Painting tips

The hunt for a successor for Sir Charles Saumarez Smith, 64, as CEO at the Royal Academy of Arts, is on.  Jonty Claypole, the BBC’s Director of Arts since 2014, is listed as contender by The Londoner's Diary in the Evening Standard, nay, a "favourite”.

Tim Marlow, the RA’s artistic director, is a former presenter of Kaleidscope on Radio 4, and Culture Shock on the World Service. His partner is Tanya Hudson, who is executive producer of the imagine.... strand, presented and edited by Alan Yentob. She's technically, therefore, part of Jonty's department. Jonty and Tanya came together for Front Row Late this autumn, presented by Royal Academician and Professor of Ancient Literature, Mary Beard. 

The new CEO will start in the New Year.