NB! · Archive · The East · London · Monarchies

The Ethiopian Delegation at the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

One of Paul Ramsey's best-known works expresses exactly how I see people who can, at the drop of a hat, hold forth on your star sign, your natal chart, your ascendant and all the rest of it

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Art

One of the greatest sculptures of the Rococo era: the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino, 1753

One of the greatest sculptures of the Rococo era: the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino, 1753. The sculpture can be seen in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples

NB! · London · Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

If anyone is desperate to give me a present but has no idea what: this is what the Swatch watch with Elizabeth II and a well-fed corgi looks like

NB! · Humour

And which of us is the fattest sheep?

A woman in a dark jacket and hat checks the bathing suit of a young woman on a sandy beach, with bathers in the background.

NB! · Archive · Mores · Society

Checking the length of a woman’s bathing suit on a beach in Chicago in 1921

A policewoman checks a girl's bathing dress against the regulation length for bathing costumes. Chicago, 1921

NB! · Geography · Maps · Observations · Humour

If This Map Is to Be Believed, I Am Booked for Nebraska

A lion figure made of shells, with bared teeth and a long tail, in a framed glass case with a caption card below.

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Scottish figure of a lion made entirely of shells, early 18th century

A lion made of mollusc shells, the work of Scottish craftsmen of the early eighteenth century. Quite possibly the only form in which seashells deserve to be brought home from a seaside holiday

NB! · Architecture · Pop Culture · Humour

Monument to a Dementor in Vezio, Italy, on the shore of Lake Como

NB! · Monarchies · Mores · People

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, aged 82, celebrated fifty years on the throne by riding the roller coaster at Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens

NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Balenciaga, as ever, at the top of its form

A brick overpass with a white arch and the sign ARTPLAY, with tram rails running beneath it and graffiti on the walls.

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage

Syromyatniki overpass promised to be preserved, in photos from the Archnadzor group

Remember the flyover at Syromyatniki? Try to find, in the second photograph, the architectural structure from the first, the one that was solemnly promised to be preserved. Photo source: Arkhnadzor group