Is there no limit to what science can reveal to us? In yet another leap forward, this week a French inventor, Pascal Cotte, established after numerous tests that the Mona Lisa originally did have eyelashes and eyebrows. Dan ‘Da Vinci Code’ Brown must be kicking himself for missing that secret!

In the beginning, God said ‘Let there be light!’ And there was light. And Dan Flavin, one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century, saw that it was good.

Flavin, along with figures such as Carl Andre, Donald Judd and Sol leWitt, offered a new kind of artistry to the early Sixties known as Minimalism, using stripped down forms and materials to challenge convention. In fact, he worked exclusively with fluorescent strip lights, and became known and loved for his vivid light ‘installations’, 50 of which are on display at London’s Hayward Gallery in a retrospective running until April.

Alan Bennett's new play (at the Lyttleton Theatre, London) is about - to use Tony Blair's famous phrase - education, education, education. It is set in a northern grammar school in the 1980s. The headmaster (with a geography degree from Hull) is determined that his brightest boys should win places at Oxford or Cambridge.

Last week’s appointment of Mark Thompson, a committed Catholic with 25 years of highly regarded TV experience, as director-general of the BBC was greeted with near-universal welcome. The exception was MediaWatch UK, who expressed concern over Thompson’s ‘moral record’ at Channel 4, where he introduced the viewing public to programmes like So Graham Norton and Big Brother - which begins a fifth series tonight.

“The pictures held me captive.”

This is the experience of many among the throngs of people who visit exhibitions of Dutch art. It’s very inconvenient, as it causes long queues. But a similar experience, complete with the hushed quiet characteristic of art galleries, is now available at a cinema near you.

It's not everyday that the ghost of your father informs you that he was murdered by your uncle in a successful attempt to steal his throne and his wife - thus usurping your position as rightful king. You could say Hamlet was having a bad heir day. No wonder the Royal Shakespeare Company's latest production at the Barbican has him swapping the solace of a cigar for something more potent.