As I was slightly early for breakfast, I made a detour on my morning walk across the parks to inspect the Victoria Memorial, one of those great and overblown monuments which it is easy to ignore.   Its design was the result of an open competition held in the summer of 1901 which was won by Thomas Brock RA, who had recently completed an equestrian statue of the Black Prince for Leeds.   It was paid for not by grant from parliament, but by subscription throughout the Empire.   The work took some time to complete.   The bottom half was unveiled on 24 May 1909 and the final monument in March 1911.   It benefits from close inspection rather than just being seen out of the car window with good bas-reliefs round the basin:-