This weekend’s a corker: the Paralympic Games have arrived, St Paul’s is open late and Kings Cross is staging a festival with a truly delicious concept.

Summer Lates at St Paul’s Cathedral
Take advantage of extended opening hours and free entry at St Paul’s Cathedral on selected nights during the Paralympic Games. Sir Christopher Wren‘s English Baroque masterpiece tends to invoke hushed awe, so it’s appropriate that the Summer Lates openings are intended for quiet reflection. Guides and priests will be on hand to  explain the cathedral’s history and spiritual life, while organ notes drift around you. The cathedral floor will be open from 6pm until 9pm with a short service at 8.45pm, and the cool underground crypt will be selling “Best of British” refreshments until 10pm.
31 Aug, 3 Sep and 7 Sep

London Live at Trafalgar Square
As the Paralympic Games take the stage in the UK’s sporting summer, BT London Live has moved its site offering free London 2012 celebrations to Trafalgar Square. You’ll be able to try out Paralympic sports like sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis, chill out to live music or watch coverage of the Paralympics on a giant screen. It’s free entry and unticketed – just turn up.
Until 9 Sep

King’s Cross Ice Cream Festival
The organisers of the King’s Cross Ice Cream festival don’t just want you to eat the cool white stuff. They’re calling on ice cream fans to get hands on with the creative process, from milking a cow at the petting farm to experimenting with the latest nitrogen technologies to whip up some frozen delights. The festival is being held in the new Granary Square in Kings Cross and will showcase the best local ice creams from London and the South East.
1-2 Sep

Bowiefest at the ICA
The first ever festival dedicated to David Bowie’s film career will touch down at the Institute of Contemporary Arts this weekend for screenings, talks and a Bowie themed party on the opening night. Re-aquiant yourself with cult classics from the 1970s and 1980s like Labyrinth, where Bowie played Jareth the goblin king, alongside a cast of puppets from Muppets creator Jim Henson. 
31 Aug-2 Sep

Chelsea AutoLegends
Classic cars will take over Royal Hospital Chelsea‘s grounds on Sunday, as the third Chelsea AutoLegends event brings motoring fever to west London. The bill includes supercar and rally car parades and the chance to meet celebrities like five-times Le Mans winner Derek Bell. One exciting addition is the festival’s new celebration of women in motorsport, fronted by model and race driver Jodie Kidd. Another highlight will be seeing Bloodhound SCC, a car that looks like a rocket with good reason: its team are trying to break the elusive 1000mph speed barrier.
2 Sep

Got another event to add to our list? Add it in the comments below.

A ceremonial cauldron was lit in Trafalgar Square this morning to mark the start of the London 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay.

Claire Lomas – who is paralysed from the chest down and recently raised £204,000 for Spinal Research by walking the London Marathon – lit the cauldron using the English Flame, which was created by a group of Scouts at Scafell Pike, England’s highest peak.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Mayor of London Boris Johnson watched the lighting ceremony.

David Cameron said, “This is shaping up to be the best, the biggest, the most incredible Paralympic Games ever. We are going to see thousands of athletes giving their all and we are going to see what the Paralympics are all about. We are going to show the world that, when it comes to putting on a show, there is no country like Britain and no city like London.”

During the event, 26 Flame Ambassadors from different parts of Britain collected a splinter of the flame in a lantern to take back to Flame Celebrations across the country.

On 28 August, the English Flame, together with flames from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, will be taken to Stoke Mandeville, the home of the Paralympic movement, where they will be combined to create the Paralympic Flame.

Later that evening, there will be a 24-hour Torch Relay from Stoke Mandeville to the Olympic Stadium for the start of the Games.

The Paralympic Games run from 29 August to 9 September. Trafalgar Square will be turned into a BT London Live site showing all the action on a big screen.

If you still haven’t donned a Union Flag or red, white and blue face paint, don’t worry, there’s still time to support Team GB. And perhaps you can take inspiration from these amazing hair scultpures and get creative with your follicles?

Catalan street theatre company Osadia have been working their magic at the BT London Live site in Victoria Park, combining hair sculpting skills with performance art.

Models Juliet Cook, Chris Wilkinson and Josie Todd above demonstrate just some of Osadia’s creations, celebrating the Games and London’s famous landmarks including Big Ben and a red telephone box.

“Osadia: Whose Hair Dares” is part of Showtime, a free festival of events from the Mayor of London Presents programme, which continues until 9 September.

Let us know how you are celebrating the London 2012 Games in the comments section below.

Royal Greenwich
Enjoy the closing ceremony at one of Royal Greenwich’s big screens. There’ll also be some local Olympic fireworks on the night. The Screens can be found at the Old Royal Navy College, General Gordon Square and the Tudor Barn.

BT London Live, Victoria Park
We’ve loved the atmosphere everytime we’ve been to Victoria Park during the Games. Make sure you’re there for one last hurrah as the big screens show the Olympic Closing Ceremony from 7pm. There’ll be performances from Cuttashine Hoedown and Kidnap Alice; if there are fireworks in the Olympic Stadium, you might well be able to spot them from Victoria Park in person as well as on screen. Entry is free.

