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Squizzy Taylor, Australia's nastiest gangster?
Joseph Leslie Theodore Squizzy Taylor (1888-1927) was born in Melbourne, son of a coach-maker. Young Leslie tried to make a career as a jockey on the inner city pony circuit where he came to the...
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Tchaikovsky's great Russian music patron: Madame von Meck
In Women in C19th Russia told of the lives of women across Russia, from wealthy St Petersburg noble women to Siberian peasants, and their contribution to the arts. Rosslyn & Tosi showed how...
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Beautiful art objects: 18th century tobacco.
Polished English agate snuff box (above). with fine, 10-carat gold foliage, c17301st Dibs Smoking became normal at every level of British society consumed tobacco in greater quantities from the C17th...
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Titanic survivors who nonetheless suicided (PTSD)
TitanicCarpathiaThe Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden UK-USA trip. At midnight 15th Apr 1912 Cunard liner Carpathia received a message saying Titanic was sinking. Carpathia’s captain altered...
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Shimla town's amazing history: British then Indian
Vice Regal LodgeBy 1808 Gurkha invaders had conquered many of the fortified posts near Shimla/Simla and began their ruthless rule over neighbouring hill states, so the locals appealed for...
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Rugby Vs Australian Rules Footy Vs Soccer
Australia soccer team, 1922 playing against New Zealand, Wiki Why did Australia, with its relatively small population, perform so well at team sports?a] To create a distinct national identity in an...
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Dr Margaret James Barry - very clever, androgynous surgeon
Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Timeby Michael du Preez and Jeremy DronfieldMargaret Ann Bulkley's mother, Mary Ann Barry, married Jeremiah Bulkley in 1782 and Margaret was born in Co Cork...
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3 Union Stations serving New Haven 1848->
Union Station, New Haven CTMain entranceThe first Union Station in New Haven CT, a depot building designed by prominent local architect Henry Austin, opened to the public in 1848 by the New York-New...
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Royal penguins have fantastic fathers (Australia)
850,000 pairs of penguins during the breeding seasonDoug Gimesy, Weekend AustralianEver since holidaying in Phillip Island Victoria (see map below), I've loved Fairy Penguin colonies. They parade each...
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Innovative bollard art on Geelong's waterfront
Sail CaptainsozimageGeelong is Victoria’s second biggest city. The Financial Review (Feb 2014) wrote that the Ford Company was closing its...
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Daddy dearest cruelly lobotomised Rosemary Kennedy
Beautiful Rosemary KennedyIreland 1938, RedditRosemary Kennedy (1918-2005) was Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s first daughter. In Rosemary: Hidden Kennedy Daughter 2016, Kate Larson wrote when Rose...
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The Literary Club: Johnson and Boswell
Young handsome Boswell and more mature Johnson.Bagpipe NewsSamuel Johnson (1709-1784) was the son of a Staffordshire bookseller, a baby who appeared to have suffered neurological damage at birth....
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Sultan Süleyman 1520-66, military genius, patron of the arts and filicide
Süleyman (1494–1566)’s political career began in his teens as a provincial governor and a key participant in his father Selim I’s (r1512-20) rebellion securing dad the throne. But Suleyman was exposed...
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The world’s most beautiful cities - 2023
San FranciscoA 2023 survey by Travel + Leisure invited readers to vote on the world’s most beautiful cities. Recognising the answer is different for everyone, here is the by-no-means exhaustive list of...
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Royal Scotsman luxury train - fab food, whiskey, Highland scenery
Luxurious twin cabin on Royal Scotsman. The meat, seafood and whiskey are the highlights of this train trip, none of which I touch, so I cannot write my own report. So welcome to the Royal Scotsmanby...
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Why did Prince George Duke of Kent die in a shocking plane crash in 1942?
The four sons of King George, by Bertram ParkNational Portrait Gallery, 1931Prince George (1902-42) was born at York Cottage in Norfolk when his grandfather Edward VII was king. George was the fourth...
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ACE Cultural Tours 2023-4. Music, art, architecture, history
I am presenting this story of cultural tourism in response to peoples’ views about the world’s most beautiful cities. Where should people travel? Should they hire guides to help them with unknown...
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Adam Worth: American thief, British gent
The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, by Ben MacIntyre, 1998 Adam Worth (1844–1902) was born in Germany but taken to the USA as a little boy, settling in Cambridge Mass. Worth...
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Vincent van Gogh: art genius, mental health tragic.
The Museum Square in Amsterdam is the key place in the Dutch capital regarding art and culture, higlighting the Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum, the Concertgebouw and the Van Gogh Museum. van Gogh...
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Frida Kahlo's house museum, Mexico City
Australia is presenting a wonderful exhibition, Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution (Jun-Sep 2023) in South Australia’s Art Gallery from Jacques and Natasha Gelman's collection of Mexican...
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