Books · Observations · Humour
They helped us not to lose. They played, but did not win. They prevented us from winning. They did not prevent us. They were unwell. Quite possibly the wittiest table of contents in history. Though the title, "Heavenly Sweat", is not without merit either. A book about the
Architecture · Heritage · Humour
The Leaning Tower of Zaragoza was almost 30 metres taller than Pisa's. Its height was 80 metres. True, it was built 330 years after the Pisan one, in 1504, and almost at once it began to lean. For hundreds of years, however, there was no threat of collapse.
In the Press · Art · Humour
In 1966 it appeared on the cover of LOOK magazine
Cinema · Books · Humour
Are Snakes Necessary? Hugo Martzditz A book with this title is being read by the hero of the 1941 film The Lady Eve, Charles Pike, heir to millions, in the bar of an ocean liner sailing from South America. He has spent a year in the jungle studying snakes. Which
NB! · Humour
Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Remember the Australian comedian who calls himself the secret son of King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles? He has turned up again, and all the more opportunely, since the King and Queen's visit to Australia has come at just the right moment. As fresh proof of his royal
Cinema · Monarchies · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour
But in fact this helmet, which I wrote about briefly in my book, is the sole surviving piece of the armour presented by the Emperor Maximilian I as a diplomatic gift to the English king Henry VIII in 1514. I trust no one will dispute that the old man would
NB! · Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Nature · Humour
Does anyone still remember the popular baby hippo? To my mind, the sweet piglet by Hans Hoffmann, 1578, is not one whit less charming. Though, is there a single young creature in the world that fails to melt the heart?
NB! · Archive · In the Press · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
Good Lord, how touching! A memorial notice of the death of Harold Godwinson, the last Saxon king of England, in the Hastings Observer
Observations · Mores · Humour
No Life Coach Will Ever Teach You This. Draw up a table of virtues, and whenever you commit an offence against any one of them, put a little mark in the appropriate column. The moment you complete a bingo card, congratulations: you have lost
NB! · Books · Observations · Humour
Should Earthlings offer the cosmos Darya Dontsova and Barbara Cartland, or the Brontë sisters and George Sand after all? That is the question
Art · Observations · Mores · Humour
Chamber pot with a figure of Napoleon. 1803-05, England. Can you imagine how afraid the English were of this man?