To celebrate the pride festival season, Outburst UK in association with the National Portrait Gallery have 5 pairs of tickets to give away to the Gay Icons exhibition that runs from 2 July to 18 October 2009. All you have to do is answer a simple question.


In what year was the National Portrait Gallery established and name one of the people responsible for the founding of the gallery?

The first person with the correct answer wins a pair of tickets and a catalogue to the exhibition. Four Runners up will each receive a pair of tickets.

Send your answers to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by Monday 29 June 2009 with your name and a contact number.

Only competition winners will be notified.  The judges decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Gay Icons

2 July – 18 October 2009
National Portrait Gallery
Admission £5/£4.50/£4
Sponsored by Rosé d’Anjou Wines

Gay Icons explores gay social and cultural history through the unique personal insights of ten high profile gay figures; Lord Waheed Alli, Alan Hollinghurst, Sir Elton John, Jackie Kay, Billie Jean King, Sir Ian McKellen, Lord Chris Smith, Ben Summerskill, Sarah Waters and Sandi Toksvig.

The chosen icons, who may or may not be gay themselves, have all been important to each selector, having influenced their gay sensibilities or contributed to making them who they are today. They include artists Francis Bacon and David Hockney; Activist and past South African President Nelson Mandela, musicians Bessie Smith, k.d. lang, The Village People and Will Young; writers Daphne du Maurier and Quentin Crisp; composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Benjamin Britten; entertainers Ellen DeGeneres, Lily Savage and Kenneth Williams; sports stars Martina Navratilova and Ian Roberts and political activists Harvey Milk and Angela Mason.

Their fascinating and inspirational stories will be illustrated by over sixty photographic portraits including works by Andy Warhol, Linda McCartney and Cecil Beaton.

‘How I wish this selection had been available to me when I was young and trying to make sense of my reactions to the world. How inspirational to have had portraits of the great and the good staring out at me telling me that I was not by any measure on my own.’- Sandi Toksvig

Click here to find out more about the exhibition and to buy tickets online.

Bessie Smith by Frank Driggs, 1925 - 1925 Getty Images. - Photograph by Frank Driggs/ Getty Images

Harvey Milk - by Efren Convento Ramirez, - 1978 © Efren Ramirez, 1978/2009

Joe Dallesandro by Paul Morrissey, 1968 - © Paul Morrissey, 1968