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Times
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Why Shakespeare's Globe is still the best-value night out in London
Shakespeare's plays were so popular in the 16th and 17th centuries because they were good — and because they were cheap. Productions at the Globe, as well as the other theatres that dotted the south side of the Thames, saw audiences cram in, with the cheapest 'seats' being no seats at all, but standing places in the 'pit' below the stage. Few complained, even as their knees no doubt protested, thanks to the quality of what unfolded in front of them. The same holds true in 2025: standing tickets are still only £10, or £5 if you book early enough, and the theatre remains as spectacular as ever. This summer's Romeo and Juliet, for instance, is full of life. Easy to follow and so funny that the audience roars with laughter at all the right moments, the classic romance is reimagined in the Wild West with a vibrant Lola Shalam as Juliet. It is a far cry from the miscommunication and heavy-handed teaching at GCSE that has put generations of students off Shakespeare. For Michelle Terry, the artistic director at Shakespeare's Globe, making theatre accessible is vital to turning around perceptions, and the cheap tickets certainly help. When the Globe reopened in 1997, the £5 'groundling' ticket was a revelation, giving theatregoers the ability to stand as Shakespeare's working-class contemporaries once did. That you can still get in, more than two decades later, for £5 or £10, is nothing short of remarkable. The pricing, Terry reckons, gives audiences the chance to make their mind up about Shakespeare without pressure. While she wants all her audiences to have an 'amazing' experience, the low entry fee gives audiences 'the right to have an opinion'. • Read theatre reviews, guides and interviews 'You can say, I am not having a good time, and I can afford to leave,' she says. 'It affords you [the ability] to gauge what your taste is, what your values are, what your beliefs are, what you think about what's being talked about in the play.' It's a far cry from shows across the river in the West End, where ticket prices often run into the hundreds. When you've paid that much, Terry says with a laugh, 'it better be good'. Theatre at that price point becomes a rare, special occasion. But not so at the Globe, where a groundling ticket makes a trip to the theatre a viable evening out for Gen Zers seeking something more authentic than screen time. Pub gardens are great but here — for less than the price of two pints — you can get almost three hours of entertainment, even if you won't be sitting down. 'When you blow the dust off,' Shalam says, '[the Globe] still feels unbelievably universal.' While access for all is the goal, the team at the Globe are aware of the role that Shakespeare plays in the national curriculum and make every effort to ensure as many students as possible can see its plays. Each year it tries to programme at least one of the GCSE texts, and in 2023-24 more than 120,000 students from over 2,000 schools visited the Globe to see Shakespeare live. Of these, 26,000 tickets were provided free to state secondary schools. And it's easy to see why schools are so keen to get their hands on these tickets. Not only does the Globe bring these plays to life, but it's far easier to believe Shakespeare was one of the most popular playwrights of his time when you're standing beneath the Globe's unique thatched roof — the only one in London after they were banned following the Great Fire of London — leaning on the stage a few feet from the action. 'When you're able to experience Shakespeare performed at the Globe, you're able to hear and see the words instead of being hunched over a school desk,' Shalam says. 'You're able to witness these individuals go on these emotional and life journeys.' • Your guide to life in London: what's new in culture, food and property The Globe benefits from school visitors too: if the performers can hold the attention of a crowd of 14-year-olds, they can hold the attention of anyone. 'Laughs and shouts are almost live feedback, especially those up close, leaning on the stage,' says Sean Holmes, director of this production of Romeo and Juliet. 'You can tell an audience is following the play because they react impulsively.' School visitors aren't the only ones keen to see Shakespeare. Today the Globe truly lives up to its name, with a third of visitors last year coming from abroad, from 147 different countries. For Terry, bringing people together from all walks of life is central to making theatre accessible — especially in today's political climate. 'We are becoming increasingly polarised, isolationist, individualist. But for me theatre is one of our most democratic art forms,' she says. 'You stand next to someone you don't know. You don't know what their religion is. You don't know who they vote for. You probably don't even know what country they've come from.'
