Archive · Mores · People · Humour

Secret Order No. 3 to First Secretary Comrade Stalin from his eleven-year-old daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, 20 May 1937:

I order you to go to the cinema together with Comrades Molotov, Kaganovich, Zhdanov, Vasya and me. (Be sure to go to the cinema today). Below is Stalin's endorsement: "I obey with pleasure. I. Stalin"

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Society · People

The text of the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne of the Russian state on 2 March 1917, and the de facto abdication of Mikhail, who is prepared to accept power only if the people vote for it

Observations · Science · People

Stephen Hawking bequeathed that the black hole entropy formula that made him famous be inscribed on his gravestone, just as on the tombstone of Ludwig Boltzmann, the Austrian physicist and one of the fathers of statistical mechanics, there was carved as a

Boltzmann's contribution to the laws of classical thermodynamics was so substantial, and so revolutionary for physics and engineering, that it was even proposed to call the nineteenth century the century of Boltzmann. He modestly replied that he would rather it were called the century of Darwin, whose principle

Books · People · Saint Petersburg · Humour

Denis Davydov's verses of 1818 on his plans for the evening and a journey to Saint Petersburg

A Decisive Evening. This evening I shall see you, This evening my lot will be decided, This evening I shall receive what I desire, Or an abschied into retirement! And tomorrow, the devil take it, I shall get tight as a tick, I shall fly like an arrow in a

Society · People · Pop Culture

Nadine Bulycheva frees enslaved women at her Rio de Janeiro benefit on 10 August 1886

The name of Nadezhda Vasilyevna Bulycheva (1858-1921), an Italian opera singer of Russian origin, is inscribed for ever in letters of gold on the pages of the world history of the struggle to abolish slavery. On 10 August 1886 the Russian prima donna Nadine Bulycheva was singing the part

Books · People · Humour

Chekhov on children who followed their father's advice but grew up unhappy

"Chew properly," Father used to say. And they chewed well, and walked for two hours a day, and washed in cold water, and all the same they turned out wretched, talentless people. Chekhov

Aristocracy · Archive · Art · Monarchies · People

Golden sceptre of Empress Charlotte of Mexico being sold by the Goffinet heirs

Golden sceptre of Empress Charlotte of Mexico goes under the hammer in Monte Carlo, estimated at €100,000 to €200,000. This 34-centimetre symbol of imperial power, of 22-carat gold and weighing more than 400 grams, is adorned with diamonds of exceptional spectrum, rubies, emeralds, pearls, perforation, filigree

Close detail of an engraving of a face made of concentric lines that spiral outward from the tip of the nose.

Faith · Art · People

Claude Mellan made the engraving “The Sudarium of Saint Veronica” with one spiral line in 1649

The Face of Christ in a Single Spiralling Line. The Veil of Saint Veronica, copperplate engraving, 1649. By the French painter and engraver Claude Mellan (1598-1688)

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Heritage · People

Memorial plaque to Irina Antonova on the house in Maly Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane, where Irina Alexandrovna lived from 1942 to 1982

London · Monarchies · Society · People

Winston Churchill had been a Member of Parliament, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty when Prince Edward was still a child, later Colonial Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and by the time of his reign he had already spent several yea

Winston Churchill had been a Member of Parliament, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty when Prince Edward was still a child, later Colonial Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and by the time of his reign he had already spent several years in political isolation. He returned to

Archive · Monarchies · People

Investiture of Edward VIII as Prince of Wales on 13 July 1911 and his later titles

The future King Edward VIII of England was invested as Prince of Wales on 13 July 1911, at the age of 17. The eldest great-grandson of Queen Victoria in the direct male line, he bore this title from 1910 to 1936, then for 10 months was king, after the

Archive · Cinema · Observations · People · Humour

Napoleon's signature as Bonaparte changed over the years up to his exile on Saint Helena

The Napoleon signature on the poster of the much-discussed film can easily be read as "Locomotive" In fact Napoleon more often signed himself Bonaparte, and at different periods of his life the signatures scarcely resemble one another. But there were locomotives too, in 1804 and 1805, for