LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s capital began year-long celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the world’s oldest underground passenger railway on Wednesday with reams of newsprint and plans for exhibitions, books, poetry and a commemorative steam train ride.

The rail service known affectionately as the “Tube”, which began in Queen Victoria’s reign, sheltered Londoners from Hitler’s bombs and has been a familiar friend to millions heading home from work and the pub, celebrated by announcing new trains, increased capacity and more frequent service.

LONDON, Dec 31 (Reuters) – Presidential preening, golden Olympic gaffes, a royal windfall for a skydiving British queen on her diamond jubilee and the endless end of days marked the odd stories in 2012 which pranced across the news in Gangnam Style.

The year opened with a tale that flocks of magpies and bears had been spotted in mourning for North Korea’s “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong-il who died in December 2011 and was succeeded by his 20-something son Kim Jong-un.

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – They came, they saw, but sadly
Britain’s music critics largely failed to enjoy Tuesday night’s
revival of girl power at the world premiere of the Spice Girls’
musical “Viva Forever!”

Reviewers panned a production loosely based on the band’s
meteoric rise to fame in the 1990s, complaining that its
“charmless” script failed even as a basic invention for folding
nostalgic pop hits into a West End stage show.

LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Photography’s artistic roots are
laid bare in a new show which brings historical paintings, early
photographs and contemporary pictures together in a new show at
Britain’s National Gallery.

“Seduced by Art: Photography Past & Present” explores how
photographers from the medium’s earliest beginnings to the
present day stand on the shoulders of artistic predecessors
stretching back to ancient Greece.

LONDON (Reuters) – Religious rivals of the Protestant reformation, murderous royal patrons and other 15th-16th century power brokers are brought to life in a new London art show telling the tale of northern Europe’s renaissance.

Some of the characters on show in drawings and paintings put together for “The Northern Renaissance: Duerer to Holbein” at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace come straight from the pages of Booker prize-winning novelist Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall”, with Martin Luther, Thomas More and Henry VIII playing key roles.

LONDON (Reuters) – What do a nudist, an inflatable slide, an oracle and Barabbas have in common? They’re all part of just one finalist’s exhibition in the running for Britain’s most controversial annual art prize.

Turner Prize finalist Spartacus Chetwynd’s “Odd Man Out” show comprises two theatrical performances using poorly constructed homemade costumes and puppets with paper backdrops in a deliberate effort to shy away from “professional” art.

LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Alessandro Benetton is on a
mission to find a cure for the ailing global economy and he’s
asking 100 million or so jobless young people to chip in with
ideas.

The 48-year-old chairman of Benetton Group launched the
family business’s latest “UNHATE” advertising campaign on
Tuesday, highlighting the plight of unemployed people under 30
who are striving to find meaningful work every day.

DORNEY, England (Reuters) – The 25,000 fans turning up at the Olympic rowing lake owned by Britain’s elite Eton College have lifted Britain to its first gold medal at the Games, thrilled competitors and sometimes made it tough for the rowers to be heard in the boat.

To the deafening approval of the grandstands on Thursday, Britain took the early bragging rights in a grudge match against Australia, when they rowed through their rivals in the men’s fours semi-final ahead of a medal showdown that is expected to be the highlight of the Olympic regatta.

DORNEY, England (Reuters) – The 25,000 fans turning up at the Olympic rowing lake owned by Britain’s elite Eton College have lifted Britain to its first gold medal at the Games, thrilled competitors and sometimes made it tough for the rowers to be heard in the boat.

To the deafening approval of the grandstands on Thursday, Britain took the early bragging rights in a grudge match against Australia, when they rowed through their rivals in the men’s fours semi-final ahead of a medal showdown that is expected to be the highlight of the Olympic regatta.

LONDON (Reuters) – A British man is making sweet music out of conversations he overhears on London transport at the Olympics and posting a song on the Internet every day of the Games for the world to hear.

Charity director Nigel Parkes said his bizarre musical project came out of a conversation with some young people he met on the train, who did not know who his hero Bob Dylan was.