Discover a fascinating free exhibition of the finds unearthed by the Crossrail project at its Tottenham Court Road Visitor Information Centre. From the remains of a Bedlam inmate to rare pieces of amber, this display is an astonishing insight into the rich variety of London’s history.

Designed to provide a train service between Berkshire and Buckinghamshire via Central London, the mammoth Crossrail project is currently tunnelling its way through the city. To celebrate the halfway point of the project’s archaeology programme, it has staged a free display of some of the most spectacular finds.

One key exhibit is a skeleton from the Bedlam graveyard, the last resting place of those incarcerated in London’s notorious insane asylum. This is one of the younger discoveries, however, and you can also see an ancient segment of mammoth jaw displayed next to pieces of amber that are 55 million years old. A lighter note is provided by Saxon ice skates, which would have been used for gliding over the frozen Moorfields Marsh, as well as a rather amusing chamber pot – something best seen for yourself!

More information about the exhibits is provided both by the friendly staff and a series of free Wednesday evening seminars. These are given by the project’s archaeologists and take place from 6.30pm.

Bison to Bedlam is at the Crossrail Visitor Information Centre at 16-18 St Giles High Street. Opening times are 11am to 7pm Tuesday to Thursday and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays. The exhibition is open until 27 October

Now, we return to the British Museum’s incredible hoard, to look at a slice of Libyan life on display in the capital.

In Room 68, you can see the Fatimid dinar, which were minted in Tarablus in Tripoli, Libya in AH 465 / AD 1072-73.

The British Museum’s website explains the importance of these coins:

When the Muslim Fatimid dynasty (909-1171) came to power, they brought with them direct access to the gold sources of West Africa. On his arrival in Cairo, the caliph al-Mu’izz (953-75) is said to have come with 500 camels bearing gold and other riches. Islamic medieval gold coins were made of very pure gold, and so were highly valued in trade. They also had an impact on the coinage of their neighbours. Imitations of Islamic dinars are found in Sicily, Spain and in the Crusader kingdoms.

Do you know of any other examples of Libyan objects on display in London?

Our group of two adults and four kids (aged one to three years) went along to Eltham Palace recently for a fun and informative day out with a Knights and Princesses theme. Fantastic costumed guides entertained the little ones in the beautiful grounds of the palace. Many of the kids had come prepared in their dressing-up outfits but there were plenty of props available so everyone could get involved.

First, a storytelling session was brought to life as children, picked from the small crowd, acted out a tale of chivalry. Next, we learned how youngsters served their lords and ladies in medieval times and then had a quick dance lesson.  Finally, it was over to a knight for (super safe) sword fighting and jousting -using a trusty hobby horse! 

While the under fives there were fascinated, activities are primarily aimed at older children. This is reflected in a £1 surcharge for over fives on Time Travellers Go event days.  A good thing about Eltham Palace is that you can opt to pay only for entry to the grounds rather than both palace and grounds.

The next Time Traveller Go activities at Eltham Palace take place on 21 -23 Aug (Medieval) and 28-30 Aug (Gruesome!).

This cover picture from The Royal Thames, a guide to London published in 1937 was shared with the Visit London Flickr group by mikeyashworth.

The photo is in two Flickr groups which gather nostalgic images from books about London, London Books and Maps and London Books and Their Illustrations.

Do you collect old London guidebooks? Have you got a favourite online archive of vintage London images? Tell us about it!

Did you know the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner is open to the public? I’ve passed the arch a million times on the bus, but this week I decided to stop and visit.

Inside the arch, there are three floors of exhibition space exploring the history of the building. The Wellington Arch was built to create an impressive western entrance to London and has also served as London’s smallest police station.

The Quadriga on the top is the largest bronze sculpture in Europe and replaced a sculpture of the Duke of Wellington which was mercilessly ridiculed for being enormously out of proportion to the Arch.

From the balconies at the top of the Wellington Arch, you can enjoy a fantastic view of Apsley House, the entrance to Hyde Park, Green Park and Constitution Hill.

Apsley House, to the right of the photo, is often known as Number One London and was home to the Duke of Wellington in the 1820s after his victory at Waterloo. The current Duke of Wellington still uses Apsley House as his London base.

The house is very grand, with an impressive collection of paintings, including some from Napoleon’s collection. It’s a must see for anyone interested in military history.

The ticket price includes an enjoyable audio guide for Apsley House packed with facts about banquets and balls, ducal disagreements about the colour of the wallpaper and the current duke’s childhood enthusiasm for sliding down the bannisters.

Book a joint ticket for the Wellington Arch and Apsley House – adult £7.40, child £3.70, concession £6.30 www.english-heritage.org.uk

When Titanic set sail from Southampton on 10 April 1912, the ship was thought to be virtually unsinkable. But five days later, it collided with an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1,500 lives.

Now hundreds of original artefacts from Titanic are going on show at The O2 in London. I had a preview of the exhibition this morning.

On entering the gallery, the first thing you see is the bell from the ship’s crow’s nest, lit up in red and accompanied by evocative music and ringing sounds. Lookout Frederick Fleet rang the bell three times on the night of the collision, with the warning ”iceberg right ahead!”

In subsequent rooms, you learn about the design and construction of the Titanic, before seeing an array of passenger possessions, which are a poignant reminder of the lives lost. There are playing cards, a leather cigarette case, a toothpaste jar, and even a handkerchief that survived years under the ocean.