BBC News
13 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Work to restore Grade I listed Marlow Bridge starts
Work to restore a Grade I listed suspension bridge damaged by heavy lorries has begun. Marlow Bridge, which crosses the Thames, was completed in 1832, but "over time it has suffered from wear and tear", Buckinghamshire Council said. As part of phased work, the nearby Marlow Canoe Club building will be demolished to give access to the underside of the structure. New support bearings will be added which were critical for the "safe operation of the crossing".The council said the "iconic" bridge will remain open during most of the work, which is set to be completed by 2027. The authority said it was important to "preserve the bridge for the future", and it had consulted Heritage England and local heritage teams about the added that the 12 new bearings, which give support to the bridge deck, were designed to last for about 50 years. The authority reassured residents that it had worked closely with both the Canoe Club and Marlow Rowing Club, which uses parts of the bridge's underside for equipment storage, to provide suitable alternative arrangements during the works, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. Councillor Thomas Broom, Conservative cabinet member for transport, said the council had been working to ensure it has "as little impact on the residents of Marlow as possible".He added: "This is a major infrastructure project to restore and retain an iconic structure in the county."The second phase of the work will include restoring the steelwork on the underside of the bridge, then cleaning the structure and reinstating protective coatings. Designs were still being finalised for the final phase, but the plans included the renewal of pedestrian walkways and lighting, restoration of the bridge's historic masonry towers, repainting of the structure, and additional safety and visual Bridge, was built between 1829 and 1832, and was designed by William Tierney council said the last major works were completed between 1965 and 1966. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Times
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- Times
What's the best way to clean a car? (You need two buckets)
Q. Is there such a thing as the perfect way to clean a car and how do I do so without leaving smears or scratches? Also, is paying for hand wash better than going to an automated car wash? TR, Richmond upon Thames To minimise the risk of scratched paintwork you should adopt the 'two bucket' method: one bucket for diluted shampoo and a second full of clean water, along with a microfibre mitten or cloth, as opposed to a cheap cellulose sponge. After rinsing the car with a hose to soften the dirt and get rid of mud, clean one section of paintwork, then rinse the mitten in the clean-water bucket to avoid putting dirt from the car into the shampoo bucket. Then back it goes into the shampoo to clean the next section of bodywork. Use a car shampoo, not washing-up liquid or household detergent. There are a couple of reasons. First, washing-up liquid is a strong detergent, designed to get rid of grease and fat. It will do a good job of cleaning off the dirt but it will also clear away any trace of polish, so unless you polish or wax the car after each wash, the paint surface will not be protected and eventually go rather dull. Second, car shampoo normally contains a lubricant to enable the washcloth to slide over the paintwork with much less risk of tiny scratches from the dirt you are washing off. Avoid washing the car in sunshine or the water will dry quickly, leaving spots and smears. Choose a cloudy day or shaded area and dry the car with a chamois leather or microfibre towel. Modern water-based paints used by car manufacturers are also more susceptible to corrosive damage from bird droppings, especially if they are left in place for a long time, so try to clean them off the same day, even if you don't wash the whole car. A hose is ideal, or a watering can and soft cloth, but clean gently; overenthusiastic scrubbing can inflict damage to the paint underneath. Tree sap can be a nuisance as well but a decent shampoo will get rid of it after two or three wipes. Again, be gentle. Products containing shampoo and wax — 'wash/wax shampoo' — leave a trace of wax on the car after rinsing, but the best protection from dirt, sap and bird droppings is washing followed by a polish and wax every so often. • Car Clinic: Does changing my car's wheel size affect the speedometer? Car detailing or valeting aficionados will, quite correctly, tell you that polish and wax are two different things. Polish is a mild abrasive designed to remove or minimise swirls and slight imperfections, whereas wax leaves a smooth glossy layer to enhance the shine and give added protection. The best natural wax is carnauba, obtained from South American carnauba trees but there are many resin products which do a similar