Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores · People

Napoleon's mother explained her thriftiness by the prospect of having to support kings

Napoleon's mother once flatly refused to live at the Trianon; court life held no interest for her, and she kept fairly much to herself, even declining to attend her son's coronation. Of all her many original traits of character, what most bewildered the courtiers was the

NB! · Archive · Mores · People · Pop Culture

John Lennon on the knee of his Aunt Mimi Smith, who became his guardian after his parents' divorce and raised him as her own son

Geometric sculpture of a seated figure made of rust-brown rectangular bars, standing on a white plinth in a gallery.

NB! · Art · People

Sculpture “Seated Man” by Igor Shelkovsky

Man Seated. Igor Shelkovsky

NB! · Art · People

Claude Monet in His Studio

NB! · Mores · People · Humour

Igor Stravinsky: "I so enjoy drinking Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Strava-whisky"

Cinema · Science · Society · People · Humour

The BBC Has Made Isaac Newton Black

Beethoven, Cleopatra and Hannibal have already been black, so why not Newton this time?

Observations · Science · People

I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe

Richard Feynman

An old car with a tall body, a cross and the word “Radiologie” on its side stands on grass in front of trees.

NB! · Archive · Science · People

Marie Curie created mobile X-ray units during the First World War

The X-ray car was Marie Curie's idea. It dates from the years of the First World War. She also trained 150 nurses to work as technicians in the mobile X-ray laboratory. On board this vehicle they not only took the pictures but also developed them on

Heritage · Society · People

"Do not let deceptive plans for building a new world distract your energy from saving what remains of the old"

Winston Churchill

Black-and-white still of a man in a dark pinstriped suit looking at his reflection in a mirror in a bedroom.

Cinema · Observations · People · Humour

The real name of Cary Grant was Archibald Leach

"Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant" Archibald Leach (the real name of Cary Grant)

Art · People

Exploration of the Source of the River Orinoco

Spanish surrealist painter Remedios Varo, 1959

Mores · People · Humour

Jaguar and tiger skin trousers of Texans Samuel Richardson and John King Fisher

Former Governor of Texas Sam Houston, who gave his name to the city of Houston, in a jaguar-skin waistcoat. Captain Samuel Richardson of the 2nd Texas Cavalry Regiment, Confederate Army, in trousers of jaguar skin. But these are mild fashions compared with the habits of the Texas gunman John