To say 2020 has been an unusual year would be an almighty understatement. Thankfully, there’s plenty to look forward to 2021.
Sporting Events
Tennis: Wimbledon is back on 28 June to 11 July 2021. Keith Prowse offers some excellent Wimbledon Hospitality 2021 packages.
Football: Euro 2020 is being played in June and July 2021 with the final at Wembley Stadium on 11 July 2021. And the FA Cup schedule has been confirmed with the final on 15 May 2021.
Rugby: In a breakthrough moment for Rugby League, the men’s, women’s and wheelchair games will come together for the first time on the sports biggest stage. Sixteen teams take part in the Rugby League World Cup and there’s a semi-final at the Emirates Stadium on 20 November 2021.
Cricket: The ICC World Test Championship began in August 2019 and reaches the final tournament at Lord’s Cricket Ground in June 2021.
Exhibitions
The spring season begins at Tate Modern with a retrospective of one of America’s greatest modern painters, Philip Guston. On from 4 February to 31 May 2021, the exhibition looks at his five-decade career.
Opening on 27 March 2021 at the V&A, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser will celebrate one of the most iconic, imaginative and inspiring stories of all time. Also in spring 2021 (dates to be confirmed), there’s a rare chance to experience two of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms at Tate Modern.
The Making of Rodin is at Tate Modern from 6 May to 10 October 2021. It will reveal Auguste Rodin as a radical artist, whose highly experimental works modelled in clay and plaster broke with century-long traditions and inaugurated a new age of sculpture. While over at Tate Britain, Becoming Britain: Photography 1945-79 is on from 30 June to 27 September 2020 displaying documentary photographs that chart the period of change, struggle and hope between 1945 and 1979, from British conflicts and interventions abroad to migration and civil rights movements at home.
The major autumn 2021 exhibition at The National Gallery is Impressionist Decorations: The Birth of Modern Décor. On from 11 September 2021 to 9 January 2022, three of Monet’s most spectacular large paintings of water lilies will be brought together. And Tate Modern has Anicka Yi’s Hyundai Commission in the Turbine Hall from 5 October 2021 to 9 January 2022.
Hogarth and Europe is at Tate Britain from 3 November to 20 March 2022. It will show how 18th-century urban life was captured by William Hogarth in London alongside his contemporaries in Paris, Amsterdam and Venice.
Theatre
Disney’s Frozen Musical will herald the reopening of the £45m-renovated Drury Lane Theatre in April 2021.
And Sister Act The Musical at the Eventim Apollo London in Hammersmith has been rescheduled from summer 2020 to 21 July to 30 August 2021. The month-long run has Whoopi Goldberg reprising her role as Deloris Van Cartier and Jennifer Saunders as Mother Superior.
Annual Events
London New Year’s Day Parade and Festival is on (you guessed it) 1 January 2021. The street parade starts at midday outside The Ritz on Piccadilly and ends hours later at Parliament Square (near the Houses of Parliament). And Chinese new year is on Friday 12 February 2021 so there should be celebrations in London over the weekend.
Pancake Day is on Tuesday 16 February 2021 so there should be some fun pancake races to watch. And as Wednesday 17 March 2021 is St Patrick’s Day, there should be a parade on Sunday 21 March 2021.
Trooping the Colour is in June and the summer opening of Buckingham Palace should be from late July to early September 2021. The end-of-summer highlight is the Notting Hill Carnival planned for 29-30 August 2021.
Autumn oddities include the annual Sheep Drive over London Bridge on 26 September 2021. And Open House London is usually the third weekend in September.
And the final calendar season is welcomed with Hyde Park Winter Wonderland which opens annually in November and remains open until early January.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by and in collaboration with Keith Prowse, but all content and views are my own.