job. All leave a protective layer over the paint to protect it from sunlight, droppings and road dirt. Car detailing enthusiasts swear by washing the car, drying it, applying polish, buffing the polish off, then waxing the car and buffing it to a better-than-showroom finish. If, on the other hand, you feel you have better things to do than spend the entire weekend cleaning the car, you can achieve an impressive finish with less effort by using products that are both polish and wax or resin. They contain a very fine abrasive to smooth the surface and fill scratches, and a wax to leave a good shine. Typical products are Autoglym Super Resin Polish, Turtle Wax Carnauba or Simoniz Liquid Diamond. All of these will remove or reduce slight swirling and leave a wax or resin coating. The coating will be quite thin and won't last as long as a thorough carnauba wax, but the finish is easily good enough to please most car owners. It will last a reasonable time. Treating the car three or four times a year is usually sufficient, and you can tell when the next polish is due because rainwater will not 'bead' on the paint surface. For some of us, cleaning the car thoroughly is a therapeutic activity; it's not mentally demanding and the results are instant and very visible. Of course, not everyone feels that way and many will simply want someone else to do what they regard as a chore. And why not? For the price of a couple of coffees (or one very posh coffee) you can get a perfectly acceptable job done. But, do you use the automatic machine or go to the disused garage forecourt where a small army of cleaners will descend on your car with sprays, buckets and cloths? • Car Clinic: Can I change my car's wheel if I've lost the locking wheel nut key? I've been to lots of hand carwashes and I've never seen any of them adhere to the two-bucket method, but then I pay only about £7 to £10 for a wash and dry. A typical handwash service may foam the car then jetwash it, and then use a cloth from a big shampoo bucket to clean the dirt off. This does risk rubbing the grit and dust from your car, and possibly previous cars, over the rest of the paintwork, causing those swirly scratches. The jet washers they use to soak and rinse the car shouldn't be a problem provided the doors, bonnet and boot are closed properly, although they have been known to dislodge balance weights from alloy wheels. If the car suddenly starts to vibrate at speed after a carwash, that's probably why. You'll almost certainly get a better result from a specialist valeting service, but you'll pay much more for the extra time it takes. An automatic car wash is certainly quick and easy; just drive in, let the brushes and driers do their work then drive out. However, an automatic car wash will not clean hard-to-access areas or wheels as well as a hand wash. If the car wash is well maintained, the brushes should thoroughly rinse themselves after each car, but not all are cared for so well. If the paint does become dull after a few years you can restore the showroom, swirl-free finish by having the paintwork machine-polished by a good car valeting service. The swirls are typically about 1.5 to 2 microns deep and a machine polish will remove the top 2 to 3 microns, but obviously you can do this only a limited number of times before the clear coat — a clear, glossy top coat applied on top of the coloured base layer — gets too thin to give proper protection. Alternatively, you could get the car treated with a ceramic coating. A ceramic coat is tougher than the clear coat or wax but the car will need a bit of preparation and the overall cost will be about £350 to £500. Afterwards it should be showroom-shiny, much more resistant to swirl marks and the coating should last a few years. DIY ceramic coatings are cheaper, typically £70 to £100 for a kit, but they are thinner so won't last as long. But do be aware of one potential drawback with DIY ceramic coatings. Unless you thoroughly prepare the paintwork first, you will effectively seal in any imperfections, leaving them visible and very difficult to remove until the coating wears off. That's why a professional treatment will remove contaminants with a clay bar, then polish it with a machine to free the surface from any blemishes before the ceramic coat is applied. That's what you're paying for. Bear in mind that if a scratch or contaminant has gone through the clear coat and the base coat, the only solution is touch-up paint; if you can see the light-coloured primer, no amount of polishing will restore the finish. Touch-up paint to match the original is widely available and often in pen form, which many people find much easier to use than a brush or spray. If you are getting ready to hand back a leased car with a peppering of stone chips on the bumper, a mobile chip-painting service might be less expensive than the lease company's penalties. Modern car paints do chip and scratch more easily than the finishes of