Of the 40,000 UK slave owners who sought compensation for their loss of income following the abolition of the slave trade, 14 were from Monmouthshire and three from Abergavenny.

Facts from another fascinating lecture courtesy of Abergavenny Local History Society. The lecturer was Roger Evans.

Rembrandt's house provided great incite into his life and character - a difficult man at best. The audio commentary was perfectly judged and the interpretative material explaining how Rembrandt painted was fascinating. Even the member of staff in the shop was great fan!

Yet more art in Amsterdam, this time at the Stedilijk Museum for modern and contemporary art. Some was outstanding but I doubt whether it will all stand the test of time. Either way, the galleries provoked emotion and much thinking. And I came out feeling much better than at the start of the day.

The #Rijksmuseum, #Amsterdam. In seven hours, we covered two floors out of four and 150 out of a thousand years of Dutch art. At times it wasn't so very different from scrolling on your phone.

Visiting the house where Anne Frank wrote her diaries was as upsetting as it should be. I am confident that visitors find the actions of the Nazis horrifying, unjustifiable and inexplicable - never to be repeated. Yet, two days ago, there was an attack on a Jewish school in Amsterdam.

Vincent van Gogh. The Amsterdam museum in his name tells his story as a painter. And helps you imagine his passion.

Nick Clegg's time as Deputy Prime Minister and when working at Meta may be controversial, but his experience is unique. It qualifies him to write about the future of the internet

Realpolitik is the watchword but Clegg writes optimistically.

"Not derelection but history. Not shame but pride." Peter Wakelin concluded his talk about how #Blaenavon became a #WorldHeritageSite emotionally and with a tear.

Another great event from the #Abergavenny Local History Society enjoyed by more than a hundred of us.

Reform in Wales has pledged that "museums must display history chronologically." I'm excited to know how the buildings at St Fagans will be re-arranged.

Five blokes walk into a bar carrying a book called Flesh.

It's not a dirty joke but how our book club started - uncomfortably - this week.

The Booker Prize winning book, by David Szalay, got the thumbs up.

The National Trust's Chartwell is a very enjoyable and stimulating day out. Sadly though, the interpretation and presentation of Churchill's life was more of a hagiography without reference to his political controversies, drinking or depression. None-the-less, highly recommended.

A print of a head in black and white.

A sculpture of a grey builder carrying two buckets.

A small, clay sculpture of a seated man with one hand holding his head.

A small sculpture of a hippopotomas.

From 2000BC to the present day, from every continent and from the tiny to the enormous, the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts presents an extraordinary collection of art. Curated to juxtapose cultures and eras, what comes across is a common humanity and a common inspiration in what we see.

A copy of Hansard open on a table next to a half full pint of beer and an old bottle with a candle in it.

My kind of pub. There are old copies of Hansard to browse over a pint.

The 1902 plans for the Newport Transporter Bridge placed it in Angleterre, as Monmouthshire was then. It was designed by a French engineer and, despite the total absence of hard hats and hi-viz jackets on the people doing dangerous work, not a single life was lost in its construction.

The Book Club gave it a thumbs up. The Place of Tides is a beautifully written book about strong women in a patriarchal world and the value of old ways of living battling against the economics of a modern world.

The actor Hiran Abeysekera playing Hamlet holding a skull and looking at the camera while sitting in a theatre.

With a performance of Prince otherwise known as the Prince of Denmark, the #NationalTheatreLive #Hamlet was stylish and thoroughly enjoyable. I only wish that I'd watched it before seeing #Hamnet with an N at the cinema.

"He Banged The Leather for Goal" is the title of the first recorded football chant. It was written specially for Wolverhampton Wanderers fans by Edward Elgar no less. Elgar used to ride his bike from Worcester to Wolverhampton and back to see his side.

From 'We Lose Every Week' by Andrew Lawn.

With another #BigGardenBirdWatch completed, I can report that we saw one blackbird, one blue tit, two house sparrows, one robin, three woodpigeons, three crows and a common gull. There were fewer tits around this year. Perhaps they've been eaten by our tawney owls.

It was announced om the podcast before Christmas. The last one was on 23 December.

Brooklyn Beckham's "feud" with his parents attracted 44.2 million plays on #TikTok yesterday compared to just 12.8 million for Trump's proposal to buy #Greenland.

That statistic, from the excellent Fenimore Harper Daily News Briefing, tells you all you need to know about young people's interests.

You won't see a better table tennis heist movie but the film #MartySupreme presents the same overconfident swagger as its lead character. Despite its fast-moving plot and fast-talking dialogue, by the second half I found myself un-invested in any of the characters.

Another excellent talk at Abergavenny Local History Society. Simon Maddison described the evidence for a Roman bridge at Chepstow. The archeology involved wallowing in mud for the couple of hours available at low tide together with carbon dating, tree ring dating and Lidar, using light rays.

So it's his legacy? I don't think he's really interested in legacy. He wants the accolades in real time because he won't be around to enjoy them when he is dead. Putin and Xi are somewhat different because they see themselves as the inheritors of great history - millennia-long [history] in the case of China. For Trump, it is just Trump. He completely trashes every other American leader - he doesn't have a good word for any of them.

This interview of Fiona Hill by @meganjgibson.bsky.social is excellent and full of insight and zingers such as this on whether Trump is driven by his legacy
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

Swansea City 2 West Bromwich Albion 2 (6-5 on penalties). Very unusually, I watched the game from the first row rather than the back of the stand. The perceived faster pace and congested space add to the excitement. I have no idea how managers follow the game from the touchline.

Jesse Buckley as Agnia Hathaway standing before the stage at the Globe Theatre sadly watching Hamlet with the rest of the audience around her.

As the credits rolled, nobody in the cinema moved. That was the emotional punch of #Hamnet - an extraordinary film with an astonishing performance from Jesse Buckley. If I woz more cleverer I'd have understood a lot more than I did. None-the-less it still gripped me and generated a tear or two.

Terry Yorath was one of my early heroes when he played in the great Leeds side and for Wales. I loved the fact that he wasn't one of the glamour stars and had to fight hard for his place at Leeds. He then had to deal with terrible tragedy. So sad. RIP.

After nearly 40 years living here it was time to see a film at the oldest film club in Wales, Abergavenny's no less.

Santosh was both gripping and repulsive, telling the story of a corrupt and violent police force.

The film captured conflict and tensions brilliantly.

Very different from the film - it's only really the idea which survived - it was brave to write #TheZoneOfInterest but it doesn't quite come off.

A dark comedy about the management of a concentration camp, the book generates uncomfortable laughter but loses its way a bit.

Wild London Sir David Attenborough explores the wildlife of his London hometown, from urban deer to rooftop peregrines and many others, revealing how nature thrives in the world’s greenest major city.

Great story-telling alongside the usual stunning film, I'm sure Wild London will do no end of good in encouraging wildlife back. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002hzg7 via @bbciplayer

The second day of the year and we climbed another mountain, this time a little higher to the top of The Sugar Loaf. If we carry on like this, we'll have conquered Everest by December.