Science · Mores · Society · People
The famous laughing old lady with a glass: winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Rita Levi-Montalcini, known not only for her scientific achievements but also for her active political stance, her public engagement and her charisma. Rita's father was against higher education for
Architecture · Monarchies · Mores · People
Perhaps the secret of the beauty of Diane de Poitiers, who managed to seduce and win the heart of Henry II, nineteen years her junior, lay in the fact that she washed every day. Moreover, she washed in the river: in one of the arches of the Château de Chenonceau
Archive · Mores · People
Arriving at two in the morning, Dr Schwörer offered the dying Chekhov a cylinder of oxygen. Anton Pavlovich declined: "By the time they bring the oxygen, I shall be dead." He had only minutes left. Chekhov preferred to drink champagne. He took the glass with the words "
NB! · Observations · Science · Society · People
A reminder: Talia Khabrieva is Director of the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation. Also a Doctor of Law, a professor and a Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Does anyone have questions about science in Russia?
Mores · Society · People
On 24 February 1655 Cromwell banned horse racing for six months. This is generally put down to the Puritan course of the Lord Protector's government as a whole, though he himself feared that royalist agents were using race meetings as cover for their assemblies. But the ban remained
NB! · Mores · People · Humour
Agatha Christie, meanwhile, learnt to surf thanks to her husband, who was busy organising the British Empire Exhibition. Agatha rode the waves on a board in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. She was most likely among the first Britons to master the sport, somewhere in the neighbourhood of
NB! · Archive · People · Humour
Art · Monarchies · Museums · Paris · People
1960: De Gaulle at the Nicolas Poussin exhibition in the Louvre with the Minister of Culture, André Malraux. The exhibition was organised by the Poussin specialist Anthony Blunt (pictured with Elizabeth), a man of remarkable biography. Blunt was a second cousin of Elizabeth II's mother through his own
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
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 · 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