UPDATE: Scotland Yard confirmed Trenton Oldfield, 35, of Myrdle Street, east London, has been charged with a Section 5 offence under the Public Order Act namely causing harassment, alarm or distress. He was arrested on Saturday 7 April following an incident during the Boat Race and has been bailed to appear at Feltham Magistrates' court on Monday 23 April.

Just 24 hours before the main event it was the turn of the university old boys to show their paces on the Tideway in the seventeenth Veteran’s Boat Race. Raced from the start at Putney to St. Paul's School Boathouse, Cambridge were clear winners and will be hoping that bodes well for their main crew in the Boat Race proper.

The portrait of a newspaper vendor in Barons Court, west London has been shortlisled for the 2012 BP Portait Award.

An Army horse from the Household of Cavalry's Knightsbridge Barracks has been displaying her affectionate side - saying thank you with a smacker. Thomas, a 24-year-old Irish draught sport horse, is one of the horses rehearsing for the Diamond Jubilee parade. Those who fancy cosying up to the warhorse, who is a veteran of high-profile ceremonial events, will have to come armed with mints to curry favour with the four-legged star.

^{The Crown Estate has unveiled a commemorative plaque to David Bowie’s iconic creation, Ziggy Stardust, marking the 40th anniversary of his album, ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’. The plaque was unveiled at 23 Heddon Street, just off Regent Street, London, W1, where the photograph on the front cover of the album was taken – a fact little known until now.}

Livia Firth has won high praise for her Green Carpet Challenge at a pre-Oscars night party in Hollywood. She co-owns ethical shop, Eco-Age in Chiswick with husband and actor Colin Firth. She started the challenge at last year's Oscars to prove red-carpet frocks can be glamorous if made sustainably with natural fibres.

In Summer 2012 west London's Serpentine Gallery will present a major exhibition of the work of celebrated artist and Beatle's John Lennon widow, Yoko Ono for the London 2012 Festival, which will include SMILE, a large-scale participatory project. The Serpentine’s timely exhibition will reflect upon the enormous impact that Yoko Ono has made on contemporary art, exploring her influential role in art, music, film and performance.

The inner workings of central London are set to be revealed in the first documentary series ever to focus on a single council. The six part series by Popkorn TV to be shown on Channel 5 follows staff from Westminster Council as they go about their day to day jobs keeping the lid on sex shops and at times cleansing homes of blood-thirsty bugs.