London’s National Olympic Houses
There’ll be parties aplenty at the various National Olympic Houses set up by visiting nations across the city. You can see a list of the houses here, and read our reviews of the venues here.

Haggerston Park screening; Hackney
You can watch all the action of big screens from 9 til 11.30pm in Haggerston Park in Hackney, not far from the Olympic Park: again, if there are fireworks, you’ll be well-placed to perhaps catch a glimpse over the East London rooftops.

Lewisham Big Screen in Blackheath
Starting from 7pm, you can enter the Blackheath Closing Ceremony for free. The South London site also offers a mirrored Spiegeltent with food, a bar and lives entertainment.

The Water Poet, Spitalfields
Multiple big screens will be available throughout the Spitalfields pub, capturing all the live action throughout the evening. The best seats will be in The Water Poet’s basement cinema. Arrive early and enjoy their barbecue in the garden from 4pm. No tickets or booking required.

Forman’s Fish Island, Hackney Wick
Located just 100m outside the Olympic Park, Forman’s Fish Island has been taken over by the Maddox Club during the Olympics. As well as a big outdoor screen showing all the Closing Ceremony antics, there’s beach volleyball, and super tasty treats courtesy of the Maddox Club chefs. Entry on the night of the Closing Ceremony is £25.

BBC Big Screens
The BBC’s BigScreens@LiveSites in Walthamstow Town Square and General Gordon Square, Woolwich will also be showing the Closing Ceremony.

Where will you be watching? Let us know in the comments below.

Regular readers of this blog will know we’re fans of timelapse videos. And chocolate. (Mmm, timelapse chocolate…)

So here’s a real Double Decker of a treat(!) from the Official Treat providers from the London 2012 Games: a timelapse vid of Cadbury House taking shape in Hyde Park.

Cadbury House is free to visit. Inside, you can journey through the Joyville tasting zone to the Chocolatrium and finally to a very Harry-Potter-sounding “Great Games Hall” where you’ll receive your own Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Medal as you step onto the podium to the sound of cheering crowds!

Cadbury House is open until 12 August as part of BT London Live.

Have you been to any of the London 2012 Live Sites? Let us know your highlights (chocolate or otherwise!) in the comments below.

London’s largest ever street music competition, The Big Busk sees young musicians and singers from across the capital performing in iconic venues for your pleasure – and your votes.

Running from 21 July to 25 August, the big buskers are cropping up all over London. Venues include The British Music Experience, BT London Live sites at Hyde Park and Victoria Park, and the Clapham Common Bandstand.

In case you don’t happen to catch all of the performers on your travels, you can see them online and vote for your favourite. The three categories are Youth, Soloists and Duos and Groups. Check out the performances so far at www.molpresents.com/gigs/vote. Prizes include studio time, musical instruments, a scholarship and (appropriately) a Transport for London busking licence.

Have you seen any of the Big Busk performers? Who do you think should win?

This morning as the Olympic Flame made its way up the Thames to Central London, I headed east to the Victoria Park BT London Livesite to take a look around.

The Victoria Park site, like the Hyde Park version, is a huge fenced off area that features giant screens, and a load of other entertainment. This includes some of the Mayor of London Presents “Wonder” installations – Aurora, Bloom, Drip and The Universal Tea Machine- which I was actually hoping to see for myself, not realising they’d be tucked away inside with no public access at such an early hour. I did, however, get to check out the impressive World in London photographic exhibition that’s now displayed on the outside fence.

With tonight’s Opening Ceremony expected to be one of the most popular events at the Livesites, there was a definite feeling of excitement in the air, even at 11am. Guaranteed-entry tickets for tonight’s BT London Livesite in Victoria Park are all sold out. If you’re lucky enough to have one, gates open at 4pm .

However, the beauty of this venue is that up to 10,000 people will also get in free this evening from 7pm on a first come, first served basis. In true British fashion, a queue was already forming by noon today, so we suggest getting down there fairly quicksmart if you’d like to attend this evening’s festivities.

Organisers wanted people to know that they won’t be allowed to bring anything into the site such as food, drinks or chairs (baby food is allowed), but everything is available to buy inside.

Here’s our list of Places to Watch the Opening Ceremony. Where are you watching it? Let us know in the comments below.

Sheep, a huge bell, a miniature Stonehenge, David Beckham and some NHS nurses. This much we know will be in the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday evening. A global audience of four billion people are expected to tune into the show which is called Isles of Wonder, inspired by a line in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Artistic director Danny Boyle has kept most details under wraps, but we can say with certainty that it starts at 9pm, and that you’d be mad not to watch it.

London Live
Friday is the opening night for the Olympic London Live sites at Hyde Park and Victoria Park. In Hyde Park, the ceremony will be shown on screens alongside a celebration concert with acts representing each part of the UK – Snow Patrol from Northern Ireland, Stereophonics for Wales, Duran Duran representing England and Paolo Nutini waving the flag for Scotland. Tickets are £60 and are still available. If you just want to watch the ceremony in a crowd, you can head to the Victoria Park site which is free entry.

