Art · Observations · Science · Society · People

Study of the Wadlow family portrait, a possible lifetime image of Shakespeare

Stephen Wadlow, a 58-year-old window cleaner from Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom), has spent more than ten years trying to prove that he owns the only portrait of Shakespeare painted in his lifetime. Stephen's father, Peter Wadlow, an antiques dealer, bought the portrait at the Great Tew

Screenshot of a Moscow traffic map with closed road sections shown in black and with no-entry signs, including sections of the TTK.

NB! · Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour

Road closures marked on the map of Moscow, Garden Ring remains open

Meanwhile, half of Moscow is closed off again. Thank goodness it's not the Garden Ring, at least

NB! · Society · Pop Culture

The Melodiya Company, the country's oldest sound industry firm, will open a vinyl record plant

The Melodiya Company, the country's oldest sound industry firm, will open a vinyl record plant. The plant will be launched in Novosibirsk in spring 2025, producing 100,000 records a year, both from Melodiya's catalogue and to order

The East · Interviews · Museums · Society · Saint Petersburg

Universal museums in the East and perceptions of the Hermitage in the West

I read Mikhail Piotrovsky's recent interview with the journal International Affairs, and here are some extracts. On the role of the East in the present-day cultural field: «It is no accident that in the world that has now revived and is called the East, universal museums are

NB! · Geography · Society

Mentions of Various Countries in the Polish Anthem

Society · People

Maria Branyas Morera, the world's oldest person, has died at the age of 117

Yesterday the Spanish supercentenarian María Branyas Morera passed away. Since 2023 María Branyas had been the oldest living person on Earth whose date of birth is documented. At the time of her death she was 117 years and 169 days old. Señora Morera was born in San Francisco, California, on

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Society

The plot of land on which Florence's first mosque will be built was bought from the Catholic Church

NB! · Archive · The East · Art · Education · Society

Turkish Posters of the 1930s Promoting the Introduction of the Latin Alphabet

The East · London · Society · Humour

Remember that amusing story, worthy of a Richard Gere and Julia Roberts double act, about the Indian Maharajah who walked into a Rolls Royce showroom in London in 1920 dressed in ordinary clothes, only to be refused service and simply shown the door…

Remember that amusing story, worthy of a Richard Gere and Julia Roberts double act, about the Indian Maharajah who walked into a Rolls Royce showroom in London in 1920 dressed in ordinary clothes, only to be refused service and simply shown the door? He then changed into royal attire and

Archive · Society · Paris · Pop Culture

Alain Delon's letter to de Gaulle and the president's resignation after a negative vote

Letter from Alain Delon to General de Gaulle, written on the eve of de Gaulle's official departure from the French presidency in 1969. An extraordinary time in the history of Europe, effectively the last season of a truly great France. Alain Delon writes as follows: “My General, for

Faith · Observations · Society · Humour

A study by a Durham-based community organisation shows that the Church of England has, over the past 10 years, stopped using the word church for its new parishes, preferring words such as community or…

A study by a community organisation based in Durham shows that over the past 10 years the Church of England has stopped using the word church for its new parishes, preferring words such as community or congregation. According to the findings, not one of the churches opened in England in

NB! · Society · Humour