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A paradoxical and terrible story of how, during the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile at Baikonur, between 78 and 126 people died, among them the Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces, Chief Marshal…

Nedelin is known for his keen interest in technology and rockets, and for often attending launches and tests in person: he flew out to watch the explosions of hydrogen and atomic bombs and visited the landing sites of spacecraft. News of his death was released almost at once, but with

NB! · Cinema · People

This Monster: Jean Marais in 1946

Workers and onlookers stand in mud around an excavator bucket holding a silt-covered stone find.

NB! · Archaeology · The East · Observations · People

An 80-centimetre bust of Seti II with a cartouche found near the Ramesses colossus

An 80-centimetre bust of Seti II has been found close to the Ramesses. A rather interesting character, and the sculpture is labelled with his cartouche, unlike the giant, within an 8-metre radius of whom there is not a single inscription

Books · Observations · People

A version holds that William Dampier, not Stradling, marooned Selkirk

What, in fact, were these two stories told for. There was once a captain who made three voyages round the world, the author of several books, a pirate and simply an entertaining scoundrel, William Dampier. King William III received him into the academy, and then Dampier was tried for cruelty

Interviews · Books · People

Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” and the disputed question of the author’s acquaintance with Selkirk

It is said that Defoe did not find a publisher for his sea novel at once. By the time he came to write "Robinson...", the sixty-year-old De Foe, as he styled himself, was already a well-known journalist and writer in England. And, as John Winterich

Faith · Cinema · Observations · Education · People

Saint Vincent de Paul and the disputed account of his captivity in Tunis

Watching Scorsese's "Silence", besides indignation and weariness I felt a sense of déjà vu. The film reminded me of a story that at school is usually recalled in the last days of September. There is a Catholic figure, Saint Vincent de Paul, whom some guides stubbornly

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Mores · People

The table is laid for ten: George Sand receives her guests

The table is laid for ten: George Sand receives her guests. In this photograph you can make out that the head of the table is reserved for a certain Prince. Know, then, that the place card reads 'Le Prince Jérôme Napoléon'

Pencil drawing of a barefoot boy in a shirt sitting on a chair at a table and writing.

NB! · Art · Books · People

Boris Pasternak in his father's portrait and the poet's first memory of Leo Tolstoy

A portrait of today's birthday boy, Boris Pasternak, drawn by his father. The poet's earliest childhood memory: waking at the age of four just as Leo Tolstoy was visiting his parents

NB! · Faith · People

On this day, 10 February 547, died the sister of St Benedict, St Scholastica

On this day, 10 February 547, died St Scholastica, sister of St Benedict, founder of the first women's monastery. She is buried at Monte Cassino, the monastery founded by Benedict, not far from Rome

Monarchies · Mores · People

Death of Agnès Sorel in 1450 and the Arrest of Jacques Cœur, Accused of Poisoning Her

On 9 February 1450 Agnès Sorel died of puerperal infection. But a rumour was put about at once that she had been poisoned, and the poisoner was named as Jacques Cœur. Which is odd, since Agnès was the patroness of the royal financier: she secured him good commissions and shielded

Portrait of Agnes Sorel in a dark laced dress and sheer veil, with one breast bare, her name inscribed at the top.

NB! · Monarchies · Mores · People

Agnes Sorel, her influence over Charles VII and a beauty noted by Pope Callixtus III

The low-born courtesan Agnès Sorel was called a common whore, yet even Pope Callixtus III remarked on her extraordinary beauty. She went about in frank attire, bared one breast and twisted Charles VII round her little finger

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage · People

Jacques Cœur, industrialist and financier to Charles VII, peers out of a false window in his astonishing mansion at Bourges

Jacques Cœur, industrialist and financier to Charles VII, peers out of a false window in his astonishing mansion at Bourges. Cœur minted gold écus and kept the king's mistress, Agnès Sorel, supplied with treasures