Tower of London
If you’re feeling flush, you could pay for an exciting Opening Ceremony dinner at the Tower of London House of Nations for just £139. Hosted by four-time record breaking swimmer and Strictly Come Dancing star, Mark Foster, you’ll enjoy a champagne and Pimm’s reception in the Tower of London’s moat, an exclusive private tour of the Crown Jewels, a delicious three-course meal with all inclusive drinks, footage of the Opening Ceremony and live entertainment.

Greenwich
You can also catch all the Opening Ceremony action at Greenwich Summer Festival’s Gala Weekend. As well as the big screens, there’ll be live entertainment, starting with music on the bandstand at 6pm. Greenwich’s very own Hangar Arts Trust will then perform a cabaret of aerial circus in a high-impact, thrilling show full of beautiful and apparently impossible human feats, before the Opening Ceremony kicks off at 9pm.

General Gordon Square, Woolwich
General Gordon Square in Woolwich is hosting one of two big screens set up by the BBC in London for outdoor summer screenings. It will show the ceremony outside for free in the newly landscaped square, which offers bench seating and food stalls and street performers to get you in the party mood.

Walthamstow Town Square
Another BBC big screen will be beaming the ceremony to Walthamstow Town Square in North London. Seating will be set up so crowds can watch in comfort.

Broadgate
The Broadgate development in the Square Mile is home to some of the world’s biggest companies, and this summer it is also the base for three big screens which will all show the Opening Ceremony. Take your pick from Exchange Square, Broadgate Circle and Finsbury Avenue.

Novikov’s Beach Party at Waterside House
Top Mayfair restaurant Novikov is heading east this Friday to set up an all-day Opening Ceremony beach party – complete with sand and beach loungers – at Waterside House in Royal Victoria Dock. You can watch the show while sipping cocktails and listening to DJ sets. Tickets are £25.

In The Pub
Hundreds of top London pubs will be showing the all action on big screens, so have a look at the watering holes near you. We suggest The Hanbury Arms in Islington, The Lauriston in Hackney, the Water Poet in Spitalfields and the Clapham Grand in Clapham Junction, all of which will be putting on amazing parties.

Where will you be watching? Let us know below.

While the lucky ones amongst us have Olympic tickets, the rest of us can still enjoy much of the Games-time fun. The Olympic Games is the world’s largest event and spills out far beyond set competitions in set venues at set times. Even without tickets, there are plenty of ways to get close to the action.

Road Events

Olympic events like the road cycling races on 28 and 29 July take place on public roads and are free to watch along most of the route – get there early to nab a good spot. The race travels through six London boroughs and starts at The Mall. The Triathlon takes place in Hyde Park on 4 and 7 August and the Marathon pass through the city’ streets on 5 and 12 August. Find out about more free Olympic events here.

BT London Live

Hyde Park and Victoria Park will be buzzing with activity when they become the London Live sites during the Olympics. Huge screens will show all the sporting action and there will be sports to try out and free gigs from the likes of Tom Jones, Alexandra Burke, The Feeling and Amy Macdonald. Not to mention Cadbury House which will see huge inflatable purple domes, hopefully filled with chocolate. For the Paralympic Games, London Live will shift to Trafalgar Square.

Olympic Torch Relay

The Olympic torch will be making its way around London for a week from 21 July, and you can line the streets to soak up the atmosphere and cheer it on its way to the Olympic Stadium. Read our post about where to see the torch in London to make your plans.

A Summer Like No Other

Mayor of London Boris Johnson is presenting a packed schedule of events to celebrate 2012, most of them free. WorldPride 2012 kicks off on 28 June, bringing a two-week party in celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. You can develop a taste for opera at BP Summer Big Screens, take a stroll along some of London’s most scenic streets with free Discovery Trails and cheer the parade of Olympic and Paralympic athletes through central London on 10 September.

London 2012 Festival

The festival is a 12-week extravaganza marking the climax of the Cultural Olympiad (a sort of arty version of the Olympics) and is on now until 9 September.  The variety is endless – there are portraits of athletes and Stratford residents at the BT Road to 2012 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, an Indian take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Noel Coward Theatre and a screening of the classic sporting movie Chariots of Fire at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Square.

Cadbury is set to make all your chocolate-infused dreams come true this summer in London.

For the duration of the Olympic Games, the chocolate manufacturer is bringing the magical, mythical world of Joyville to Hyde Park. And guess what – it’s free and there’s chocolate!

Joyville invites visitors to enjoy a tasting zone, chocolate-themed-experiences, and the chance to take part in a virtual race against Rebecca Adlington to win a chocolate medal. There’s also a Great Games Hall where visitors can have a go at “sports with a Cadbury twist”.

Cadbury House is part of the BT London Live site at Hyde Park, a free event offering open air screenings of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, plus on site attractions and entertainment.

Cadbury House is open from 27 July to 12 August.