Jessica Ennis

    One of the problems with having heroes or heroines is that you are constantly searching for excuses for their failings. No such problem with Jessica Ennis. "The Golden Girl".
   

    Jessica Ennis MBE was born in Sheffield on the 28th January 1986.
She is a British track and field athlete and winner of both outdoor and indoor world championships
With a degree in psychology,the 5ft 5in athlete is well able to deal with the pressure involved in top-class competition and won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2012 London Olympics.

Hans Holbein (The Younger) 1497-1543.



Self Portrait of Hans Holbein

   Born 1497 in Augsburg Germany and into a painting family,Holbein became one of the greatest portrait painters of the sixteenth century. After an early career in mainland Europe,and on the recommendation of Erasmus, Holbein came to England, in 1526, where he quickly built up a reputation as a great painter.

   With the friendship of Sir Thomas More and the patronage of Anne Boleyn, Holbein became the royal painter to Henry VIII, where his task was to paint portraits of the Royal Household, and it is due to Holbein that we can see today the vivid pictures of the men and women of Henry VIII's period.

   Painted without fear or favour and a certain indifference to conventional beauty, Holbein always maintained a perfect balance of composition and his attention to detail was immaculate.

Henry VIII

  "Holbein remains unsurpassed for sureness and economy of statement, penetration into character and a combined richness and purity of style".