NB! · Archaeology · Art · London · Museums
Odysseus and the Sirens
Odysseus and the Sirens. Red-figure stamnos, 480s BC. Collection of the British Museum
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London · Observations · Education · Society
Under £20,000 a year for a job that requires a doctorate and full-time commitment
Under £20,000 a year for a job that requires a doctorate and full-time commitment. And this offer comes from Oxford. How does that strike you, siiiir? New College, one of the most prosperous in Oxford, invites historians to take up a one-year post as something between a
NB! · Archive · In the Press · London · Monarchies · People
Princess Margaret, aged 27, the Queen's younger sister, on the cover of Tatler
Archive · In the Press · London · Society
The Moskvich and the Volga in a 1959 London Evening News Survey of Soviet Cars
The Moskvich and the Volga in a 1959 London Evening News survey of Soviet cars. Despite the popularity of the GAZ-21 after the World Fair in Brussels, where our Volga won the Grand Prix and was declared the best car in Europe for 1958, the English newspaper does not
NB! · Art · London · Monarchies · Observations
Elizabeth II through the Eyes of Lucian Freud, 2000–2001
Elizabeth II through the eyes of Lucian Freud, 2000–2001. Can such a dreadful portrait really please anyone?
London · Mores · People · Pop Culture
Maggie Smith with her son Toby Stephens
Maggie Smith with her son Toby Stephens. What? Yes! Incidentally, Maggie's elder son Chris Larkin is also an actor. When Toby was studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, a rumour went round that one of the students was Maggie Smith's child. Everyone
NB! · Books · London · People
Virginia Woolf, the British writer, was born 140 years ago
London · Monarchies · Museums · Mores
Since we are speaking of the good life today, here is an episode on the love of travelling in comfort
When Napoleon retreated after the defeat at Waterloo, before the headlong onslaught of the Prussian army, he was obliged to abandon his carriage, drawn by six horses, at the little town of Genappe and gallop off on horseback, escorted by mounted chasseurs. Horses, guns, army property, valuables: the French abandoned
Art · London · Museums · Observations
Once again, taking this reconstruction of the original appearance of the 2nd-century AD Tauroctony from the British Museum as my example, I am convinced that ancient sculptures, in any present-day state and in any artist's rendering, lose very badly when
Once again, taking this reconstruction of the original appearance of the 2nd-century AD Tauroctony from the British Museum as my example, I am convinced that ancient sculptures, in any present-day state and in any artist's rendering, lose very badly when painted, which is meant to restore
London · Monarchies · Mores · People
There is a story about Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and her life in emigration
There is a story about Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and her life in emigration. After the death of her own aunt, Maria Feodorovna, George V installed her daughter, his first cousin Princess Xenia, at Frogmore House, together with her numerous family and retinue, twenty-two persons in all. At that
Art · London · Observations · Humour
I met an English artist who makes surreal artefacts out of hair
I met an English artist who makes surreal artefacts out of hair. At first I took it for a genuine wig from some masquerade and asked her to tell me its story, so imagine my astonishment when the owner of the cake of hair said, "It's an
Art · Cinema · Books · London · Monarchies
John Everett Millais, The Princes in the Tower, 1878
The two princes who vanished without trace from their confinement in the Tower made an impression even on Shakespeare. He told the story of Edward V and his younger brother Richard in the history play "Richard III". Edward V is one of the uncrowned monarchs of England. He