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Ice skating icons Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean will be touring a farewell show later this year titled ‘Our Last Dance’. In 1984 they captured the nation's hearts with a Winter Olympic Gold soundtracked by Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ prompting a congratulatory Commons Motion! #TowerSport

Pippa Hale’s sculpture ‘Ribbons’ celebrates the inspirational women of Leeds, including Alice Bacon. She was elected as the first female MP for Leeds in 1945. Here she is in a photograph from our collection in 1961 with other Leeds MPs. #TowerWomen

Entering the podcast game with a swing is Baroness Joan Bakewell who co-presented Radio Four’s brilliant ‘A Year in the Life of the Swinging Sixties’. Back in 1967 Parliament addressed changes in the nation’s youth culture with the seminal Age of Majority Report. #TowerSocialHist

Turner Contemporary are currently staging Steve McQueen’s landmark photographic exhibition ‘Resistance’ exploring the history of protest in Britain. Including the 1920 Blind Persons March to London that led to PM Lloyd George meeting a deputation of its organizers. #TowerEquality

Journalist Rachel Cooke recently published ‘The Virago Book of Friendship’ that examined the subject through the eyes of leading female literary figures including celebrated author Vera Brittain who was the mother of the much-admired Shirley Williams MP pictured here. #TowerWomen

Taking modern adaptations to new levels the British documentary film ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’ follows two creatives as they attempt to recreate the classic Shakespeare play dating back to the 17thC Blackfriars Playhouse (see Journal extract) within a live virtual context. #TowerIcons

Over the next three days we dedicate our monthly themed week to the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day. Beginning at Parliament’s St Stephen’s Porch with an evocative photograph of Speaker Clifton-Brown leading out a procession to the Thanksgiving Service. #TowerVE80

Moving on from yesterday’s VE Day image of a Speaker of the House led Thanksgiving Procession we’re now at Westminster’s historic St Margaret’s Church. As the pews filled with the great and good of both Houses this order of service detailed the reflective proceedings. #TowerVE80

Several local VE celebrations took place later that year to allow servicemen posted abroad to attend. This was the case in Leyton who held their Victory Party in September 1945 promising a cockney knees-up including fancy dress, a ventriloquist and dancing beyond 10pm! #TowerVE80

By all accounts the James Bond franchise is undertaking some changes in both celluloid & novel form. Possibly driven by the creative powers of AI… Who knows, but it’s safe to say original author Ian Fleming would be writing a protest letter to pal Lord Beaverbrook! #TowerLetters

Hitching our wagon to the ongoing celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth we decided it’s only right to make her the latest Hall of Fame inductee! For a collection connection here’s a Winchester railway plan from the heart of Austen country. #TowerHallofFame

Discover the stories of those who kept Parliament going during WWII. Our new online display Parliament’s War Effort explores their resilience through powerful images from our art and archive collections, heritagecollections.parliament.uk/exhibits/war-e… #WWII #ParliamentHistory

Wowing audiences with a humorous musical take on the Titanic movie is ‘Titanique’ channelling Celine Dion’s soundtrack. Matching the Canadian singer’s legendary status is composer Edward Elgar & he appeared on the bill for a May 1912 Royal Albert Hall Memorial Concert. #TowerArts

Though Ruth Ellis’s story was first dramatized in the film ‘Dance with a Stranger’ ITV’s four-part drama ‘A Cruel Love’ provides a fresh narrative on the events that led to her being the last woman executed in the UK as noted in this Home Office 1955 Death Sentence list. #TowerTV

Bauhaus Art School founder Walter Gropius is remembered each year on his birthday May 18th by admirers from around the globe. But what would the ‘Master of Form’ choose as his favourite architectural drawing within our collections. It must be Hardman’s ‘Firedog’! #TowerCelebrates

For a youth movement to be debated in Parliament is a sure sign of its cultural impact as was the case with the mid-sixties sharply dressed ‘Mods’. The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’ chronicled those times and this summer Sadler’s Wells will stage a ballet based on the album. #TowerDebates

Within our collections there are some variations on the Book of Common Prayer making it difficult to select an aesthetic favourite. To kick off this month’s Inside a Collection/Tower Treasures series here’s a 1661 version worth showcasing just for the calligraphy. #TowerTreasures

Before the 1660 Restoration there was the ‘Declaration of Breda’ made by an exiled Charles Stuart with assistance by a team of special advisors. It noted ‘We are ready upon demand to pass under our Great Seale of England’ – Parliament agreed & the rest is history. #TowerTreasures

Wine, women and song may have been the order of the day in the first weeks of King Charles II robust restoration court. But he did take some time out from the revelry to draft this letter to the House of Lords Speaker confirming he’ll soon be paying a royal visit. #TowerTreasures

Not long to go before the long-awaited Oasis reunion concerts take place. But when it comes to the original Northern songsmith look no further than poet Edwin Waugh. In the early 20th Century, his working-class anthems featured heavily in many a Lancashire singalong! #TowerRandom