The exhibition gives a good feel of the ship’s interiors. There are reconstructions of first and third-class cabins and the dramatic engine room, as well as fascinating artefacts such as the bath plug from a first-class cabin, which was installed at the side of the bath so passengers didn’t have to reach into the dirty water. (The 700 third-class passengers had to share two bathtubs.)

Titanic was designed to carry cargo, hence the full title RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic, and there’s a gallery displaying the remnants of some of this cargo. Although shipping goods on Titanic was relatively expensive, traders saved on insurance costs because the ship was considered to be so safe.

As you near the end of the exhibition, the galleries become noticeably colder and darker. There’s a frosty iceberg wall, where you can feel how cold the sea was on the night of the disaster. Many of the casualties died of hyperthermia rather than drowning.

At the exhibition’s entrance, everyone receives a boarding pass with the name and details of a real Titanic passenger. At the end you can check the “memorial wall” to find out whether the person named on your card survived. The exhibition is an educational and emotional journey, and well worth a visit when it opens to the public on Friday.

Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition is at The O2 from 5 November 2010 to 1 May 2011

From birthdays to street parties, domestic scenes to studio portraits, your photos could help capture the social history of the city.

Autograph ABP will add the photos to a continuously growing online image bank. The organisation uses photography to address issues of cultural identity and human rights.

Autograph ABP will be collecting family snapshots at Rivington Place on 23 October, 12-5pm. www.autograph-abp.co.uk

A rather bizarre photo this week, a parachuting pigeon who will be demonstrating his unusual hobby as part of the Etham at War! weekend at Eltham Palace.

On Saturday and Sunday, the palace grounds will commemorate Eltham Palace’s role during WWII, with military vehicles, war-time music and dancing, fun activities for kids and a look into the wartime role of animals – dogs who can rescue survivors from rubble and falcons who intercepted carrier pigeons like this little chap in the picture.

It’s a perfect day out for Father’s Day!

If you pop along, don’t forget to share your photos with the Visit London Flickr Pool.

Eltham at War, 19-20 June, 10:00 – 17:00, adult £6-£12, child £3-£10.20. www.englishheritage.org.uk

The Globe

Recently refurbished, The Globe’s interior has a traditional English pub feel, with a dose of French bistro (chequered table cloths and black & white photographs of Picasso, Bridget Bardot etc) thrown in for good measure. This can be attributed to new manager Oliver Trotel – a pleasant and engaging chap who has been working hard over the past few months to reinvigorate the look and feel of the place.

The Globe’s menu is a good mix of pub and bistro fare with pies, steak, fried calamari, pasta and daily specials, plus a specially selected wine list to match.

Chatting to Trotel after our meal, he let us in on some of The Globe’s fascinating history. The building is part of the site of the world’s first Police Station – home of the Bow Street Runners. There’s even an original cell in the basement that’s now used for storage (not accessible to the public). And, of course, there is a ghost, although Trotel said he’d never seen it himself.

During the World Cup, The Globe will be screening matches downstairs. Upstairs,  the outside terrace will be open shortly, just in time for the summer.

Best of all, Visit London is offering you the chance to win a meal for two at The Globe (click the link for info on how to enter).

On Friday next week, the Museum of London opens its new Galleries of Modern London.

It’s a £20m development of the museum’s galleries, telling the story of the city from the Great Fire in 1666  to the present day, and up to that 2012 milestone.

This morning, I was treated to a very special sneak preview and can report that the new galleries are absolutely fantastic.

The range of themes explored in the chronological spaces mean there really is something for everyone. From the development of the Empire and the slave trade to the Suffragettes; from turn-of-the-century theatre costumes to telephone booths; from Charles Booth’s Map Descriptive of London Poverty to a cute Clarice Cliff coffee and cruet set: there are more than 7,000 objects on display… but it’s the way they’re displayed that’s really great.

In the Modern London 1670s-1850s section, there are objects in glass cases buried in the floor; clever lighting, film and a heady scent of talc in the Pleasure Gardens really transported me to another world; turning a corner, a deserted Victorian shopping street set me shivering with history-geeky delight.

Wonderful, unique pieces are shown at different heights and in varied ways, really forcing you to move around and discover little treasures hidden in nooks and crannies throughout the museum, to listen carefully to archive footage, or to interact with digital displays.

I took a job interview to become an apprentice glassblower (and was successful!), traced Charles Booth’s poverty map around my Peckham home, and took part in a survey asking how to reduce London’s carbon footprint in the run-up to 2012.

I think the new galleries will be really popular with children of all ages. As well as having lots of children’s clothing on display, there are also lots of items for children to play with, like a model of London’s transport system and, of course, those interactive displays. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing for adults, though!

I was impressed with the art on show too. If you come to the museum as an art fan first, and a history fan second, there’s plenty to enjoy here: the breathtaking Rhinebeck Panorama from 1806, George William Joy’s gorgeous Bayswater Omnibus (1895), and the thought-provoking The Ghetto by Tom Hunter and James McKinnon from 1994.

With so many objects to choose from, it’s hard for me to pick out favourites. I spent a long time looking at the Lord Mayor’s State Coach (now in its own room, with windows out onto the street), and loved Kitty Lord’s stage boots; the accompanying postcard describes her as “Chanteuse Excentrique Anglaise”. She’d be a hit in London’s burlesque scene today, no doubt! Mary Quant’s 1966 orange dress is also pretty amazing, as is another dress, shown above, ”worn by Helen Clark of north London to celebrate the coronation in 1953″.

Visiting the new galleries is completely free, and they’re open from Monday-Sunday 10am-6pm, from 28 May. Make sure you check them out, and come back and tell us what your favourites are!