marco pierre white adds a touch of glamour to next thursday’s countdown

November 6th, 2009

If you like our Good Stuff 24 Hr Countdown, you’re in great company. Here’s what Top Chef Marco Pierre White has to say,

“I am delighted to be teaming up with lastminute.com to offer its customers a glamorous, affordable dining experience this festive period at my four Frankie’s restaurants in London. Whether you are shopping in Harrods, partying in Putney or seeing friends in Chiswick and Chelsea, Frankie’s guarantees you a great night out in a stunning venue.”

I’m a great fan of the bresaola and the aubergine parmigiana myself – but check the set menu for what’s on offer – we’ll let you know as soon as we have it.

join our facebook fan page for early news on good stuff

November 5th, 2009

If you’re on facebook, it’s easy to find us at facebook.com/lastminute.com and if you become a fan, you’ll get early news on our greatest offers and promotions. We’ve got some great exclusives coming up too.

Come and join us and you can post reviews, photos and videos on our page.

good stuff give away summer 09: we have a winner

November 4th, 2009

Congratulations to Vicky Coduri, the winner of our Summer of Good Stuff give away grand prize.

She has won a trip for her and 9 friends to Barbados for a week. Staying in the beautiful Almond resort. The trip also includes an Atlantis submarine tour courtesy of the Barbados tourist board.

Here’s her winning thumbs up piccie.

If you want to win something like this for yourself, please upload your photos to lastminute.com/giveaway and get voting (but not for yourself obviously!).

the good stuff: 24 hour price countdown

November 4th, 2009

If you don’t know about this already, make sure you visit lastminute.com/countdown to check out our greatest offers.

Every Thursday for just 24 hours we will have some cracking deals available at great prices. From hotels, to holidays, spa days to days out, we have the lot. Now here’s the thing, these deals will only be around for 24 hours, but they are so good they may sell out so it maybe an idea to get along early so you don’t miss out.

Update on this week’s great deals to follow shortly.

Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2009: Longlist revealed

November 3rd, 2009

If you missed the news in yesterday’s Evening Standard – well here it is again – the now free paper has announced the long list for Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2009.

The shortlist will be unveiled next week and winners announced on 23 November at a star studded event at the Royal Opera House, London. This year sees the introduction of a new category moniker, the best actress award is named in tribute to Natasha Richardson, who passed away this year.

The judging panel includes: Henry Hitchings, the Standard, Susannah Clapp, The Observer, Matt Wolf, International Herald Tribune, Georgina Brown, The Mail on Sunday and Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph.
Standard deputy editor Sarah Sands chairs the panel and Evening Standard executive director Evgeny Lebedev, will present his own special award.

If you want to check out the shows visit lastminute.com/theatre for great deals and theatre, dinner and packages too.

Here is the Awards Long list

Best Actor
Bertie Carvel – The Pride (Royal Court)
Michael Feast – Plague Over England (Duchess)
Henry Goodman – Duet For One (Almeida/Vaudeville)
David Harewood – The Mountaintop (Theatre 503/Trafalgar Studios)
Matthew Kelly – Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (Trafalgar Studios) Troilus And Cressida (Shakespeare’s Globe)
Ian McKellen – Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
Simon Russell – Beale The Winter’s Tale (Old Vic)
Mark Rylance – Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Kevin Spacey Inherit The Wind (Old Vic)
Ken Stott A View From The Bridge (Duke of York’s)
David Tennant Hamlet (RSC Stratford/Novello)
David Troughton Enjoy (Gielgud) Inherit The Wind (Old Vic)
Samuel West – Enron (Royal Court)
The Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress
Samantha Bond – Arcadia (Duke of York’s)
Deanna Dunagan – August: Osage County (Steppenwolf/ National)
Penny Downie – Helen (Shakespeare’s Globe)
Rebecca Hall – The Winter’s Tale (Old Vic)
Pauline Malefane – The Mysteries (Garrick)
Lyndsey Marshal – The Pride (Royal Court)
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – A View From The Bridge (Duke of York’s)
Amy Morton – August: Osage County (Steppenwolf/ National)
Juliet Stevenson – Duet For One (Almeida/Vaudeville)
Michelle Terry – England People Very Nice (National)
Rachel Weisz – A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse)

Best Play
August: Osage County – Tracy Letts (Steppenwolf/National)
England People Very Nice – Richard Bean (National)
Enron – Lucy Prebble (Royal Court)
Jerusalem – Jez Butterworth (Royal Court)
Our Class – Tadeusz Slobodzianek/Ryan Craig (Steppenwolf/National)
Pornography – Simon Stephens (Tricycle)
Punk Rock – Simon Stephens (Lyric Hammersmith)
Tusk Tusk – Polly Stenham (Royal Court)
When The Rain Stops Falling – Andrew Bovell (Almeida)

The Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical
A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory/Garrick)
Been So Long (Young Vic)
Hello, Dolly (Open Air, Regent’s Park)
The Mysteries (Garrick)
Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith/Novello)
Sunset Boulevard (Comedy)
Best Director
Howard Davies – Burnt by the Sun (National)
Marianne Elliott All’s Well That Ends Well (National)
Richard Eyre – The Last Cigarette (Trafalgar Studios) and The Observer (National)
Rupert Goold – Enron (Royal Court)
Jeremy Herrin – Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Janice Honeyman – The Tempest (RSC Stratford/Richmond)
Sean Mathias – Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
Sam Mendes – The Winter’s Tale (Old Vic)
Ian Rickson – Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Anna D Shapiro – August: Osage County (Steppenwolf/National)

Best Design
Jon Bausor – Kursk (Young Vic)
Miriam Buether – Judgement Day (Almeida)
Lez Brotherston – Dancing At Lughnasa (Old Vic)
Bob Crowley- Phedre (National)
The Power Of Yes (National)
Rob Howell – The Observer (National)
Mamoru Iriguchi – Mincemeat (Cardboard Citizens/Cordy House, Shoreditch)
Peter McKintosh – Prick Up Your Ears (Comedy)
Vicki Mortimer – Burnt by The Sun (National)
Christopher Oram – Hamlet/Madame de Sade/Twelfth Night (Donmar at Wyndham’s)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse)
Todd Rosenthal – August: Osage County (National)
Ultz Jerusalem (Royal Court)

The Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright
Alia Bano (Shades/Royal Court)
Kieron Barry (Stockwell/Landor & Tricycle)
Lucy Kirkwood (It Felt Empty When The Heart Went At First But It Is Alright Now/Arcola)
Molly Davies (A Miracle/Royal Court)
Katori Hall (Mountaintop/Theatre 503 & Trafalgar Studios)
Ella Hickson (Eight/Trafalgar Studios)
Alexi Kaye Campbell (The Pride/Royal Court & Apologia/Bush)
The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer
Naana Agyei-Ampadu (Been So Long/Young Vic)
Aneurin Barnard (Spring Awakening/Lyric Hammersmith)
Lenny Henry (Othello/Northern Broadsides at Trafalgar Studios)
Ruth Negga (Phedre/National)
Bel Powley (Tusk Tusk/Royal Court)
Toby Regbo (Tusk Tusk/Royal Court)
Tom Sturridge (Punk Rock/ Lyric Hammersmith)
Charlotte Wakefield (Spring Awakening/ Lyric Hammersmith & Novello)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge (2nd May 1997/Bush)

Top 10 London Blogs: Our pick of the best

November 2nd, 2009

As we continue our series of best of blogs, I’m more than happy to reveal London’s top 10 – not least because I’m a Londoner and also, they show off the capital in such a great light.

And here they are:

Londonist is topical and up to the minute when it comes to what is going on in central London. It’s got a great sense of style and humour too, plus great images like this one of the new Studio 55 gallery.

Catch a Vibe is the guide to black culture and going out in London. There are lots of interviews with musicians and fashion as well.

Annie Mole’s Going Underground’s Blog is “irreverent & informative”, and award-winning. It’s all about the life and times of our multicoloured-moving-spaghetti aka the London Underground Tube network.

London Daily Photo is from Tiki Chris and shines a light on London’s more alternative face.

London SE1 is a season blog and has a great round up of what’s going on around London’s Southbank

This is a great discovery London Jazz and it’s updated daily with news and there’s lots of great photographic memorabilia. The editor is Sebastian Scotney who also blogs on the Telegraph.co.uk.

The Londoneer is all about London and also the travels of the editor so expect to see photographs of rugged landscapes and urban graffiti as well as museums and moshpits.

Tired of London Tired of Life is another microscope on London and today’s post features an old favourite cafe of mine, The Gallery which is right across the road from the Museum of Childhood – it’s run by Monks and their veg pasta is heaven on a plate.

The LGBT is a new wordpress blog but it definitely deserves a shout out here. It’s the only hub for all things Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender in the capital and can provides all the information and services you need to make your stay in London and the UK as fabulous as possible!

Visit London blog has a really comprehensive list of seasonal events for the traveller that wants to get the best out of the city.

If you’re looking for ideas on where to go stay, check our hotels pages at lastminute.com.
Please feel free to suggest any other great London blogs which we should be looking at.

Globe Trotter Richard Conway enjoys a trip closer to home….

