I was just doing a bit of reading to follow up my entry on the Crystal Palace. It was, of course, built in Hyde Park for the famous Great Exhibition of 1851. When  I read that, I naturally looked  up exhibitions, wondering what they were and what became of them. I’d assumed they’d stopped, but they’re still going. That strikes me as odd, I must say: they appear to be quite  regular, so why don’t we hear anything about them? Why doesn’t the media make as much of a song and dance about them  as they do over the Olympics? Surely they are the cultural equivalent of the olympics, in that they both  draw the world’s attention to one specific city. And, more to the point, why hasn’t London hosted a world exhibition since 1862? Surely putting one on would mean the world’s greatest metropolis can show what it can do once more.