Thousands of young Londoners can enrol on free summer courses throughout June, July and August this year. Futureversity offers a choice of over 100 subjects ranging from belly dancing and Japanese to rowing and business studies.

London's Southbank Centre and the International Guitar Foundation celebrate six-string wizardry from around the globe at this festival of the guitar. Past performers have included award-winning guitarist Tom Kerstens, Allan Holdsworth and one of Spain's leading flamenco guitarists, Gerardo Nunez.

Browse paintings including Old Masters, ancient Chinese ceramics, Art Deco jewellery and other sought-after treasures exhibited by British and international galleries at the annual London International Fine Art Fair. Buyers, curators and fine art aficionados fill the Olympia Exhibition Centre.

Music lovers, river enthusiasts, culture vultures and party animals will enjoy the ten-day Twickenham Festival. Highlights include Morris dancing, quiz nights and al fresco dining in Church Street, which is closed to cars during weekend evenings.

World-class polo players come to Fulham's Hurlingham Park for the three-day Polo in the Park event. The London event aims to shed the sport's elitist image, and make it accessible to more people. Polo players from all over the world will battle each other over three exhilarating days to gain the winning title.

Street theatre, music, acrobatics, comedy and spectacle from across the world provide entertainment for all ages and tastes at Inside Out. The National's annual summer fiesta spills from the theatre and onto Theatre Square, Square 2 and the terraces.

The Friends Life T20 begins with a group format in June, before quarter finals in July and Finals Day at Southampton's Rose Bowl in August. Surrey Brown Caps play their home games at The Oval in London.

This 6K fun run (or 2x3K relay race) benefits homeless charity Crisis. Starting at Paternoster Square, runners in the Crisis Square Mile Run pass the Tower of London and Tate Modern before finishing on the Millennium Bridge.

Sinc 1976 Brick Lane and, more particularly, Nicholas Hawksmoor's iconic Christ Church Spitalfields has resounded with a summer jamboree of exceptional music making.  Old and new, and both professionsals and comuunity performers come together for the annual Spitalfields Festival.

The Friends Life T20 begins with a group format in June, before quarter finals in July and Finals Day at Southampton's Rose Bowl in August. Middlesex Panthers play their home games at Lord's, Richmond and Uxbridge.

Lovebox Weekender brings love, tunes and happy people to London's Victoria Park, making the most of a summer weekend with a quality line-up and plenty of festival fun. Away from the main stage you'll find DJs filling the dance arenas.

The Big Mix has seven hours of live music spread across East London venues around Brick Lane. Café 1001, 93 Feet East, Cargo, The Brickhouse, Rough Trade, Spitalfields Market and the Vibe Bar host performances. Money raised goes to Macmillan Cancer Support.

East London erupts every summer at the award-winning Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, London's longest-established free outdoor extravaganza. Spectacular performances, encompassing theatre and music, fill spaces across the Thames, connected each year by a different theme.

Widely considered the world's greatest tennis tournament, top-seed players, traditional strawberries and cream and the infamous rain delays set Wimbledon apart from other Grand Slams. Some of the greatest matches of all time have been fought out here on Centre Court.

Despite all those cuts and closures it's not all doom and gloom for London's cultural calendar. Venues throughout the city this summer play host to the inaugural Bluesfest. Featuring BB King, Booker T and others, its soundtrack is blues, soul and jazz.

The Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park is another of the capital's addictive outdoor summer festivals with a top line-up of international performers. There is also a market, side shows and chillout zones.

Hard Rock Calling in London's Hyde Park is a veritable rock music extravaganza on two huge stages. Top international stars perform every year on the park's east side, near Park Lane. Tickets sell like hot cakes, so book early.

In 1995, 100 years after Henry Wood founded "the Proms," the first Proms Chamber Music concerts were held. Since 2005 they have been held under Cadogan Hall's Byzantine tower, a tube stop away from the Royal Albert Hall.

Founded in 1895 by Sir Henry Wood, the Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall take over London's classical musical calendar every summer and, with some justification, can claim to be the greatest classical music festival in the world.

For decades the famous BBC Henry Wood Proms have taken over the resplendant Royal Albert Hall each summer. More recently, chamber and smaller ensemble concerts have also been programmed at Cadogan Hall, just one Tube stop away, including four Saturday matinées.

The annual Audi International offers world-class polo in the regal surroundings of the Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park. The long-running event attracts attention from media-celeb spotters, and is traditionally attended by the Queen and Prince Philip.

Top solo musicians, orchestras and groups play in the open air around the striking Old Royal Naval College to celebrate the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics. The Greenwich Summer Sessions trumpet Greenwich's heritage with six days of themed live music.

The Chessington World of Adventures theme park is just a short drive or train journey from London and a great day out for adrenalin-starved kids and their excited parents. Apart from countless rides, there's a zoo and Sea Life Centre.

Forget stuffy auditoriums and enjoy the pleasures of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Combining natural beauty, atmosphere and choice drama, current artistic director Timothy Sheader has expanded the repertoire to programme high drama and musicals as well as Shakespeare.

Those of you who are yet to be convinced about the merits of farmers' markets should visit Maidenhead Farmers' Market, held on Groves Road. It's one of the town's most reliable addresses for fresh, locally produced treats and savoury delicacies.