the 1970s and 1980s. That's because carmakers switched from largely petroleum-based paints to water-based paints, which are softer, for environmental and health reasons. That means modern paintwork more easily accumulates swirl marks — visible as circular fine lines if you look at the paint at an angle under sunlight or a bright light. • Car Clinic: Does a car's colour affect its resale value? Car paint consists of three layers: a primer, a coloured base coat, then a clear coat to give shine and to protect the coloured base coat from fading in sunlight or being damaged by contaminants such as bird droppings, tree sap or traffic fumes. The clear coat is usually between 50 and 100 microns thick and is tougher than the coloured base coat, but 'tough' is relative. The international standard for defining paint hardness is to determine what grade of pencil will scratch it. Pencil grades go from 9B as the softest, through HB, typical for writing, up to 9H, which only gives a faint line, but stays sharp for ages. The clear coat on most cars is about 3H to 4H, meaning a 5H pencil used on the surface will leave a scratch. The trouble is, this is softer than most of the tiny particles of dust, grit or brake dust that make cars dirty. As the car is washed, these particles tend to cause tiny scratches, which is why using a specialised car shampoo containing a lubricant is important. An automatic carwash should rinse the brushes after each wash to get rid of dirt particles, but even if the brushes start out completely clean, dirt picked up from your car can stay in the brushes and inflict tiny swirl marks on the paint. A good handwash will use thoroughly rinsed cloths for each car, but again, residual particles or dirt picked up from your car can leave swirl marks and eventually a duller finish on the paint. There are two academic papers supposedly proving that handwashing causes more damage than an automatic car wash, but bear in mind that one was sponsored by the International Carwash Association, supporters of carwash machines, and both compare carwash machines to DIY handwashing, not a professional or two-bucket Shallcross, independent expert Post your motoring questions below or send to carclinic@
The Independent
a day ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Expert tips on how to keep your garden thriving in a hosepipe ban
The joy of summer gardening, with its vibrant blooms and thriving plants, is set to be curtailed for many across England as a series of hosepipe bans come into effect. These restrictions threaten to disrupt carefully laid plans for maintaining lush outdoor spaces. Following the third heatwave of the season, Yorkshire Water was the first to implement measures, with its ban taking effect on 11 July. South East Water quickly followed suit, announcing that its own restrictions would begin on 18 July. This week, Thames Water has also confirmed a hosepipe ban for specific areas, which will be enforced from 22 July. But don't let all your hard work go to waste – now is the perfect time to adapt your gardening routine to keep your plants healthy and happy without a hosepipe. We got in touch with Oliver Hill, founder and editor of gardening site Garden List, who has explained exactly what activities are prohibited under the ban and has shared some tips on how to keep your garden flourishing and fruitful this summer without the need for a hosepipe. Which specific activities are restricted under a hosepipe ban? Hosepipe bans, also known as a Temporary Usage Ban, are put in place to help preserve water and to ensure there's enough to go around, according to Thames Water. 'During a hosepipe ban, using a hosepipe for watering the garden, filling paddling pools, cleaning vehicles and washing patios or windows is typically restricted,' explains Hill. 'However, watering with a watering can is usually allowed, and exceptions may apply for vulnerable people or newly laid turf.' Here are some ways to ensure that your luscious garden doesn't suffer in the absence of a hosepipe.. Water plants in the early morning or late evening Water your plants during the cooler times of the day with a watering can. 'Early morning (before 9am) or late evening (after 6pm) is best,' recommends Hill. 'This reduces water loss through evaporation and gives plants time to absorb moisture before the heat sets in.' Keep the moisture locked in the soil 'Mulch, compost and water-retaining crystals can help reduce water use by keeping moisture locked in the soil for longer,' shares Hill. 'Incorporating plenty of organic matter like compost or well-rotted manure also boosts the soil's ability to retain water. 'Mulching around plants with bark, straw, or even grass clippings helps reduce surface evaporation and keeps roots cool.' Choose plants that thrive in dry conditions Plants like lavender and succulents are very low maintenance and tend to flourish with minimal water.' Mediterranean plants such as lavender, rosemary, thyme, and sedum are naturally drought-tolerant,' says Hill. 