Public holiday in the UK

• New Year's Day
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• May Day (first Monday in May)
• Spring Bank Holiday (last Monday in May)
• Summer Bank Holiday (last Monday in August)
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day (December 26)

London Calendar of Events

• January
  • London Parade (January 1) - bands, floats and carriages wind their way from Parliament Square to Berkeley Square. Starts about 12:00pm.
  • Charles I Commemoration (last Sunday in January) - anniversary of the execution of King Charles I. Hundreds of cavaliers march through central London in 17th century costume. Prayers are said at the Banqueting House in Whitehall.
• February
  • Chinese New Year (late January or early February) - famous Lions Dance in Soho. Call 0891/505490 for information.
  • Great Spitalfields Pancake Race (Shrove Tuesday, last day before Lent) - Old Spitalfields Market, Brushfield St., Teams of 4 run in a relay, tossing pancakes. Visit www.alternativearts.co.uk.
• March
  • St. David's Day (March 1 or nearest Sunday) - at the Chelsea Barracks, a member of the Royal Guard presents the Welsh Guard with the principality's national emblem, a leek. Call 020/7414-3291 for information.
  • Chelsea Antiques Fair (mid-March and mid-September) - gathering of England's best antiques dealers at Old Town Hall, King's Road SW3. Visit www.penman-fairs.co.uk for information.
• April
  • Easter Parade (Easter Sunday) - floats and marching bands enliven Battersea Park.
  • Harness Horse Parade (Easter Monday) - a morning parade of heavy working horses at Battersea Park.
  • Boat Race, Putney to Mortlake (early April) - Oxford and Cambridge Universities race upstream. Sit in one of the many Thames-side pubs and watch the action.
  • Oranges & Lemons Service (second week of April) - celebration of nursery-rhyme "Bells of St. Clements." Church bells ring out the rhyme, "Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St. Clements," as children are presented with oranges and lemons. St. Clement Danes, Strand, WC2 9:00am, 12:00pm, 3:00pm and 6:00pm. Call 020/7242-8282 for information.
  • Flora London Marathon (Mid to late April) - 30,000 runners race from Greenwich Park to Buckingham Palace. www.london-marathon.co.
  • The Queen's Birthday (April 21) - Celebrated with 21 gun salute in Hyde Park and troops in parade dress at Tower Hill at 12:00pm.
  • National Gardens Scheme (late April to early May) - more than 3,000 private gardens are open to the public in London. www.ngs.org.uk.
• May
  • May Fayre and Puppet Festival (second Sunday in May) - procession of puppets & puppeteers and a brass band at 10:00am; a service at St. Paul's at 10:30am; and Punch & Judy shows until 6:00pm at the site where British diarist Pepys watched them in 1662. Call 020/7375-0441
  • The Royal Windsor Horse Show (Mid-May) - Home Park, Windsor Castle. www.royal-windsor-horse-show.co.uk.
  • Glyndebourne Festival Opera Season (mid-May to late August) - opera performances in a beautiful setting, with champagne picnics before and between shows. www.glyndebourne.com
  • Chealsea Flower Show (3 days in May) - Chealsea Royal Hospital. Call 020/7649-1885.
• June
  • Trooping the Colors - Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall. The Queen inspects the troops from her carriage.
• July
• August
  • Notting Hill Carnival (last Sunday and Monday in August) - One of the largest street festivals in Europe, attracting more than 500,000 people. Call 020/8964-0544.
• September
• October
• November
  • Guy Fawkes Night (Nov. 5) - bonfires and fireworks throughout the city on the anniversary of the 'Gunpowder Plot.'
  • Lord Mayor's Procession and Show (second week in November) - parade from Guildhall to Royal Courts of Justice commemorating the inauguration of the new Lord Mayor
• December
  • Caroling Under the Norwegian Christmas Tree - caroling most evenings at Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square.
  • Watch Night (New Years Eve) - 11:30 mass at St. Paul's Cathedral.