London · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour
On the well-worn anecdote about how at Queen Elizabeth II's reception in 1961 Yury Gagarin, having drunk a cup of tea with lemon, fished out the slice of lemon and ate it, there is one clarification. Such an incident did indeed occur, but the man in question
Moscow · Observations · Society · Nature
Some time ago I fought, without success, the wretched municipal services over the mixed-herb lawn beneath my windows, home to birds and insects, but in the end it was mown, dug up, stripped of its fertile topsoil and covered with that belch of anthropogenic bad taste: turf in rolls.
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Books · Moscow · Museums · Mores · Humour
When you hear of a ‘new’ format of portable smoking systems, remember this German smoking pipe of the mid-19th century, made of porcelain, wood, metal and textile. The piece is from the collection of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve. Something of the kind may well have been puffed by the
NB! · Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Why the ring straight away? Better we destroy Pendalf's gizmos
Cinema · Mores · People · Pop Culture
Most likely, Loretta Young gave birth shortly before filming began on The Crusades. The story of her daughter became one of the more mysterious biographies among the children of Hollywood celebrities, and came to light only shortly before Loretta's death in 2000 at the age of 87. In
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Cinema · Monarchies · Mores · People
Hollywood diva Loretta Young as the English queen Berengaria of Navarre in the 1935 film The Crusaders. Berengaria is the only English queen who never set foot on English soil. It is held, however, that she may after all have visited England, but only after the death of her husband,
NB! · Observations
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NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Observations · New York · Humour
It seems the Metropolitan Museum's holdings have yielded the answer to how a centaur wears trousers after all, courtesy of a bronze statuette of a centaur and a man from 750 BC. Or is this the wrong sort of centaur?
Interviews · Observations · Society · People
In 2011 the distinguished French historian Pierre Nora gave an interview to the Russian scholar of identity, Doctor of Historical Sciences Elena Filippova, and touched upon a subject of some interest in present circumstances: the French constitutional reform of 2008. I give an abridged extract: “A good example, which I