National Portrait Gallery (London)

What made Britain great? It might have something to do with our former empire or the Industrial Revolution, but what made Britain really great was the cast of larger than life characters from the monarchy to scientists, explorers and writers that make up British ands English History. When in central London recently I thought I would celebrate the people that made Britain glorious by visiting the National Portrait Gallery right in the centre of London. It is celebrating its 150th anniversary so I thought I would visit it in this important year. The National Portrait Gallery is very easy to get to. The nearest tube station is Charring Cross-although Embankment ...

Now, I would hate for you to get the idea that I am a philistine - I appreciate a decent painting as much as the next man - but I must confess that given the choice between an afternoon in the pub and a trip to one of the West End's galleries, I tend to go for Guinness rather than Gauguin. Thus it was that, more than two years after moving to London, I had yet to visit the National Portrait Gallery. I'd love to say that I had a sudden desire for self-improvement but, as is so often the case, it was all down to a woman; more specifically, my newly acquired art-student girlfriend. "Accompany you to the NPG this weekend, ma chere? I'd love ...

London is huge and there are loads of museums and galleries in there. National Portrait Gallery is one of those smaller ones, compared with, for instance, British Museum and National Gallery (which is just steps away from the Portrait Gallery). So people tend to miss this one. Frankily, I won't say it's a must-see like British Museum or National Gallery. But if you have plenty of time to kill in London then it's probably worth spending couple hours in it. As the name implies, you can only see portraits in this gallery, and some people can easily get bored by this. However, entrance is free so why not pay it a short visit after you've been to the National ...