This Week In London’s History Monday – 15th September 2004: Five pro-hunt protesters burst into the House of Commons, disrupting a parliamentary debate around the ban on hunting with dogs. Tuesday – 16th September 1977: Iconic glam rock musician Marc Bolan dies in a car accident in Barnes, southwest London. Wednesday – 17th September 1993: Derek Beakton, an openly racist British National Party candidate, wins a council seat in Tower Hamlets. Thursday – 18th......

A guitar once set alight by Jimi Hendrix during a show at the Finsbury Park Astoria has sold at an east London auction for £280,000. Following a gig in 1967, the Seattle-born singer doused the instrument, a Fender Stratocaster, in lighter fuel and torched it before, in a moment less celebrated of by rock 'n roll historians, retiring to a nearby hospital and getting treatment for minor burns. The guitar's charred body remained at a......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 17th September 1961: Police arrest 1,314 demonstrators at a CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) protest in Trafalgar Square. Bertrand Russell is amongst those arrested. Tuesday – 18th September 1970: Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix is found dead in his basement flat in Notting Hill, west London. A subsequent inquest records an open verdict on his death, noting that he drank wine and took nine sleeping pills the previous......

Part 1: Introduction Mods. Rockers. Teds. Punks. Ravers. Swingers. Skinheads. Suedeheads. Hippies. Yuppies. Rudeboys. Indie kids. Emo kids. Beats. Glam kids. Tribes. Subcultures. Neo-tribes. Groups. Bands. Movements. All of the above, and more, have - despite their points of origin - been magnetically attracted to the capital. To attempt to cover all of the ages of London’s youth might seem an exhausting task worthy of Peter Ackroyd who wrote of his biography of London......

Not a name usually synonymous with rock 'n' roll (unless you count the fact that the baby rusks of music celebrity offspring are probably bought in the food hall) Harrods opened its 'Born To Rock' guitar exhibition yesterday, which "celebrates the electric guitar - and showcases the impact it’s had on music, culture, fashion and design". It sounds like quite an event, with the exhibition including "the world’s first electric guitar - the ‘Frying Pan’"......

This Day In London’s History 1709: Samuel Johnson born. When Channel 5 finally get round to making the Top 100 greatest Londoners of all time, the famous dictionary compiler will certainly be in the leading pack. His fame rests as much on the number of bon mots he left the world, as any lexicographical legacy: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” ; the overworked ‘When a man is tired of London, he......

LAist is flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with their new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other. Where do ist editors go when they hang up the 'editorial we'? They take on MySpace, apparently. At least Ben Brown does. Austinist reminds of the just rewards of less savory careers this week and then they witness the Arctic Monkeys and We Are......

We figured after yesterday's love of The JCB Song you may be worrying that Londonist is getting a little soft. To rectify that we decided to trawl up some METAL* news for you and prove we're still caught in the proverbial mosh. First up hands up everyone who remembers Poison. Nice. They were of course the straight to video version of Motley Crue - Christ knows what that makes Tigertailz (from Wailz). Anyway we......

When it comes to Georgian house museums, London already has a lovely bunch of coconuts. Dickens, Johnson, John Soane and Handel have all opened up their abodes to us (as well as Jimi Hendrix who, rather improbably, was a latter-day ‘flatmate’ of Handel’s). On February 1st, the London home of Benjamin Franklin joins the troupe, to celebrate the polymath’s 300th birthday. If anyone can find a way to blow out so many candles in......

Of London's London's many tiny museums, one of the least appreciated is the Handel House Museum in Mayfair. The building, where Handel lived between 1723 and 1759, was beautifully restored four years ago, and now contains a lovely collection of historical artifacts, manuscripts, paintings and decorative items relating to George Frederic Handel and his world. There are also temporary exhibitions -- at the moment a collection of photographs of Jimi Hendrix, who, through a......

"We'd like to apologise for this godforsaken shit heap of a building." Yeah, too bloody right Brian. For those of you who have yet to visit the abomination that is Wembley Pavilion we have one small piece of advice for you. DON'T! Even if you hear that the ghost of Jimi Hendrix is going to be jamming there with Jesus on bass. DON'T GO! If Satan himself had to design a music venue it......

The details of the lineup for the Patti Smith-curated 2005 Meltdown festival have been released. The Guardian has some of the details online, but here's a bit of a breakdown of who you'll be seeing on the South Bank this Summer. John Cale will be bringing his particular brand of instrumentalism to the proceedings. The 'French Algerian Johnny Cash': Rachid Taha will be supplying a bit of country-punk. Marc Almond, Neil Finn and others......