This is a fabulous gallery, especially if one is a...

This is a fabulous gallery, especially if one is a history lover. I came this last time to see the Elizabethan Treasures exhibition (marvellous; make sure you ask for a magnifying glass as you enter), but ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at the rest of the gallery's halls. It's a lovely Victorian building, with some amazing paintings and sculptures of inspiring leaders, villains, scoundrels, romantic, reformists, it's like taking a time machine through the history of Great Britain. My favourite part is the 3rd floor "Tudor section", which, besides heroes of the Elizabethan era and the Virgin Queen herself, sports the only known portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his lifetime, and some of the kings and pretenders he wrote in his plays about. A must for any lover of portraiture and history.