looks at the extent to which aviation impacts on climate change and takes an investigative look at flying now and in the future. On display will be some of the cutting-edge technologies that scientists and engineers are working on to make air travel greener. The exhibition will also take a look at what passengers can do about this issue and why these actions matter. Sponsored by EADS.
New! Films of Fact
Opens 29 May until 2 November 2008. FREE
Films of Fact looks at the history of science on film, from the birth of television to Tomorrow’s World. It will show rare science and nature films from the archives, some of which have not been seen in over half a century. It will show films which aimed to act as a force for social reform, alongside beautiful nature documentaries and earnest 1950s science news programmes. Films of Fact is accompanied by a book of the same name, written by the Science Museum’s Chief Curator, Dr Tim Boon.
New! Science of Survival
Opens 5 April until 2 November 2008. Entry charges apply
This hands-on exhibition explores how the way we live will change over the next few decades in response to climate change. As visitors journey through The Science of Survival, they will be led by four characters who invite visitors to help them solve problems in a city in the year 2050. In five interactive areas – Drinking, Eating, Enjoying, Moving and Building – the exhibition looks at why the future will be different and what we can do about it today. Visitors explore current global issues and some possible technological responses. At the end of the experience visitors will see how well they survived and discover the choices made by other people.
New! Mummies 3D: Secrets of the Pharaohs (PG)
Now open. Entry charges apply
Part historic journey and part forensic adventure, Mummies 3D: Secrets of the Pharaohs follows researchers and explorers as they piece together the archaeological and genetic clues of Egyptian mummies. Through state-of-the-art computer graphics and dramatic reconstuctions, the film tells the story of one of the greatest finds in modern history: the late 19th century discovery of a cache of forty mummies, including twelve Kings of Egypt, among them Rameses the Great.
New! Listening Post
Now open. On display until 2010. FREE
Listening Post is a critically acclaimed electronic art work, the result of a collaboration between US artist and composer Ben Rubin and statistician and artist Mark Hansen. It is “a visual and sonic response to content and magnitude of online communication…giving form to online ‘noise’”. A hanging lattice of over 200 small screens carry a series of carefully orchestrated live data feeds from various online traffic of public chat rooms and message boards. Presented by The Art Fund.
Plasticity – 100 years of making plastics
Until January 2009 FREE
The first completely man-made material, Bakelite, was discovered 100 years ago. This exhibition looks back at Leo Baekeland’s world-changing discovery and displays just some of the cornucopia of new plastics and products which followed, from nylon stockings to Tupperware and Ekco radios. Supported by SITA Trust and Defra, it also looks at some of the amazing plastic materials currently being produced and what the future might hold for plastics as their environmental impact faces increasing scrutiny.