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Quaker chocolate companies, workers' rights and quality housing
I recommend the book Bitter Chocolate: Investigating The Dark Side Of The World's Most Seductive Sweet by Carol Off. She says that when Cortes invaded Mexico he found the elite of the Montezuma court...
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Enver Hoxha, leader of Albania. Enver who? Where?
My theory about dictators is that they grew up as ugly, poorly educated, untravelled and impoverished men who grabbed power illegally and held on for the rest of their miserable lives. But Enver...
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Scandinavian Crime Wave - in novels, tv and cinema
I had never sought out fictional crime writing from Scandinavia. Instead I typically focused on crime novels coming from Britain in general, and Scotland in particular. But the emergence of Nordic...
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Han van Meegeren, successful Vermeer faker
Dutchman Han van Meegeren (1889 –1947) was born in Deventer and developed an interest in painting at a young age. He wasn’t supported in his dream to become an artist by his father, who banned painting...
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Rare Australian Colonial architecture in Melbourne
Convict architect Francis Greenway left valuable gems of Australian Colonial architecture in Sydney that emphasised the power and authority of Australia's colonial masters. Thus his Colonial Period of...
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The Radetzky March, Johann Strauss I and the Austrian army
I know the Radetzky March and can hum along with the best of Strauss fans. See it performed by the Vienna Philharmonic in 2011. The composer Johann Strauss I had left Vienna in 1833 on the first of his...
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The People vs Fritz Bauer - an excellent film
I saw the wonderful film Der Staat Gegen Fritz Bauer/The People vs. Fritz Bauer at the 2016 Jewish International Film Festival in Melbourne. The festival programme gave the following synopsis:“Germany,...
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Robin Boyd's houses in post-WW2 Australia: small, equitable, world changing
My father was demobilised in Dec 1945 and returned to Melbourne without any savings. Unable to buy a house of their own, my parents postponed having babies, lived with my grandparents and then rented a...
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Italy has the best coffee shops in the world!
Coffeehouses were already popular in Constantinople by 1550. And by 1632 there were 1,000 public coffee houses in Cairo. In 1645 coffee-drinking was already known in southern Italy. From Italy, coffee...
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the terrible story of The Halifax Catastrophe - Dec 1917
Halifax was first established as a fortified settlement by the English in 1749, and expanded to become the capital of Nova Scotia by 1900. It served as a garrison city for the armies of the British...
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Greenwich Village in New York - art, literature, progressive politics
Once a rural hamlet on the edge of New York, Groenwijck was a Dutch neighbourhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan, later renamed as Greenwich Village. Thanks to Parnassus and Ephemeral New...
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Cecil Beaton: terrible snob, wonderful art photographer
Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) was born in London and received his first camera at 11. He studied history, art and architecture at St John's College Cambridge, and continued as a keen amateur photographer...
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Judges and barristers: big wigs
The tradition of court dress in England was first documented in the reign of King Edward III (1327-77). At the time, a long robe, cowl and cloak became standard dress for attending the royal court. The...
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Frank Vitkovic, angry schizophrenic loser loner! Let's give him a gun!!...
Frank Vitkovic (1965-1987) was a 22 year old Australian man. He was born to a Croatian father and an Italian mother, and grew up in West Preston, one of Melbourne’s proud working class suburbs. He...
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Silent Night, Holy Night - sung in the WW1 trenches Christmas Eve 1914
It was 24th Dec 1818 in the small Austrian village of Oberndorf near Salzburg in Austria, just hours before Christmas mass. The local pastor, Joseph Mohr’s (1792–1848) musical plans for the evening...
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Theda Bara - talented actress or sexually provocative vamp?
Theodosia Goodman aka Theda Bara (1885-1950s) was born in Ohio, one of three children of a Cincinnati tailor. As a teenager Theda was interested in the theatrical arts and once she (perhaps) graduated...
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Kolmanskop Namibia - wealthy town to ghost town
German South West Africa/later Namibia was claimed by Otto von Bismarck in 1884 for Germany. German citizens were starting to move to the distant colony in the 1890s and into the Edwardian decade.I...
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A very fine Chinese and Jewish museum in Memphis Tn - guest post
My son was in Memphis Tennessee on business. He was surprised and delighted to see that Memphis now tops the list of American cities with Melbourne's iconic old green trams! The Tennessee city was...
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Wannsee Conference (1942) in a beautiful Berlin villa
History of the Wannsee Villa homepage says that the beautiful home was first built in SW Berlin in 1914-15. The original owners of the home, merchant-factory owner Ernst Marlier and his wife Margarete,...
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New art exhibitions in Europe, USA and Australia, starting Jan 2017
I only get to enjoy one overseas excursion a year, so I am paying very close attention to Christopher Allen’s Caravaggio and beyond: exhibitions in US, Europe, Australia. Allen wrote that this has been...
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