London Literature Festival

The Shot Tower at the Lambeth Lead Works was a shot tower that stood on the South Bank of the River Thames in London, England, between Waterloo Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, on the site of what is now the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was a prominent landmark on the river and featured in a number of paintings, including by J. M. W. Turner.

Festival Pier is a stop for river boat services on the River Thames, London, UK. It is immediately in front of the Royal Festival Hall and National Film Theatre, and serves the South Bank complex. The pier is owned and operated by London River Services, part of Transport for London.

Long Live Southbank, commonly known as LLSB, is a non-profit organisation that successfully campaigned against the redevelopment of the Southbank Undercroft skateboarding spot at the Southbank Centre site in London, England. The organisation is now campaigning to safeguard the space and help the community continue to evolve creatively. The movement was established in April 2013 in order to safeguard the historic site in British skateboarding following the publication of the Festival Wing plans by the Southbank Centre released on 6 March 2013. This proposed scheme included two new buildings above and alongside the Queen Elizabeth Hall to be funded to a significant degree by commercial restaurant and retail developments in the Undercroft space which would have been closed to its skateboarding and other current users. Although an alternative location for skateboarding and other activities was proposed by Southbank Centre, under Hungerford Bridge, this was considered by users of the Undercroft to be a quite different space and lack the unique character and heritage of the Undercroft. On 18 September 2014, Long Live Southbank signed a Section 106 agreement with the Southbank Centre guaranteeing the space's long-term future. and the Festival Wing proposals were withdrawn by Southbank Centre. The area has been continually used by skateboarders, BMXers and other creative urban art forms since the early seventies and remains an important landmark for urban culture. The campaign seeks to protect a dynamic space that has been utilised for creativity and self-expression for decades, independently building a culture and community that continues to attract visitors from all over the world. LLSB volunteer, Henry Edwards-Wood, says of the motivation for the campaign; "This space has empowered generations of physical, visual and collaborative expression and informed and directed the lives of people from all walks of life. This world famous landmark and cultural icon must be preserved for future generations to flourish."

The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten.The QEH was built along with the smaller Purcell Room as part of Southbank Centre arts complex. It stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival of Britain of 1951, and the Hayward Gallery which opened in 1968.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in London, United Kingdom. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who agreed to stage the event after the Netherlands, who had won the 1959 contest, declined to host another contest so soon, having also hosted the 1958 edition. The contest was held at the Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday 29 March 1960 and was hosted by British television presenter Catherine Boyle, who would go on to be the host for the contest 3 more times. It was also the first time the contest was held in a capital city, as well as the first one held in the English-speaking world. Thirteen countries participated in the contest this year, the highest number until then. Norway made their début, and Luxembourg returned after their absence from the previous edition. The winner of the contest was France with the song "Tom Pillibi", performed by Jacqueline Boyer, written by Pierre Cour, and composed by André Popp. This was already France's second victory in the contest, following their win in 1958, and their fourth consecutive top three placing. Aged 18, Boyer became the first teenager and the youngest artist yet to win the contest. Following the death of Lys Assia in 2018, Jacqueline Boyer stands as the earliest surviving Eurovision winner, although later winning singers are older in terms of age.

The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I listed building, the first post-war building to become so protected (in 1981). The London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are resident in the hall.The hall was built as part of the Festival of Britain for London County Council, and was officially opened on 3 May 1951. When the LCC's successor, the Greater London Council, was abolished in 1986, the Festival Hall was taken over by the Arts Council, and managed together with the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room (opened 1967) and the Hayward Gallery (1968), eventually becoming an independent arts organisation, now known as the Southbank Centre, in April 1998.The complex includes several reception rooms, bars and restaurants, and the Clore Ballroom, accommodating up to 440 for a seated dinner. A large head and shoulders bust of Nelson Mandela (by Ian Walters, created in 1985) stands on the walkway between the hall and Hungerford Bridge approach viaduct. Originally made in glass-fibre it was repeatedly vandalised until re-cast in bronze.The complex's variety of open spaces and foyers are popular for social or work-related meetings. The closest tube stations are Waterloo and, across the river via the Jubilee Bridges, Embankment and Charing Cross.

The Hoffnung Music Festivals were a series of three humorous classical music festivals held in Royal Festival Hall, London in 1956, 1958 and 1961 (and a reprise in 1988). They were created by cartoonist and amateur tuba player Gerard Hoffnung. They included works such as Haydn's Surprise Symphony 'with extra surprises' added by Donald Swann, an 'excerpt from Belshazzar's Feast', with full orchestra and chorus conducted by William Walton himself (with a fly swat), which turned out to consist of just a single chord with the word "Slain!", and humorous works specially commissioned from well-known composers of the day.

The National Poetry Library is a free public collection housed at Royal Festival Hall in London's Southbank Centre. Situated on the fifth floor of the Royal Festival Hall, overlooking the river Thames, the library aims to hold all contemporary UK poetry publications since 1912. It houses the largest collection in Britain, numbering over 200,000 items, including works by small presses. It also holds audio and video materials, critical texts and works for children for loan and reference. The library contains work by non-UK poets and publishers and press cuttings are also archived for members' research. Membership is free and material is borrowed through the national inter-lending library services or returned by post. The library provides support for schools nationally and locally. The venue has an exhibition and event space.

Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Saison Poetry Library, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room), together with the Hayward Gallery, and is Europe’s largest centre for the arts. It attracted 4.36 million visitors during 2019. Over two thousand paid performances of music, dance and literature are staged at Southbank Centre each year, as well as over two thousand free events and an education programme, in and around the performing arts venues. In addition, three to six major art exhibitions are presented at the Hayward Gallery yearly, and national touring exhibitions reach over 100 venues across the UK.

A Room for London is a temporary structure located on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank. The structure, designed by architect David Kohn is described as "a one-bedroom installation" and is shaped to appear like a boat perched on top of a building. The structure has been in place since 2012 and has acted as a "single-room, boat-shaped hotel", available to be booked for single-night residencies. A Room for London is one of a number of projects by Living Architecture, a not-for-profit holiday home rental company founded by philosopher and writer Alain de Botton.

Lion Brewery Co is a British heritage brewery that was founded in 1836 in Lambeth, London.For over a hundred years, the brewery shipped its heavily-hopped ales to trading posts and ports across the seas. It was one of the main exporters of beer to various parts of the British Empire, until the brewery was damaged by fire and closed in 1931. The building remained derelict until it was eventually demolished in 1949 to make way for the Royal Festival Hall.In 2018, a new Lion Brewery Co was founded in Singapore.

The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Purcell Room has hosted a wide range of chamber music, jazz, mime and poetry recitals. In the context of the Southbank Centre it is the smallest of a set of three venues, the other two being the Royal Festival Hall, a large symphony hall, and the QEH, which is used for orchestral, chamber and contemporary amplified music. The Purcell Room was built at the same time as the QEH, with which it shared a common foyer building and architectural features as an example of Brutalist architecture. The focus of the building is its interior space and it makes few concessions to external decoration. From outside, even its position within Southbank Centre is not easy to discern. The QEH and Purcell Room were designed, with The Hayward, as additions to the Southbank Centre arts complex by Hubert Bennett, head of the architects department of the Greater London Council, with Jack Whittle, F.G West and Geoffrey Horsefall. The venue was temporarily closed in September 2015, for major renovations, and re-opened in 2018.