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Spanish paradors - staying in luxury and historical accuracy.
In 1910 the Marquis de la Vega Inclán (1858-1942), close friend of King Alfonso XIII, was selected by the Spanish government to foster cultural tourism. In particular he was asked to create a hotel...
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Casa Verdi in Milan
Giuseppe Verdi born 1813 in Le Roncole near Parma, son of tavern-keepers. Then the family moved to Busseto where young Giuseppe had a normal high school education, along side his musical studies. He...
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Remembering the Boer War in South Africa
The Australian War Memorial tells of how, soon after its acquisition by Britain during the Napoleonic wars, the tip of Africa had been shared between British colonies and independent republics of Boers...
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My favourite film ever - Babette's Feast.
I was reading a discussion about the best film that a reviewer had seen and fully expected him to select Gone with the Wind (USA 1939) Citizen Kane (USA 1941), Casablanca (USA 1942), The Third Man (UK...
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Discovering World War One records for the first time in 2011.
Every historian in the universe wants to discover a treasure trove of written texts, photographs or objects that has never been seen before. Most historians never manage it.The small French village of...
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Edouard Manet and Eva Gonzalès in Paris
Eva Gonzalès (1849–1883) was born in Paris, the daughter of a cultivated Spanish writer and a cultivated Belgian musician. Her father, a naturalised Frenchman, ran a home that was buzzing with...
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Alcatraz: prison life on a very nasty rock
In San Francisco Bay the army built an island dock in the mid 19th century and constructed defensive positions. Several buildings had been added by the 1860s, when dozens of artillery pieces helped...
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Husband hunting in British India
My favourite area of history for reading and writing has always been social history, regarding marriage, child rearing, domestic architecture, education, men’s and women’s careers, collecting in the...
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Gustave Eiffel's Paris synagogue
Synagogue Tournelles is a Jewish house of worship built in the heart of Paris’ important Marais district (in the 4th arrondisement).main synagogue entrance in Rue de Tournellesarchitect: Marcellin...
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Napoleon, Nelson, Menzies ...and Newcastle, Australia
Leonard Joel Auctioneers in Melbourne provided this historical evidence, based on Royal Marines Historical Society records (see reference). The auction is on 19th May 2013.Charles A.F.N. Menzies...
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Dana International - best Eurovision performance ever!
The Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast every year since it started in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. Up to 600 million people across the globe watch...
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Investments in art and culture
Carla Passino wrote in Country Life (13th March 2013) about the Knight Frank’s Luxury Investment Index. Her conclusion is that passion-driven investments have significantly out-performed more...
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Social realist art and workers' rights - Noel Counihan
When my parents moved into a care-home earlier this year, they asked me to: take the art work from their walls, take the music and books from their bookshelves and sell everything else. I recognised...
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The Channel Islands - occupation, resistance and collaboration in WW2
Ace Cultural Tours is conducting a tour called THE CHANNEL ISLANDS: OCCUPATION & RESISTANCE in June 2013. Once part of the Duchy of Normandy, the islands stayed loyal to King John after his defeat...
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Melbourne (Aus) and Boston (USA) to amalgamate - re tourism
Melbourne’s international sister city relationship with Boston was established in 1985. As vibrant and learned cities, Melbourne and Boston are connected by a common commitment to excellence in...
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Matisse: art stolen (1987) then restored (2013)
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) lived in Paris where he was an active part of Montparnasse's thriving art world. He spent time in Morocco and Algeria before World War One broke out in 1914, but it wasn’t...
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Jewish museums - their locations and functions
Firstly I would like to consider some of the world's existing Jewish museums.The Jewish Museum of Vienna is a museum of Jewish history, life and religion in Austria, starting with the first settlements...
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London Bridge in the USA
The book London Bridge in America: The Tall Story of a Transatlantic Crossing was written by Travis Elborough and published by Jonathan Cape in Feb 2013. There are three separate themes in the book...
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Eugenia Falleni - a miscarriage of justice in Sydney
I read Mark Tedeschi’s book Eugenia Falleni: a true story of adversity, tragedy, crime and courage (published by Simon & Schuster, 2012) in two nights. The story is indeed tragic, but mesmerising...
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Detective Inspector Rebus, what does your name mean?
Detective Inspector John Rebus is the star of the excellent detective novels created by the Scottish writer Ian Rankin. Did the inspector ever realise what his surname meant?King’s College Cambridge...
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