Best of British diary

12.12.12 The Underground Orchestra founder Shaun Buswell.

An orchestra, made up of complete strangers, makes its live debut at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 26th January 2013.

12.12.12 The Underground Orchestra was started after founder Shaun Buswell noticed how many people carry instruments on the Underground.

Following a self-imposed set of rules, Buswell approach anyone he saw carrying an instrument within the confines of a station to invite them to join him.

All proceeds from ticket sales and other donations will go to Daytrippers, a charity that helps children with disabilities, life limiting or terminal illnesses to enjoy amazing experiences.

A group of train drivers will be taking it down a gear as they travel from John O’Groats to Land’s End by tractor.

The men from Virgin Trains were inspired to do this after Fred Sullivan, a driver on the high speed West Coast Main Line, discovered that his son, Aaron, had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The 985 mile route, which will take two weeks to complete, will be navigated by a 1955 Massey Ferguson tractor to raise funds for the Young Oncology Unit at The Christie Hospital and Research Centre, in Manchester.

Setting off on 10 September, donations can be taken via the dedicated website and those who fancy joining the endeavour can pay to drive a 1954 tractor along a section of the route.

The Goodwood Revival is a spectacular step-back-in-time encompassing the very best in vintage fashion, live music and spectacular motor racing, set in the golden era of the 1940s, 50s & 60s, at one of the world’s most authentic circuits.

Visitors to the Revival, are encouraged to come along dressed to the nines in yesteryear styles, whether it’s the gentrified country style, the rock’n’roll styles of the Teddy Boys or the psychedelia of the swinging sixties.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic AC cobra with a dedicated race, 50 years of the Ferrari 250 GTO, a tribute to Dan Gurney on the 50th anniversary of his maiden Grand Prix victory, plus for the first time since the 1930s, the legendary pre-war ‘Silver Arrows’ Grand Prix cars will be reunited on-track, marking the 75th anniversary of their first appearance in the UK!

Best of British magazine are delighted to be giving away a pair of tickets each for this must see event on 14th September to three lucky winners. All you have to do is answer the question below, sending it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Which anniversary is the iconic AC Cobra celebrating in 2012?
1.    40th
2.    50th
3.    30th

Terms & Conditions
Three pairs of Friday 14 September general adult admission tickets, Competition closing date Friday 31st August at 5pm 
This prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be offered.
The competition is open to UK residents aged 18 or over.

A full list of 1940s Events can be found here.

South West

4th  Exmoor Day Out, The West Somerset Railway, Minehead, Somerset

Enjoy a small taste of yesteryear, taking a mystery tour by train and coach.

5th-7th  Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Gala, Didcot Railway Centre, Didcot, Oxfordshire

GWR Diesel Railcar No.22 is in operation, while U Class locomotive No. 31806 pays a visit from the Mid-Hants Railway.

South East

5th-7th  The 7th Isle of Wight Real Ale Festival, Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Havenstreet, Isle of Wight

Enjoy a range of real ales along and take a ride on the full steam service.

6th  Veteran and Classic Motorcycle Show, Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre, Arundel, West Sussex

A display of beautifully maintained and restored motorcycles.

6th  Spring Rally Open Day, Twyford Waterworks, Twyford, Hampshire

There’s something for everyone at this popular start of season event.

West of England

2nd-8th  Eeles Family Pottery, The National Arboretum, Westonbirt, Gloucestershire

An exhibition of beautiful handmade Dorset stoneware, porcelain and pottery.

6th  Free Bus Ride, Oxford Bus Museum, Witney, Oxfordshire

Sample (or remember) what bus travel was like 50 years ago with a free bus ride from the Museum.

East of England

5th  Spalding Flower Parade, Spalding, Lincolnshire

A procession of tulip-decorated floats, on the theme of Food Glorious Food, makes its way through the town, accompanied by marching bands and dancers.

6th-7th  The London Event 2012, East Anglia Transport Museum, Carlton Colville, Suffolk
Mark 60 years since London’s last tram and 50 since the trolleybus system was closed by taking a ride on one of the many period vehicles at the Museum.

Midlands

5th-7th  Tug Boat Event, Black Country Living Museum, Dudley, West Midlands
Watch the tug boats manoeuvre their way along the canal and chat to their owners.

North of England

6th  Spring Steaming, Bolton Steam Museum, Bolton, Lancashire
Many of the museum’s steam engines, some of which once drove the cotton mills of Lancashire, will be in operation.

Wales

5th-7th  Blaenau 30, Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, Harbour Station, Porthmadog
Celebrating 30 years since the Ffestiniog Railway began running into its original starting point again.

Scotland

6th  Diesel Sunday, Caledonian Railway, Brechin, Angus
Take a ride back to 1970s in a heritage carriage or, for an extra fee, the cab with the driver.

• Details correct at time of press – please confirm with event organisers before travelling.

