It's not very often I make the time to enjoy the treats of London on my doorstep -- but today I made the effort and went to see the Lord of the Rings Exhibition at the Science Museum.

I can't get past the first page of the Tolkein books, and loathe the fantasy genre as a whole, but I must confess to a secret liking for the films. Maybe it's just because I've seen the first two while still filled with post-Christmas cheer, or maybe the Guardian's right when it says that we're all nerds now.

I have my limits, though. I won't be rushing out to buy a Glamdring sword with genuine leather-wrapped handgrip, antique silver-finished solid metal guard and pommel engraved with elvish writing.

Then on to see Touching The Void, a documentary based on Joe Simpson's classic mountaineering book which -- for my money -- is one of the greatest stories of human endurance of all time.

The film's a dispassionate recounting of Simpson's unbelievable story of survival and is well-worth seeing -- but the book's better.