The National Portrait Gallery is a great place to visit whether you want to browse their permanent collection or see one of the many temporary exhibitions. Vanity Fair photographs are on display at the moment, but it was sold out when I went (so book ahead if you want to see it).

We ended up on the 2nd floor looking at portraits from the 18th century, which I found just as fascinating as the contemporary portraits on the ground floor. There are many famous faces and you hear cries of “Oh is that what Byron/Mary Shelley/insert famous author/politician/scientist looked like?”

If you want a quiet life head for the top floor and work your way down. If you want something busier visit the ground floor and try to get into the temporary exhibitions…