The new Downton Abbey captures Mary of Teck, consort of George V, with remarkable precision, while the actor chosen to play the King is astonishingly unlike him: simply a stately, charming old gentleman, some king out of Shrek, bearing no resemblance to…

In the ballroom scene Mary of Teck wears the famous Vladimir Tiara, so beloved of Elizabeth II, but with the emerald rather than the pearl set. The tiara originates from the Romanov family.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

The new Downton Abbey captures Mary of Teck, consort of George V, with remarkable precision, while the actor chosen to play the King is astonishingly unlike him: simply a stately, charming old gentleman, some king out of Shrek, bearing no resemblance to…

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s