SATURDAY 15

MUSIC Cellar Upstairs Folk Club. Well-known singer songwriter Anne Lister takes to the stage. Calthorpe Arms, 252 Gray’s Inn Road, WC1. 020 7281 7700. £8/£6. 8.15pm.

SUNDAY 16

CONCERT Gould Piano Trio. Lucy Gould (violin), Richard Lester (cello) and Benjamin Frith (piano) play pieces by Brahms and Mozart. Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1. 020 7405 1818. £14£10, or free for anyone aged 8-26 courtesy of the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust. 6.30pm-8.30pm.

POETRY An evening of readings. Guest readers Nancy Mattson, Mike Bartholomew-Biggs and Roisin Tierney, introduced by Timothy Ades. Poets from the floor welcome. Torriano Meeting House, 99 Torriano Avenue, NW5. 020 7267 2751. £5/£4. 7.30pm.

PUB QUIZ Win a £50 bar tab. Golden Lion Public House, Royal College Street, NW1. 7pm.

TALK The Ethics of Debt and Finance. Philosopher Alexander Douglas aims to clarify the concept of debt so we can find better answers to finance and borrowing. Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1. 020 7405 1818. £8/£5. 7pm-9pm.

MONDAY 17

TALK The Hidden History of Burma. Award-winning writer, historian and conservationist, Thant Myint-U, served for over a decade with the United Nations and was an advisor to the Burmese government during the early years of the transition from military dictatorship. Hear his inside account of a country at breaking point despite such hope for change following the end of the military dictatorship. Daunt Books Marylebone, 83 Marylebone High Street, W1. 020 7224 2295. £10. 7pm.

TUESDAY 18

BIRDS Hampstead Heath walk with Marylebone Birdwatching Society. Bring binoculars. Meet at the Parliament Hill Staff Yard, NW5 at 10am. Walk ends at Kenwood at midday. Occasional visitors welcome. Free. Call 020 7267 8434 for further details. 1pm.

LECTURE The Ballets Russes: Playing with the Past. Marina Frolova-Walker, Professor of Music at Gresham College, discusses founder of the Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev, and how he seemed to be the nemesis of traditional ballet. Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, EC1. 020 7831 0575. Free. Visit www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures for details. 6pm-7pm.

PHOTOGRAPHY The Hampstead Photographic Society. Offering weekly tips, expert advice and competitions. Crypt Room, St John’s Church, Church Row, NW3. £5. Visit
www.hampsteadphotosoc.org.uk for further details and a full programme. 8pm.

TALK Out of Darkness, Shining Light. New book by Zimbabwean lawyer and writer, Petina Gappah, in which she tells the story of explorer David Livingstone and the 69 men and women who carried his remains for 1,500 miles to the coast so that he could be buried in his own country. Daunt Books Marylebone, 83 Marylebone High Street, W1. 020 7224 2295. £10. 7pm.

WEDNESDAY 19

LECTURE The Ethics of Surgical Innovation. This lecture uses examples from cutting-edge science and medicine to explore the ethical questions which advances in robotics, personalised medicine, transplantation and artificial intelligence pose for doctors, patients and society. Museum of London, 150 London Wall, Barbican, EC2. 020 7831 0575. Free. Visit www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures for further details. 6pm-7pm.

TALK In and Against the State: Lessons from Our Recent Past. To mark the 40th anniversary of the influential text In and Against the State, this talk will draw on historical material to trace this seemingly contradictory idea as an identifiable tendency in the history of the Left. Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, N1. 020 7837 4473. £5. Visit www.housmans.com to book. 7pm-8.30pm.

PERFORMANCE The Lissenden Players take to the stage on Wenesday with a mixture of comic and serious music hall songs. Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution, 11 South Grove (Pond Square), N6. £6, pay on the door. Visit www.lissendenplayers.org.uk for details. 8pm.

THURSDAY 20

LECTURE The Cato Street Conspiracy, 1820: A Study in Terrorism. The lecture discusses the identities, motives and impact of a group of conspirators who assembled in a Cato Street stable in order to plan the massacre of the whole British cabinet. It also looks at the forgotten fact that their failure ended British revolutionary fantasies for a century. Museum of London, 150 London Wall, Barbican, EC2. 020 7831 0575. Free. Visit www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures for further details. 6pm-7pm.

MUSIC Raised Voices Choir. Political street choir welcomes new members. Doreen Bazell Community Centre, Chenies Place (off Pancras Road), NW1. Free sessions available. Visit www.raised-voices.org.uk for further details. 7.30pm-9.30pm.

TALK Picasso and Printmaking. Art dealer Frederick Mulder reveals a selection of original works of art and answers questions on the great Spanish artist. Belsize Community Library, Antrim Road, NW3. Donation £5. Visit www.friendsof belsizelibrary.com for further details. 7.30pm.

ONGOING

EXHIBITION George Him: A Polish Designer for Mid-Century Britain. The first ever retrospective of the Polish-Jewish émigré who brought European Modernist aesthetics to British graphic design. The exhibition includes iconic wartime propaganda posters for the Ministries of Food and Information and adverts for clients like Schweppes and the Post Office. House of Illustration, 2 Granary Square, King’s Cross, N1. 020 3696 2020. £8/£5, five to 17-year-olds £4, children under-5 free. Opening times Tues-Sat 10am-5.30pm, and Sun 11am-5.30pm. Closed Monday. Running until May 2. Visit the website www.houseofillustration.org.uk to book.