Monarchies · Observations · People

Napoleon's Height of 168 cm and the Height Requirements in the French Army

The notion of Napoleon's small stature is an English forgery. With the average Frenchman of the time standing at about 164 cm, Napoleon, at 168 cm, was appreciably taller not only than most ordinary men but also than his own soldiers: a recruit could enter the French army

Black-and-white photograph of a grey-haired man with a cigarette in his mouth, leaning on a railing above a street with a lorry and a car.

Books · Paris

Photographic portrait of French poet and playwright Jacques Prévert on a city street

The best way not to move forward is to follow one constant idea. The French poet and dramatist Jacques Prévert

Black-and-white portrait of a smiling young man in a dark uniform with a white sash, buttons, medals and a braided cord.

NB! · Observations · Society · Humour

Comparing the looks of young Donald Trump and young Winston Churchill

In looks alone, the young Donald Trump bears some resemblance to the young Winston Churchill. Or does he not?

Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums · Saint Petersburg

Fyodor Bruni's "The Brazen Serpent" from the Russian Museum's collection in Saint Petersburg will be on show in Room 9 of the permanent display of the Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane from 6 November to 12 May

"The Brazen Serpent" by Fyodor Bruni, from the collection of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg, will be on show in Room 9 of the permanent display of the Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane from 6 November to 12 May. The painting was last in Moscow in 2003,

NB! · Pop Culture · Nature · Humour

The Doggystyle Calendar by the Austrian Photographer Daniel Gebhard

Columned building inscribed State Library of the USSR named after Lenin, with a seated statue and fir trees before it. A metal fence with a red banner is in the foreground.

NB!

Evening view of the Lenin Library with a monument and fir trees behind a fence

Cinema · Books · Observations

The language of Dostoevsky is a subject not merely interesting but essential to understanding his work

The language of Dostoevsky is a subject not merely interesting but essential to understanding his work. Is it possible to grasp the personality of a character without delving into his vocabulary? This is surely one of the first steps to take. Of course, many of the words will prove to

NB! · Art · Humour

Two Violins

Two violins. One painting belongs to Pablo Picasso, 1912, the other to Lyubov Popova, 1915. Guess which is whose?

NB! · Society · Humour

In fact, the most level-headed outcome of the American elections looks like this

Cinema · Science · Nature · Humour

The famous horse celebrated for being able to read and count is believed to have perished during the First World War

In its day, the mental powers of this horse astonished the European public. Investigators, however, were able to establish that the horse could neither count nor read after all, but could pick up even the slightest changes in a person's facial expression, and it was this that helped

NB! · Observations · Humour

Spare Your Nerves, It Is Only Tuesday

Art · Monarchies · Moscow · Observations · Society

New monument to the Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, unveiled in Klimentovsky Lane, beside Tretyakovskaya metro station

The monument depicts the grand ducal couple on the day of their wedding in 1884. Elizaveta Feodorovna wears a bridal gown with a flowing train. Sergei Alexandrovich is dressed in the uniform of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, which he commanded from 1887 to 1891. Sergei Romanov was killed in

Alexandr Radayev