October 31st, 2009

Many people would argue that the best way to travel around London is by underground. I decided to try something different. The open top bus tours around London let you jump on and off at the various attractions round the city and you can at least see the different sights even if you don’t have time to visit them all.

The London Aquarium is based in the Westminster area of central London and has great views of Big Ben over the river, and the London Eye just a few yards down the road. There are quite literally thousands of fish and underwater creatures in the aquarium and I found myself trying to spot many of the different types that I had encountered on my diving course in the Egyptian Red Sea.

The main attraction in most aquariums is the shark tank and the London Aquarium is no different. The huge predators stalk around the massive tank staring back at the school children peering in at them. I was just glad that I wasn’t in the water with them this time!

Heading over to Piccadilly I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the descriptions do not really do the place justice. Spread over five floors there is everything from strange memorabilia to a mirror maze. I originally thought we would have been in and out within an hour or so….little did I know that three hours later we would still be wondering around laughing at some of the strange displays!

Take for example, this man who decided to carve a hole in his head for a candle so that he could do tours round the city at night! If only the torch had been invented slightly earlier! 

A great plus of the open top bus tours is that you get a free boat cruise down the River Thames. Even though the weather wasn’t the best (it is now October after all!) it was still a nice way to end my day in the capital.

Overall it was a fun day and I would even recommend the trip to residents of the capital. There is so much to see and do and if you want to make it feel like an actual day off…take the bus!

offers: this week’s most popular

October 30th, 2009

If you’re short of ideas on what to do or where to go, why not check out our most popular deals this week?

• go last second – holidays leaving this fortnight
• holidays leaving this month from £98
• thriller – the lyric theatre – save up to £9 – from £23.50
• wicked theatre tickets – the apollo victoria theatre – from £15
• VUE cinema vouchers – lastminute.com exclusive – only £6.49 – available Mon to Thurs
• latest top flights offers, the best deals on sale this week – flight offers from £251

Richard Conway continues his globe trotting adventures in Scotland

October 29th, 2009

Some of the most popular attractions in Edinburgh are the ghosts!  Starting off on the famous Royal Mile, our host for the evening stresses that the key to enjoying any tour such as this is to let your imagination run wild. There was no doubt in my mind that the story telling flair of our guide would make this a chilling evening!

In the group, we follow the guide down a few of the many small winding paths that lead away from the Royal Mile. The poor lighting and cobbled bricks only add to the spooky atmosphere.

The tour moves on to some of the many underground passageways underneath Edinburgh. The vaults on Blair Street are undoubtedly eerie. The temperature is far higher than outside and yet the walls are damp. The tales of various ghosts such as ‘Jack’ and ‘Mr. Boots’ have everyone huddling together. The creaks of the building upstairs and the flickering of the candlelight get our imaginations into overdrive. I really couldn’t wait to get out of there!

The Ghost Tour is a fantastic display of storytelling from a guide who is clearly passionate about her subject. I would most definitely recommend going on one if you are visiting the city.

For dinner we decided visited one of the most famous pubs in the city. The Greyfriars Bobby pub, named after the famous terrier that stayed by his master’s grave for 14 years only ever leaving for food. The pub itself is as traditional as you can get in Edinburgh and the food definitely hit the spot for me. Although having a choice of seven different types of sausage for my dinner was always going to keep me happy!

My weekend in Edinburgh has absolutely flown by. I have enjoyed staying in the stylish Missoni Hotel and the city itself is so full of character it is almost impossible not to find something that appeals to you.

Richard Conway’s latest globe trotting blog from Edinburgh…

October 28th, 2009

The six hour journey up to Scotland from Leicester may have been a long trip, but the stunning coastlines and beautiful landscapes are one of the many reasons why a lot of people prefer to travel over the border in this way.  It definitely makes a change from sitting in an airport departures lounge!

My hotel for the weekend was in the centre of Edinburgh’s old town right on the Royal Mile and just a short walk from many of the main attractions. The Missoni Hotel is definitely one of the most funky I have visited in my short career as a globe trotter. Zebra pattern carpets in the hallways, with matching dressing gowns in the rooms were definitely a first for me.

The dominating feature of the Edinburgh skyline is the castle that overlooking the city. The vantage point from the castle gives provides some spectacular views over the urban landscape.

My visit to the castle also enabled me to discover a bit more about my Scottish ancestry.  It was also a perfect opportunity to buy my first real souvenir from my trips – a tartan scarf in the traditional Kerr clan colours!

Lined up for tomorrow is a Ghost walk round and underneath the old town. It comes highly recommended by a few of my friends. I’m not entirely sure what to expect from it but I’m sure it will be good fun and an interesting way to start the night. Edinburgh has been described as one of the most haunted cities in Britain; I guess I’ll find out why tomorrow night!