Victoria and Albert Museum Tour Crash Course

Sue King was born a Londoner and has lived in several other cities including Seoul, Berlin and Washington DC. Since returning to London, she has spent the last three years studying its art, architecture, literature and history. Sue holds a research MPhil in History of Art from the Barber Institute, Birmingham University and has specialist knowledge of Victorian Britain through her study of its painting and literature. Her thesis, on symbolism in Victorian Art, focused on the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and she has also made studies in 20th Century American art. Sue is fascinated by London's history and is most interested in the artists and writers who have helped to define it. She loves to recount stories of their lives and works, and their connections with each other and the city.

Kevin Childs has worked as a publisher, an actor and a research consultant. Having gained a first class degree in English Literature at Oxford and an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, he has completed a PhD at the Courtauld examining the ways in which Michelangelo influenced the art of his contemporaries. Although his heart is in the Renaissance, his interests range from Greek and Roman classical literature to the art of twentieth-century Mexico. Kevin has lived in London for over 20 years and has a great passion for the city, its history and all that it currently offers. He has also spent extended periods of time in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, Egypt and Morocco. He writes regularly on art and travel.

Originally from Canada, Ayla moved to the UK in 2003 after completing her History of Art BA at the University of Victoria. She subsequently wrote her PhD on Victorian architecture at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she also obtained her MA. She has studied theology at Oxford University and is currently researching the connections between art and faith in British culture. Since 2008 she has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld, where she teaches undergraduate courses on nineteenth-century art and architecture. Ayla lectures widely and has given talks and tours for the V&A, the Courtauld Gallery, RIBA, and Love Art London (for whom she once gave a tour of Hyde Park in a fetching false mustache). Fond of tea, philosophy, climbing, singing and taking in all that London’s art scene has to offer, Ayla is also a freelance historic buildings researcher, writer and curator.