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Independence Museum in Tel Aviv
The Romans destroyed the Jewish state in 70 AD, razed the Temple and sent the government into exile.In May 1948 prime minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the re-establishment of the Jewish state in...
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Le Train Bleu in Paris - a VERY glamorous railway station restaurant
After the Orient Express had already started operations, the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits created its second luxury train. In order to serve wealthy, sun-deprived British customers,...
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Spanish Colonial Vs American Indian culture in Santa Fe
My students are always fascinated by the Golden Age of Spanish art and architecture; there was a powerful religious element that grew in importance with the Counter-Reformation and soon spread to...
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Princess Sophia of Hanover, Queen of Britain?
Queen Mary II (d1694) had no children but her sister Anne (1665–1714), who inherited the throne after Mary died, was pregnant most years of her married life. Just one of these 18 live births survived...
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1949 New York State - anti-black, anti-Jewish and anti-Soviet riots
Peekskill is in Westchester County New York. The town is on a bay alongside the Hudson River, not the sort of place I, a non American, would have selected for a pro-right wing, anti-black riot. But the...
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"The Lunchbox" - two lonely Indian souls meet over a packed hot lunch.
Some critics have called the 2013 film “The Lunchbox” a romantic comedy, but I am not sure that there was much normal romance.. nor was it intentionally comic. Nonetheless I loved the film, which was...
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French art nouveau architecture in London: Michelin House 1911
Michelin Tyre Company started operating in Clermont-Ferrand in France in 1889. Art Nouveau architects perfected their style during the 1890—1910 years. Exactly in that era, in 1894, Monsieur Bibendum...
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British children evacuated overseas in 1940-41
Under the Empire Settlement Act of 1922 and 1937, the British Government formally assisted private organisations to help people who wanted to settle in His Majesty’s Overseas Dominions. Most were...
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Literary visitor to Australian shores: Anthony Trollope
In this blog I've been interested in many famous citizens who made the long and dangerous trip to Australia by ship. In 1836 Charles Darwin visited Australia and wrote up the experience. Lola Montez...
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Arts and Crafts, De Stijl and Bauhaus - chair design
I know a great deal about Arts and Crafts and a great deal about Bauhaus but nothing about De Stijl. This is strange.. since all three movements were European, and all three were late 19th century or...
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Brisbane 1919 - racist red flag riots
This history comes from: The red flag riots: a study of intolerance by Raymond Evans, Riot Acts: The History of Australian Rioting by David Lowe, the SBS television programme Remembering Brisbane's...
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A sterling silver dinner-set fit for a maharaja
One of the questions I was asking in Maharaja splendour in Canada was how many Princely States were there in India and how wealthy/influential were the maharajas. Wiki estimated that the number ranged...
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Leipzig - music centre of the world?
Joe and I were staying in Berlin itself for a week, but that only left seven extra days for Dresden, Meissen, Leipzig and Dessau. The additional tours, therefore, had to be professionally organised...
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Did Australian literary giants lurch to the right, from 1936 on?
Stella Miles Franklin (1879-1954) was an Australian writer and feminist who believed that Australians should be entitled to read their own literature. Thus she is always one of the first and most...
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rhinoceros horn - exotic and very expensive antiques
The history of walking sticks comes from 18th and 19th Century blog and from The World of the Walking Stick. Many thanks.When swords fell out of fashion, canes were substituted, held to the outfit by a...
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Australian War Memorial in Canberra - remembering WW1
The Australian War Memorial in Canberra tells us that since the opening of the Memorial in 1941, the First World War Galleries have undergone several major changes. The modernised galleries now occupy...
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Felix Nussbaum Haus and surviving paintings, 1935-44
Yad Vashem showed that the artist Felix Nussbaum (1904-44) was born in Osnabrueck, north of Dortmund. His father had been a very patriotic German citizen who fought in WW1. Young Felix travelled with a...
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In honour of my late mother: the Courage to Care Programme
My beautiful mother Thelma Webberley passed away a week ago. Her professional life was in journalism, and her private passions were classical music, European and Australian literature, overseas travel,...
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Why execute a middle aged nurse, a Christian woman of healing? Edith Cavell.
Edith Cavell (1865-1915) was the daughter of a parson in Norfolk. After inheriting some money in 1895, she spent several weeks touring Austria and Bavaria and accidentally discovered a free hospital...
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Elegant Shopping IV: London's Royal Exchange
I visited the Royal Exchange building in the City of London and it reminded me of the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney: a large number of classy shops under one roof. But the dates of the two...
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