Waiting For Henry

I had a fabulous day of culture on Friday; although it meant going to London it was well worth it. Firstly I met Star Trek Girl and we went to see the Henry VIII 'Man & Monarch' exhibition at the British Library - I love history and my speciality is the monarchy; in particular the Tudors, so I had been looking forward to this since I heard about it.

In one room were these paintings, books, tapestries and effects that I had seen time and time again in books but had never seen in real life. One huge tapestry was so magnificent it was hard to imagine how anyone could physically create such a beautiful item. There were so many original sources there - paintings and drawings that were nearly 500 years old; that had survived wars, plague, fire and flood. To read the last letters of men pleading for their lives in The Tower, or to see the writing desk of a man who has been dead for half a millennia and who changed the course of British history for love, is really something.

The exhibition is narrated by David Starkey, who is like a God to me - on this subject he is the most knowledgeable man on the planet, and if I could have anyone else's job then it'd be his! The exhibition really was something special and I highly recommend it if you can get to see it; it was only £9 and well worth it. There's loads of Henry events around at the moment as it's 500 years since the accession; I want to see the 'Dressed to Kill' at The Tower of London next - can you imagine; a history lover who has never been to the tower?!

After we left Henry we headed for the Theatre Royal Haymarket to see Waiting For Godot; although we were up in the gallery and the sound didn't carry too well, I really enjoyed it. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan and Simon Callow are all brilliant actors and it was a compete privilege to see them at work - I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but I liked it anyway!