Now, that sense of perspective is even broader: the National Portrait Gallery has produced an intriguing guide to the view from the Portrait Restaurant, linking landmarks to portraits in the gallery.
There’s Westminster Abbey, where Henry VIII married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and Trafalgar Square, where Dame Kelly Holmes led the celebrations when we heard the news that London would host the 2012 Olympics. Yes, their portraits are downstairs in the gallery. So too are portraits of Norman Foster (The Gherkin) and Winston Churchill (Old Admiralty House). Twenty-two portraits mark 22 spots – all with a snippet of history.
Did you know that the Metropolitan Police training programme is named Elementary in homage to Sherlock Holmes? New Scotland Yard is highlighted and linked to the portrait of Arthur Conan Doyle. Or that there are 32 pods in The London Eye, one for each London borough? A photographic portrait of architectural husband and wife team David Marks and Julia Barfield, who designed the Eye, hangs in the gallery. With facts like these you might even win £800,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, as did the first female Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd, to fund the Whitehall Memorial to Women in World War II. A room in Portcullis House is named after her.
And so the intrigue goes on, exposing panoramic insights and little-known facts linking significant buildings with famous people, contemporary and historical. It’s clever – and desirable. And just right for poring over while pouring out a cup of afternoon tea in the Portrait Restaurant or – here’s a top tip … if there’s a major exhibition on, go for breakfast or brunch. Eggs royale with seasonal fruit juice and bottomless tea or coffee are £12.50, or £17.50 with a bucks fizz; a boiled free range egg with soldiers is £2.95. There’s an extensive choice of Wiltshire loose leaf teas; coffee is Lavazza Gran Riserva. Lunch is more elaborate, fixed price or à la carte; it’s open for an early dinner on Thursdays and Fridays – and on Saturdays (if booked six weeks in advance). Searcys runs the concession with a menu that changes monthly.
And I will be looking out for more leporellos in other cities – it’s a format that would work from any significant rooftop, any significant where – hoping to build up a collection (and win more pub quizzes).
The Portrait Perspective, A guide to the view from the Portrait Restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery: £10
National Portrait Gallery Portrait Restaurant
Leporello produced by: Baizdon