Nick Nick

Sir Nicolas Serota, Companion of Honour, will join the BBC's main board as a non-executive director from August, filling the gap left by the slightly early departure of Nick Hytner (he was supposed to do three years from April 2014 - was he bored ?)  Serota, born in Hampstead, now living in King's Cross, just up from a Travelodge, went to Haberdashers' Aske's School (school captain) and then read Economics at Christ's College, Cambridge, before switching to History of Art. He completed a master's degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.  The FT says he sets his watch permanently ten minutes fast.

The appointment will please BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz, who used to work for Sir Nicholas at the Tate. Will, it turns out, is now a Noel Gay artiste, and his cv carries the Serota endorsement “Will Gompertz is a natural communicator whose passion for art is expressed with wit and verve”