Welcome

Here it is - we promised you the celebrity twist to last week's Fitzalan Road story. Read on to find out when the Beatles and Ravi Shankar got on down in Finchley.

And a Brideshead Revisited Finchley connection, too. We're the email that goes on giving.

🎶 Beatles + Ravi Shankar: Finchley's Music Meetup

When we talk about Finchley shaping pop culture, we don’t usually mean “changed the sound of the 60s” - but that’s exactly what happened when a local household became an unlikely bridge between British pop and Indian classical music.

In 1965, George Harrison snapped a sitar string while working on Norwegian Wood, and a call went out: could Ayana Deva Angadi — an Indian intellectual and political firebrand living in Finchley — help?

Remember the Angadi family who hosted the first Iyengar yoga class in the UK?

Angadi delivered a replacement to Abbey Road Studios and, crucially, an open invitation to drop by for music at home.

That small favour snowballed into dinners, concerts and friendships with The Beatles (all the details!) orbiting around the Angadi’s Fitzalan Road living room - helped along by Ayana’s work founding the Asian Music Circle, which brought major South Asian performers to Britain and built serious cultural credibility long before “fusion” became a buzzword.

Their daughter Chandrika remembers the surreal details: her mum artist Patricia Angadi sketching band members in the studio; the panic of announcing “George Harrison is coming to dinner” with nothing in the cupboard but the promise of an egg curry; and a teenage Chandrika trying to look cool with a mouth full of peanuts after sitting beside Paul McCartney.

The Angadis’ biggest mic-drop? Hosting the first meeting between Harrison and Ravi Shankar- complete with the instantly iconic lesson: foot off the sitar case. (George and Ravi in concert.)

Years later, another knock at the door even helped point a saffron-robed visitor towards Harrison, nudging the chain of events that led to My Sweet Lord.

It’s a reminder that cultural revolutions sometimes start in suburban Finchley.

The crossover is pure London. Or should we say Finchley? Who knows what creative connections are happening behind our Finchley front doors?🎶

Events

ARTS

Friday 20th February

​Sleeping Beauty | Fri, Feb. 20 | 11:00 am to 12:00 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | Tickets from £15 | Join Let's All Dance Ballet Company for a dazzling, family-friendly adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s beloved classical ballet.

Sunday 22nd February

​BeWell Family Dance Festival 2026 | Sun, Feb. 22 | 10:00 am to 4:00 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | Free | BeWell is back. Bigger, brighter, and full of joy. One vibrant day where children, parents and grandparents move, make and celebrate together.

Thursday 26th February

​Blubber | Thu, Feb. 26 | 7:45 pm to 8:45 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | Tickets from £19 | Award-winning artist Katie Greenall's new show is a joyous journey of storytelling, ebbing and flowing to explore what placing kindness first can look like.

MUSIC

Saturday 28th February

​Piano Recital by Angela Brownridge | Sat, Feb. 28 | 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm | St Mary-at-Finchley Parish Church, 26 Hendon Lane, N3 1TR | Entry is free, retiring collection for St Mary-at-Finchley Church and Churchyard Appeal. | Dazzling virtuosity and refined beauty combine in this piano recital by internationally renowned pianist Angela Brownridge, who will play music by Debussy, J.S. Bach, Chopin and Schubert.

​Barnet Boogie | Sat, Feb. 28 | 7:00 pm| Chipping Barnet Social Club, 33 High Street, EN5 5UW | Free | Brand new soul and RnB club starting in Barnet end of the month. Playing the best of 60s and early 70s dance tunes: northern soul, ,otown, RnB, mod beats and more. Strictly vinyl.

COMMUNITY

Sunday 22nd February

Lunar New Year Celebrations - Age UK Barnet | Sun, Feb. 22 | 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm | Ann Owens Centre, Oak Lane, N2 8LT | Free | Enjoy lion dance performances, Chinese calligraphy and art, cultural activities, traditional snacks and a tai chi taster. The event takes place over two sessions: either 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm or 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Registering is essential to let us know your preferred sessions. Email or call 07502 989 403.

KIDS

Friday 27th February

​Little Critters Stay n Play | Fri, Feb. 27 | 10:00 am to 12:00 pm | Clitterhouse Farm Project Clitterhouse Playing Fields | £8.30 | Little Critters offers a relaxed outdoor stay n play for under 5s. Join at Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm for a fun-filled day with your under 5s. Let them explore, play, and interact with nature in a friendly environment.

SPORT

Thursday 19th February

​Junior Golf Academy | Thu, Feb. 19 | 9:00 am to 12:00 pm | Old Ford Manor Golf Club, EN5 4QN | £40 | Join everyone at Old Fold Manor Golf Club this February Half Term for fun, games and skill-building sessions for junior golfers of all abilities. A great way to stay active, improve your golf, and enjoy the holidays with friends.

