Find out about a pair of shoes which were handmade in Paris for a dancer during the 1920s but illustrate a design style still prevalent in swish footwear almost a century on.

Leigh-Anne Stradeski introduces All About Me, the new £2.9 million gallery at The National Children's Museum, and tells us why her favourite exhibit involves food decisions.

As the hotly-anticipated annual visual arts festival in Edinburgh announces its line-up for this August, Director Sorcha Carey tells us about one or two shows to look out for.

Sophie Nielsen and Rolf Knudsen's mirror chandelier, made for the Queen's Stairs, has joined a "breathtaking" palace, say the Danish design pair.

The Curator of Ethnography at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery tells us about a linen ball, designed for the afterlife, at the forthcoming Pharaoh: King of Egypt show.

Bruce Blacklaw, Communications Officer at National Museums Scotland, picks his favourite piece from the storming new Vikings! exhibition in Edinburgh.

The Finds Manager for the Canterbury Archaeological Trust recalls the phonecall which led to the excavation of a Prehistoric helmet from a field in Kent.

Co-curator of a major new show of Haitian art gives us the background on carnival, history, religion and pioneering artist Wilson Bigaud.

Michael Kiernan, Director of the Cornish Global Migration Programme in Redruth, relates five of his favourite stories about Cornish miners, migrants, murderers and divorcees.

The National Museums Northern Ireland Head of Human History on his favourite portrait of a third-class passenger.

Abby Potter, of the Bowes' new display of Vivienne Westwood shoes, picks her favourite pair and tells us about the show.

Nick Booth, of Guildford Museum, explains his interest in a print of the Legend of Archbishop George Abbot’s Birth.

As the hoard of Iron Age coins goes on sneak preview to the public, we find out about Ipswich Museum's plans to save it.

Curator's Choice: Professor Frank James, Head of Collections and Heritage at the Royal Institution, picks Alessandro Volta's Voltaic pile, made from zinc, copper and cardboard.

The NPG's Anne Braybon picks out two of her favourite entries to the 2010 Taylor Wessing Photography Prize and tells us why photos can "speak to each other across walls".

Taxidermist Polly Morgan's work has been collected by Kate Moss and credited with reinventing perceptions of the preservation form. Curator Julie Brown tells us about the rat she has included in the Chichester venue's Contemporary Eye show.

Dr Stella Panayotova discusses eagles and impaled legs of lamb as part of the epic 2010 exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary: David Coxon, Curator at Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, introduces the uniform of Flight Lieutenant Nicolson VC.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain David Keyne of the RAF Museum talks about the iconic Spitfire.

Curator Meriel Jeater tells us why an anonymous painting full of Great Fire chaos is her favourite at the Museum of London.

Brigid Bradley of Croydon Museum explains why the watercolour, Sci-Fi Fantasy Sketch by Norman Partridge, stands out in an exhibition featuring Henry Moore, Bridget Riley and other luminaries.

As part of Culture24's exploration of the Designated collection at the Royal Engineers Museum, Director Richard Dunn reveals his 'Curator's Choice'; the Brennan torpedo.

Keeper of Anthropology Wayne Modest introduces us to a sphere marking the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, ritualistic medicine containers and fertile figures in his favourite works at the Horniman Museum.

Matthew Sheldon of the Royal Naval Museum talks about a rare scrimshaw that once belonged to an African sailor who helped in the Royal Navy's fight against the transatlantic slave trade.

Curator's choice: Ditchling Museum Director Hilary Williams chooses the printing press used by the Guild of Joseph and St Dominic, led by Eric Gill.

In her own words... Alison Boyle, Space Curator of the Science Museum, explains the strange allure and importance of Jocelyn Bell Burnell's radio telescope, a star item in the Science Museum's new Cosmos and Culture exhibition.

Doug Millard of the Science Museum explains his fascination for the 1969 Apollo 10 Command Module known as Charlie Brown (1969).

Art historian Marcus Risdell, who is co-curator of a beguiling show pursuing the true face of William Shakespeare at Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham, tells us why a bust found in a field is his favourite bard head.

John Clark of the Museum of London explains his fascination with a medieval seal of Ingelram de Préaux family that has sat hidden from public view for decades.

Mary Godwin, Curator at the Philpot Museum in Lyme Regis, picks the Coprolite table, made from mahogany and fossilised ichthyosaur dung.

Jane Insley, Senior Curator of Engineering Technologies at the Science Museum, picks Raphael Roussel's Medieval Diorama (1940-44).