Bucket List: A Queer Day in London

Seeing Northern Ballet's production of Gentleman Jack at Sadler's Wells Theatre and visiting Queer Britain, the National LGBTQ+ Museum both went onto the bucket list the moment I heard about them. With the ballet only having a limited run at Sadler’s Wells, I took a day off work and nipped up to London for the Thursday matinee. The two felt like an obvious pairing: matinee in Angel, then a bus down to King’s Cross afterwards. Thematically and geographically connected. The only question was what to do beforehand.

Pride (2014)

The day actually began at home with a rewatch of Pride (2014) before heading up to London. Given that much of the film centres around Gay's The Word, it turned out to be the perfect curtain-raiser for the day ahead.

My first stop on arriving in London was Gay’s The Word itself, tucked away near Russell Square. I left with a copy of Queer City by Peter Ackroyd, which felt appropriately on-theme for the day ahead. The shop has the kind of atmosphere that encourages lingering: shelves of queer history, fiction, memoir, politics and biography packed into a space that feels both welcoming and quietly historic. And do not forget the badges.

Gay's the Word

Before heading on, I walked through Gordon Square to photograph some of the blue plaques connected to the Bloomsbury Group, including John Maynard Keynes and Lytton Strachey. It worked surprisingly well as part of the day: a reminder that queer histories are often folded quietly into ordinary London streets.

Bloomsbury set

From there it was on to Gentleman Jack. The production really came alive in the second half, gaining confidence, sensuality and emotional force as it went on. The scenes between Anne Lister and Ann Walker were particularly charged, while moments of humour emerged whenever the men blundered into the middle of things. Ballet feels an especially interesting medium for Anne Lister’s story, which is so rooted in words and diaries, later inspiring the television series that brought her business and romantic life to wider attention. Yet through movement and physicality rather than dialogue, the production still captured her determination, charisma and relationships remarkably clearly.

Gentleman Jack poster

After the matinee, I headed back towards King’s Cross for Queer Britain. It is not a huge museum, but definitely worth visiting if you are in the area, especially as the temporary exhibition focused on forty years of BFI Flare, which was particularly interesting for me. The permanent galleries explore queer activism, pleasure, cultural icons and health. Linking neatly back to the plaques detour earlier in the day, there was also a display on Lytton Strachey and Dora Carrington sponsored by Skittles. Well done, Skittles.

Queer Britain

40 Years of BFI Flare

One of the nicest accidental themes of the day turned out to be books. It began in a bookshop and ended at Word on the Water - the London Bookbarge, listening to a fantastic guitarist - Hidè Takemoto, and browsing shelves aboard the barge on Regent’s Canal.

Words on the Water

That ending also felt like a fitting segue into the next part of the Bank Holiday weekend: my first canal holiday, one of my wild card bucket list challenges and something a little outside my usual comfort zone. After a day spent moving between queer histories, performances, archives, bookshops and waterways, finishing beside the canal somehow tied everything together rather neatly.

Bucket list day: Thursday 21 May 2026