Embark on an article like this one and you’ll soon find, as I did, that everyone from your Granny to the guy fixing your washing machine will be telling you about allsorts of unknown gems; restaurants, shops, museums, churches, plays, bars, you name it, which they are a) very proud to know that they know and b) very proud of the things they recommend and desperate that you talk about them in your article. It is incredibly sweet. The problem is however, that usually what people are telling you about are ‘hidden’ things, little known things, boutique, bespoke, beautiful events and places that are wonderful, but they are not secret.

Anyway, this article is all about things which are a secret, on purpose, which stimulate the child in all of us, and which rarely let you know where, what or when something is happening until the very last minute…this way, you see, the secret remains a secret, known to only the most dedicated of secret beholders – amazing!

Secret Cinema

Secret Cinema describes itself as a monthly gathering for all those who love groundbreaking and challenging cinema. The cinematic black-out style website gives the date of future performances, withholding the location for those who subscribe to the monthly newsletter/invite. The film title itself remains a mystery until the credits roll.

Previous events have been a huge success, with tickets selling-out fast. Get yourself a ticket and get on that secret list – the next event is 6^th September in an undisclosed outdoor location….

Secret Bingo

This self-proclaimed dirty underground bingo infestation claim on their facebook page that

They like to dance.

They like to drink.

But most of all, they like to play dirty, hardcore, motherfuckin bingo.

The Underground Rebel Bingo Club is a secret organisation that meets weekly. They say that numbers are growing and that they are everywhere, and nowhere, but everywhere they are, they are playing underground bingo.

It looks as though Rebel Bingo will even come to your house or your party – but they have very strict rules about who can and cannot play, and for that matter what you may wear for the occasion… I’ve joined them, will they let you?

Secret Sundaze

The original and best secret London event. Although not so much a London secret anymore as an antipodean religion! Secret Sundaze holds Sunday parties across town, releasing the location of the raves on their myspace page a week or so before. Timeout said that Secret Sundaze changed the face of daytime clubbing – I say they changed the face of Monday morning. These parties are not for the faint hearted – they are known to fill the biggest dance floors in London, and they go off with a bang!

Try them out, if they’ll let you in….whatever you do, keep schtum!

Secret Dining

The somewhat pretentious but uber-cool ‘Secret Ingredient’ is a facebook-based dining club, for want of a better expression, which can be attended alone or in a group, which can or cannot be booked and which may or may not serve the menu on the homepage. Either way, the reviews are great, and people seem to love the idea of turning up to a stranger’s house, and eating with other strangers.

Horton Jupiter cooks up his stuff from 7pm to 9pm or from 9.30pm to 11.30pm, is based in Dalston and takes cash only. Ironic that this facebook group could well be the anecdote to the facebook phenomenon of everyone we know knowing everything about us!