Friday 27th February

​Hadley Wood Tennis Club | Fri, Feb. 27 | 7:30 pm to | Hadley Wood Lawn Tennis Club, 1/7 Crescent, East Hadley Wood, EN4 0EL | Enjoy some friendly tennis in Hadley Wood with multiple teams for both men and women to enjoy the sport. Roger Taylor and Sky Sports presenter Marcus Buckland will be visiting.

SUSTAINABILITY

Saturday 7th February

​Barnet Council's Repair Café at The WorkShop, Brent Cross Town | Sun, Feb. 22 | 11:00 am to 3:00 pm | The WorkShop, Brent Cross Town, Claremont Way, NW2 1AJ | Free | Bring your broken items to the repair cafe at the WorkShop in Brent Cross town and let their skilled volunteers help you fix them for free.

Events - Book Ahead

Thursday 5th March

​Sabra Swing: Jews in Jazz | Thurs, Mar. 5 | 7:30 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | £19 | Following their sold-out show in 2024, Sabra Swing return by popular demand. Internationally acclaimed jazz band Sabra Swing return to artsdepot to explore the world of Jews in Jazz, and their influence on the Great American Songbook. With music by Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Sholom Secunda, Carole King and many more.

Saturday 21st March

​Weekly Bootcamp sessions at the 108 | Sat, Mar. 21 | 10:00 am to | The 108 Brent Terrace, Brent Cross, NW2 1LT | £15 | Group bootcamp training sessions will run once a week and are open to all fitness levels, creating a supportive, inclusive environment for anyone looking to build strength, confidence and community. A variety of training equipment – including medicine balls, weights and ropes – will be available to enhance your workout experience.

Sunday 19th July

​Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles | Sun, Jul. 19 | 3:00 pm | The Bothy at Stephens House and Gardens, N3 3QE | £18.00, under 16 yrs £14.00 | Outdoor Theatre in the Bothy Garden. Will detective duo Holmes and Watson discover the deadly secret of the Baskerville family curse before it strikes again? Or are they barking up the wrong tree? Find out in this delightfully inventive show that will have you yelping with excitement and howling with laughter.

Local Lowdown

Outbreaking

• Measles makes a comeback. At least 34 children across north London schools, including Enfield, have caught the highly contagious illness. One in five ended up in hospital, mostly those not fully immunised. Local GPs are urging families to check those jab records - vaccination is the best defence against this fast-spreading bug.

Listing

• Community treasures secured. Ten Barnet favourites, including East Finchley’s Phoenix Cinema and local pubs like The Lord Nelson and Ye Old Monken Holt, are now officially Assets of Community Value. That means if they’re ever up for sale, locals get six months to rally and make their own bid to save them.

Playing

• Fresh fun incoming. Halliwick Recreation Ground’s playground in Muswell Hill has had a major glow-up, complete with swings, picnic spots, monkey bars, and a sensory dome. The Worshipful Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Danny Rich, cut the ribbon on 8 February, marking another milestone in the park’s regeneration.

Bus-hopping

• Route rethink. TfL wants your views on plans to reroute the 310 between Golders Green and Stamford Hill via Holloway Nag’s Head instead of Stroud Green Road, promising quicker journeys, new links to Holloway Road and later evening services so fewer people need to change buses after dark.

Expanding

• Barnet goes global. Queen Elizabeth’s School, founded in 1573, is opening its first international schools in Dubai Sports City and Gurugram this August, with a third planned in India’s Gift City. Revenues from these fee-paying schools will be reinvested back into QE Barnet’s educational opportunities.

The Finchleyite: Anthony Andrews

Born in January 1948 in Finchley, award-winning English actor Anthony Andrews grew up in North Finchley. It was a creative household: his mother, Geraldine, was a dancer, and his father, Stanley Thomas Andrews, worked as an arranger and conductor for the BBC. He later lived in Templars Crescent.

That performing streak showed early. By eight, Andrews was taking dance lessons and made his first stage appearance as the White Rabbit in an Alice in Wonderland adaptation.

He made his West End theatre debut at the Apollo Theatre as one of twenty young schoolboys in Alan Bennett's "Forty Years On" with John Gielgud.

After the Royal Masonic School for Boys in Bushey, he worked a string of jobs before finding theatre work at Chichester, then breaking through on stage and TV.

He is married to Georgina Simpson of the Simpsons of Piccadilly department store family.

His career peaked internationally as Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited (1981), winning a BAFTA and Golden Globe, and he played Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in the King’s Speech.​

Editors' Note - From Tessa

Just returned from a week in the Arizona desert.

Sedona is a beautiful place to be, and I made it for a trip to see the spectacular Grand Canyon.

Lovely to be back in Finchley though.

Also, let us know about local events or local news. We curate our content to keep it a 5-minute read, so can't include everything we're sent.

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Tessa Davis Sasha Frieze