Monarchies · Education · People
Napoleonic literature contains a very touching memory of his childhood, which tells us a good deal about the personality of the Emperor. At the age of ten he entered the Royal Military School of Brienne-le-Château. Given the family's financial difficulties, a scholarship to this establishment, prestigious
Monarchies · Mores · People · Humour
There is an amusing sketch of Napoleon's mother. A woman of peculiar temperament, she had in her day flatly refused to live at the Trianon; the life of the court held no interest for her and she passed her time in rather secluded fashion, even declining to attend
Science · Society · People
In 1952, Alan Turing, without exaggeration one of the most outstanding British scientists of his time, was convicted of gross indecency: he was obliged to admit to a homosexual relationship, unlawful in the United Kingdom, after his flat was burgled by a 19-year-old labourer with whom Turing had
NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Society · People
The Shakhmatovo estate, where Blok spent 36 of the 40 years of his life, was plundered in 1918. The furnishings and furniture were sold off at auction. In July 1921 the house and its outbuildings burned down, most probably set alight through carelessness or plain, dull-witted spite.
Books · Heritage · Society · People
“Why are they riddling an ancient cathedral with holes? Because for a hundred years a bloated priest sat here, hiccuping, taking bribes and selling vodka. Why do they foul the manor houses so dear to our hearts? Because girls were raped and flogged there, if not by that squire, then
NB! · Archive · Moscow · Observations · People · Humour
Here is my beloved Alla Demidova at twenty. She is not yet a student of the Shchukin Theatre School, but for now an actress of the Moscow State University student theatre under the direction of Igor Lipsky. Do correct me if I am mistaken, but I see a strong portrait
Books · Society · People · Saint Petersburg
The Soviet translator Natalya Leonidovna Trauberg on the Russian poet and translator Valentin Stenich, who made the first Russian translation of "Ulysses" and was shot in 1938:. "Nobody was particularly surprised about him [that he would be arrested], because in 1937 they were locking up people who,
NB! · Books · People
Archive · New York · People
The light has gone out of my life: a diary entry by Theodore Roosevelt. On 14 February 1884 the future American president Theodore Roosevelt lost his mother, who died of typhoid fever at the age of 48, and his wife, aged 22, who died of acute kidney failure after giving
Cinema · Monarchies · Mores · People
On 24 April 1671 the outstanding French maître d'hôtel, restaurateur, impresario and founder of catering, François Vatel, brought his life's journey to an end. Vatel's name has become a byword for restaurateurs and chefs the world over: the man was so devoted to his
Archive · Books · Paris · People · Humour
Turgenev was terribly afraid of cholera and often remarked on fresh outbreaks in his letters, describing in detail the situation in Paris and other European cities, asking after affairs in Russia, noting that people were dying like flies, reflecting how fortunate it was that nightingales do not catch cholera and
Books · Mores · People
Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims / Fruits of Solitude. William Penn, 1693