'Ornamental grasses, echinacea, and succulents also cope well in dry conditions.' Prioritise watering plants that need it the most Use a watering can to sprinkle plants that need some extra TLC. 'Group plants with similar water needs and prioritise watering anything that wilts quickly or produces fruit,' advises Hill. 'Young seedlings, fruiting vegetables (like tomatoes and courgettes) and container plants need water the most.' Raise mowing height and leave clippings on the lawn 'Letting your lawn go brown isn't the end of the world, most lawns bounce back with the first rainfall,' says Hill. 'But raising the mowing height, avoiding cutting in the heat and leaving the clippings can help keep it greener longer. 'If you must water, focus only on high-traffic or sun-scorched areas using a watering can.' Design your garden with drought in mind.'Planting more resilient species, improving soil health, using mulches, installing rainwater butts and reducing lawn space can all help,' recommends Hill. 'Gravel gardens and Mediterranean-style planting schemes are worth considering too.' 'Watering cans and drip irrigation can be more efficient and may be permitted during bans,' says Hill. Collect rainwater Rainwater is great for watering plants. 'Install water butts on down pipes to capture roof runoff,' recommends Hill. 'Use lids to prevent debris or mosquitoes, and raise them for easy access with a watering can. Linking multiple butts together increases capacity during rainy spells.'
The Sun
a day ago
- Climate
- The Sun
Full list of areas hit with hosepipe bans this summer – check if YOU'RE affected
MILLIONS of households are facing hosepipe bans with four major firms imposing restrictions. Yorkshire Water brought in a ban on July 11 while South East Water is enforcing restrictions from Friday (July 18). 2 Thames Water is set to bring in a ban for households in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, most of Wiltshire and parts of Berkshire on July 22. Sources said Southern Water, which supplies Kent, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, and East and West Sussex, is also days away from a ban. Anglian Water, Dwr Cymra, Northumbrian Water, South West Water, United Utilities Water and Wessex Water have all confirmed to The Sun they are not, currently, poised to impose any restrictions. It comes as the Environment Agency (EA) declared drought in the West and East Midlands today. Here is what Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and South East Water have said about their bans. Yorkshire Water The firm brought in restrictions from July 11 across the whole of Yorkshire following the driest spring on record in the area. Households have been told to stop using hosepipes for the following things: The firm has not said when the restrictions will end - only when its reservoir levels return to better levels. You can find out more information via The hot weather has parched the land and drained reservoirs across the country as UK hit with hosepipe bans Thames Water Thames Water is introducing a ban from next Tuesday (July 22) following the warmest June on record. The firm said the EA has put its coverage area into the prolonged dry weather category - an extended period of low rainfall that leaves water levels depleted. Not all households supplied by Thames Water will be banned from using hosepipes though. The affected postcodes are: OX, GL, SN, RG4, RG8 and RG9. Thames Water said the reason these areas have had a ban imposed is because the Farmoor Reservoir, which supplies them, has seen its water levels drop significantly. The water firm hasn't said how long the ban will last and when it is lifted depends on weather conditions. Customers will be told when the ban is lifted. You can find out more via South East Water South East Water is imposing a ban on Friday (July 18) for households in Kent and Sussex. The restrictions mean those affected cannot use hosepipes for watering gardens, washing cars, windows and patios, or filling swimming and paddling pools. The water firm said demand for water had increased to the highest levels it had ever seen for this time of year, leaving its reservoir and underground water storage levels low. The firm has not put a date on when the ban will end but said it will monitor the situation and lift any restrictions when water levels are back to sufficient levels. You can find out more via What can you do if you're affected? You will likely still be able to water your plants or wash your car using a water can or bucket. You can also use water that is not from the mains water, like grey water from baths and cooking pots or rainwater from a water butt through a hosepipe. Another get around is that you will likely be able to water a newly laid lawn or plants for 28 days. The rules for each firm might vary though so it's worth checking each of the three firms' websites to find out more. .
