James Delingpole James Delingpole

For my family, the Vikings exhibition was about as much fun as being raped and pillaged

But here is why it was worth it anyway

Sutton Hoo Helmet on display at the British Museum Photo: Getty 
issue 12 April 2014

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[/audioplayer]Have you managed to book tickets to the Viking exhibition at the British Museum yet? If you haven’t, my advice is: don’t bother. I know what the critics have been saying: that it’s an unmissable treat. But it’s only an unmissable treat if you visit under the privileged conditions of a previewing journalist. Go as an ordinary punter on the other hand — as the Delingpole family discovered to their cost last week — and you’ll find it about as much fun as being pillaged, raped and having your ribcage torn open to form a ‘spread eagle’.

Well, maybe not quite that bad. But definitely bad enough to make you want to queue up and demand a refund.

Normally when I go and complain about this sort of thing — which does give me great pleasure, I must say — my kids go into paroxysms of embarrassment and beg me not to do it.

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