The left is my best side

Friday evening and off to the Holbein exhibition at Tate Britain. As a member I get to go to about half a dozen viewings a year outside normal hours and get to take someone along with me.

I enjoy these occasions. Chance to catch up with friend, appear cultured and, above all, people watch. There is such a variety of people at these things - the older serious home counties women, the people going after work and, as my friend so wonderfully put it, "those who turn up later and look as though they've made a bit more of an effort." Never sure if they are on dates, trying to be seen, or trying to pull.

Exhibition is pretty good - if you like portraits of old dead people. Portraits of Henry VIII, which Holbein is most associated with, vary from the stern to the, frankly, camp. I enquired of my friend that given the portraits are probably quite flattering, how did Henry VIII get to have 6 wives? She felt the fact that he was the King, with untold wealth, a large army and owned the country might have added to his attraction.

Since when did that impress women?.?.?