April

20th-23rd  The Annual Jersey Wartime Memories Weekend, The Hotel Metropole, St Helier, Jersey

27th 1940s Dance, The Indoor Bowls Centre, Abbey Road, Pity Me, Durham (07546 403378)

28th 1940s Event, Denbies English Vineyard, Dorking, Surrey

28th-29th  1940s Weekend, Churnet Valley Railway, Froghall, Staffordshire,

28th-29th  Festival of Vintage, York Racecourse, York

May

5th-6th  World War II Spectacular Weekend, Fort Paull, Nr Hull, East Yorkshire

5th-7th  VE Weekend, Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey, Essex

5th-7th  Steaming through the 40s, Bodmin & Wenford Railway, Bodmin, Cornwall

6th  Reunion & Open Day, 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum, Dickleburgh, Norfolk (01379 740708, )

6th-7th  Fortress Wales 2012, Caldicot Castle, Caldicot, Monmouthshire

6th-7th  Wartime at the Tower, Hoghton Tower, Hoghton, Lancashire

6th-7th  Middy in the War Years, Mid Suffolk Light Railway Co., Stowmarket, Suffolk

7th  1940s Knees-up, The Museum of Nottingham Life: Brewhouse Yard, Nottingham

12th-13th  Grand Historical Bazaar, Rufford Abbey Country Park, Nottinghamshire

12th-13th  A Village at War, Rural Life Centre, Farnham, Surrey

12th-13th  1940s Weekend, Shepshed Watermill, Shepshed, Leicestershire

12th-13th  Somewhere in England, Tower Museum, Bassingbourn Barracks, Royston, Hertfordshire

13th  1940s Day, Bressingham Steam & Gardens, Bressingham, Norfolk

18th-20th  Private Resistance, Parham Airfield Museum, Framlingham, Suffolk

19th  The 1940s Relived, Brooklands Museum, Weybridge,  Surrey

19th-20th  Bunker Bash 2012, Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker, Brentwood, Essex

19th-20th 1940s Weekend, Kent & East Sussex Railway, Tenterden, Kent

19th-20th  Halfpenny at War, Halfpenny Green Airport, Wolverhampton, West Midlands

19th-20th  Blyth Battery Goes to War, Blyth Battery, Blyth, Northumberland

19th-20th  The Haworth 1940s Weekend, Haworth, West Yorkshire

19th-20th  1940s Weekend, Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

25th-27th  The Vintage Nostalgia Show, Stockton Park, Stockton, Wiltshire

26th-27th  Trucks & Troops, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hampshire, SO42 7ZN

26th-27th  Battlegroup North, Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, North Yorkshire

26th-27th  1940s Weekend, Tutbury Castle, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire

27th  World Wars Experience, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, East Lothian

Details correct at time of press – please confirm with event organisers before travelling.

Taking place at York Racecourse on 28-29 April, The Festival of Vintage will celebrate the music, fashion and lifestyles of the 1930s to 1960s.

In addition to films, live performances, exhibitions and historical re-enactments, the Festival will feature more than 100 dealers selling a whole range of vintage clothing, furniture and other objects.

To celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, The Royal Mint is looking for the UK’s biggest Royal family fan.

If you are a collector of royal family memorabilia then visit the Mint’s website before 30 April to find to find out how to be in with a chance to win an official Royal Mint Gold Proof Diamond Jubilee coin, worth £2,400.

The prize also includes a guided tour of the highly secured Royal Mint where you will be able to strike your own Gold Proof Diamond Jubilee coin. Four runners up will receive a Silver Proof Diamond Jubilee coin.

In its first three months, the Museum of Liverpool has received half a million visitors and is set to welcome many more with the launch of several galleries and an entire floor.

One of the highlights of the opening, which takes place today, is The Great Port gallery which explores how Liverpool transformed itself from a small tidal inlet to one of the world's great ports.

Following careful restoration, the gallery will display the steam locomotive Lion, built for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1838, and Motor Coach No. 3, the only surviving carriage from the Liverpool Overhead Railway, affectionately known as ‘The Dockers’ Umbrella’ which ran close to the River Mersey from 1893 until 1956.

Terence Conran - The Way We Live Now is a major retrospective marking the designer’s 80th birthday.

Held at the Design Museum, London, until March 4th, the exhibition explores Sir Terence’s impact on contemporary life in Britain; tracing his career from post-war austerity through to the Festival of Britain, the birth of Habitat in 1964, the design boom of the 1980s and on to the present day.

In addition to examples of his and other designers’ work, there will be recreations of rooms associated with Conran including a view taken from a Habitat catalogue and the study from his home at Barton Court.

Recently opened in Gallery Two of the National Media Museum in Bradford, Daniel Meadows: Early Photographic Works contains images taken around Britain in the 1970s and 1980s.

Meadow’s career began in 1972 when, as part of a new documentary movement, he opened a studio in Moss Side, Manchester, and persuaded residents to pose for him in exchange for a free portrait.

He later took this philosophy on the road, using a converted Leyland PD1 double-decker bus as a darkroom and living quarters, to capture even more subjects.

Much of this material has never seen the light of day and along with other works – including Butlin’s by the Sea, taken in Filey, North Yorkshire, in 1972, and a collection of two-minute ‘Digital Storytelling films’ – will be on display until February 19th.

Photo © Daniel Meadows (Courtesy of the Photography and the Archive Research Centre)