Observations · Palaeontology · Nature · Humour
The pups Poppy and Sam have found an almost complete skeleton of an ichthyosaur, 190 million years old, on a beach in Somerset. Palaeontologists are now trying to establish whether the remains belong to a new species of extinct marine creature. In short, walk your doggies more often https://www.
Art · Mores · Humour
Fops of the eighteenth century would be greatly astonished to step into a branch of Sberbank on pension day: pink curls flit across the heads of grandes dames more often than they could ever have imagined. The more so as in those days pink hair was considered chiefly a masculine
Art · Observations · Mores · Pop Culture
Like other finest discoveries of mankind, pink hair came into fashion in the glorious eighteenth century. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, many dandies perfected their coiffures and full-bottomed wigs with the help of plain pink powder. Now and again I come across miniature portraits of that era
Cinema · Moscow · Observations · Mores
For those weary of the January marathon of old films, I recommend a 1984 picture about metropolitan life in the late USSR, "A Time of Desires" with Vera Alentova and Anatoly Papanov. Admirers of "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" may find this melodrama of some
Archive · Society · People
The paternal grandparents of Vladimir Vysotsky were named Wolf Shliomovich Vysotsky and Dora Ovseyevna Bronstein. Wolf was a schoolmate of Mikhoels and Babel. Dora Ovseyevna's stepfather, Lev Levin, physician in ordinary to members of the government and to Maxim Gorky, was shot in 1938 on a charge of
Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture
“When I am gone, I shall sing with the voices of my children and the voices of their children”: I could not believe my ears when this melody struck up in the final scene of “Union of Salvation”. On screen, the hanging of Pestel, Ryleyev, Muravyov-Apostol, Bestuzhev-Ryumin and
Architecture · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Paris
There is such a photograph of the outlets of the very Louis-Philippe system of central heating and, accordingly, ventilation in the Gallery of Battles at Versailles. Of course, for its time such a system was the optimal solution, but then the palace was not visited by 15,000 people
Architecture · Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris
A scandal where none was expected. For the first time in the history of Versailles, the floors have undergone such sweeping changes: in several rooms the parquet now bears a great many brass ventilation grilles. The administration explains that the old air-conditioning and heating system can no longer cope
Faith · Monarchies · People · Saint Petersburg
Alexander I was born on 12 December 1777, the year of the great flood in Saint Petersburg, which afflicted hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands. The Emperor died on 1 December 1825, 12 months and 12 days after the second-largest flood in the city's history.
Archive · Books · Society
“All the way there I was tormented by one and the same thought: why was I being taken to the NKVD of Georgia, what had I done, why did they need me? I was not yet nineteen, I held no post, and I had never held any dangerous conversations. I
Archive · The East · Books · Society · People
A few days ago, in her hundredth year, Adile Abbas-ogly, a victim of Stalin's repressions, historian and memoirist, passed away. In 1938 Adile Shahbasovna was declared an "enemy of the people" on account of her family ties to Nestor Lakoba, Chairman of the Central Executive
London · Society · People · Nature
On 10 November 2015 the British House of Commons heard, in my view, one of the loveliest political speeches in history. The clever and intellectual Rory Stewart rose in Parliament to speak in defence of hedgehogs. I invite you to watch this brilliant ten-minute address by a product of