It was so much easier for Victoria and Albert

The Millennium celebrations at Greenwich just had to be mentioned at some point during speeches at the RCA’s annual Rector’s Dinner last week. So Christopher Frayling, the rector himself, raised the subject.

As the gate money from the Great Exhibition of 1851 had helped to pay for the Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial, could we perhaps expect a similar surplus from Greenwich, he wondered. And if so, what treasures could be left for future generations?

Arts minister Mark Fisher (above) acted quickly to prevent false hopes being raised. “We’d be pleased to come out of it even,” he answered.