Julkaisuseuranta
21.9.2021
Thank you to CNN. From Gander Newfoundland, British aviators Alcock and Brown boarded the world's first nonstop transatlantic flight and Amelia Earhart began her pioneering journeys there.Map of Newfoundland, CanadaGander is marked in greenGreenwich Mean TimeIn June 1936, workers jumped off the Newfoundland Railway, and set about clearing land for what would become the world's…
17.9.2021
Fatty Arbuckle and the beautiful Virginia RappeRoscoe Fatty Arbuckle (1887–1933) was a hugely successful silent film star and director. In 1917, Arbuckle formed his own company and many of his films starred his friend and…
14.9.2021
I have referred for half my post to Chloe Govan’s paper on the controversial life of King Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (1721–1764) was the daughter of a grotty mother and a penniless fraudster father who was forced to flee the country when she was 4, to avoid hanging for his debts. Jean…
10.9.2021
There were many famous bushrangers during the Gold Rush Australia eg Mad Dog Morgan (1830–65), Captain Moonlight (1842–80), Capt Thunderbolt (1835-70), Capt Midnight (1855-78), Ben Hall (1837-65) and Ned Kelly (1854–80). Many bushrangers were shot on site or hanged after court, for committing murder and theft. Their average life expectancy was only c33 years!Wanted poster…
I was very interested in the golden age of Dutch art and trade as impacted by Asia. Now it's time to examine fine Jingdezhen porcelain as it was adapted by the French. Chinese potters identified the essential clay ingredient for porcelain, kaolin, the best sources being in Tibet and the Gobi Desert. The Chinese took this…
Amit and Tal Biranwith children Tom (L), and sole survivor Eitan (R)Times of IsraelMy late father Les was adopted. He was very happy to live with his aunt Sarah whose house was just around the corner from his biological parents and siblings. And he saw his brothers at school each day. But it wasn’t until Long Lost…
27.8.2021
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-93) was born in Milan, son of an artist. Dad worked for Fabbrica Office in the Milan Duomo, that oversaw the development of the city’s cathedral architecture and art. Some of young Arcimboldo’s earliest works were 1549 commissions for stained glass windows at the Duomo. In 1556 he worked on Duomo di Monza…
How can an author frame the life of a paradoxical historical character, particularly one who has almost slipped out of Australian public consciousness? Author Gideon Haigh noted the issue in the first chapter of his book The Brilliant Boy: Doc Evatt and the Great Australian Experiment.Min of External Affairs and Attorney General Dr Evatt, with P.M…
From left: Oscar Fried, conductor; Eva Gauthier, singer; Maurice Ravel at piano; Manoah Leide-Tedesco, composer-conductor; George GershwinNew York, 1928. WikiIsrael Ira Gershowitz (1896-1983) and brother Jacob George (1898-1937) were born in New York. Their parents, Moishe and Rose from Odessa, at first changed their surname to Gershvin, then Gershwin. The parents had bought a piano…
13.8.2021
As a boy, Norman Swirsky was raised in relative poverty (dad was a musician) in a Jewish family living in Glasgow. When he was 10 years old, his dad changed the family's surname to Swan in a response to ongoing anti-Semitism in Scotland after WW2. Young Norman Swan wanted to be an actor growing up, but…
10.8.2021
What the ancient Olympic Flame lighting ceremony in Olympiamight have looked like, NBC SportsThe Olympic flame was born in an ancient Greek temple to honour Hera, queen of the gods. Her shrine was the home of the Olympic Games, a cypress-shaded site in Olympia where the first Games were held in 776 BC. The flame was carried across Greece to Athens, then…
6.8.2021
Hydra HarbourCharmian Clift (1923–69) was born & raised near Sydney while George Johnston (1912-70) was born & raised in Melbourne. They married in 1947 and soon were on the well-worn trek of young Australians to London. In 1951 Clift and Johnston left grey, post-war London for Greece. Settling first on the tiny island of Kalymnos…
The Hambledon Cricket Club played in Hampshire, until the club moved to Dorset Fields in Marylebone becoming Marylebone Cricket Club/MCC in 1787. The first match took place that year and by 1788, the club had published its first Code of Cricket Laws. Lord's pavilion, opened 1890Lord’s first cricket ground, owned by Marylebone Cricket Club, was named after…
For centuries, börek had been the food of nomads. Cooked over campfires, it had been carried in kits from Modena to the Maghreb or Barcelona. Though it got onto royal tables, it was a culinary witness to centuries of migration, conquest & displacement. Thank you Alexander Lee. Istanbul börekwith minced meatFew written documents survive from before the mid…
23.7.2021
We Can Do It! 1942by J Howard MillerNorman Rockwell Museum, Massc350,000 women joined U.S’s Armed Services, serving at home and abroad. As encouraged by Eleanor Roosevelt, and impressed by the British encouragement of women in service, Gen George Marshall supported the introduction of a women’s service branch into the Army. In May 1942 Congress instituted the Women’s Auxiliary Army…