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Angkor Wat: Hindu/Buddhist cultural site
aerial view of Angkor Wattotally surrounded by wallWhen the Khmer Empire came to power, Hinduism became the official religion. Angkor in Northern Cambodia...
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Kate Cranston, Charles Mackintosh Glasgow
Ladderback chairs designed in 1903 by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) for Glasgow Willow Tea-rooms came on the London market in 2014, and put me in mind of Glasgow businesswoman Kate...
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James Tissot's art. Thanks San Francisco
Tissot, Bad News/The Parting, 1872, 69x91 cm. National Museum Cardiff Jacques Tissot (1836-1902) fought in the Franco-Prussian War to defend Paris, as part of the Paris Commune. His 1870 art evoked the...
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Arthur Streeton's landscapes: 1930s.
Geelong lad Arthur Streeton (1867-1943) studied at the National Gallery School of Art in Melbourne from 1884-7. In summer 1886 he painted with Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts in Mentone. In 1887 he...
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Melbourne's amazing Chinatown
The discovery of gold in 1851 attracted Chinese immigration to Victoria. Ships sailed to Australia from Hong Kong with their cargo of men who had come in search of the new gold fields. From 1853-5,...
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Lisbon's beautiful palace - Ajuda
When the old royal residence in what is now Praça do Comércio on Lisbon's waterfront was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755, the Portuguese king decided that it was safer to live on a hill. The chosen...
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Community book libraries - brilliant
Street Libraries are homes for books, planted in families’ front yard. They are accessible from the street, and are an invitation to share the joys of reading with neighbours. Street Libraries’ books...
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Nazi symbols at White Hart Lane 1935
English and German fans crowd outside the turnstilesWhite Hart Lane, 1935History TodayDespite the War To End All Wars/WW1 and despite tension rising between the countries, Britain maintained strong...
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Medici Portraits & Politics exhibition, in N.Y
The Medici: Portraits and Politics 1512–1570 exhibition was at Metropolitan NY in 2021. The catalogue by the same name explored how the artists endowed their works with a clearly stylish...
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Lise Meitner - a great female scientist .. guest post
Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was the Vienna-born daughter of a large Jewish family. Because girls weren’t allowed tertiary education, the family gave Lise a private tutor at 14. She entered the Uni of...
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Paul Simon's Mother and Child Reunion
Mother and Child Reunion is a song by Paul Simon on his 1972 album. It was released as a single, reaching #4 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the Weekly charts, the song reached a peak position...
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Stradivarius' Italian violins, greatest ever
Violins built by Italian master luthier/stringed instrument maker Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) have a special mystique in the classical music world. Antonio established a shop in Cremona where...
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Jaipur, India's pink World Heritage City
Construction on India’s magnificent Amber Fort began in 1592 by Maharaja Man Singh, a commander in the army of the Mughal emperor Akbar. It was built so the Mughal ruler could spread his power to...
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Shakshuka for luscious Sunday brunch
Shakshuka may have come from Africa’s Maghreb, the regions of North Africa along the Mediterranean Sea. Plus note that the word meaning shaken comes from the Tunisian dialect. An alternative history is...
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Beautiful StKilda, then less so: 1841-99.
StKilda once celebrated its reputation as a centre of privilege and taste, the wealthiest suburb in C19th Melbourne. Although spouse and I lived in StKilda from 1976 on, I knew nothing of this cool...
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Indian Pacific tourist train across Australia
The first Indian Pacific, a great transcontinental rail adventure, first left Sydney for Perth in 1970. Thousands of well-wishers gathered a few days later to welcome its safe arrival in Perth,...
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Huguenot silver: Paul de Lamarie 1730s
The first London coffee house was opened in 1652 by Pasqua Roseé, a member the English Levant Co. that traded with Turkey. In Smyrna-Izmir, he found a taste for the dark stimulant drink. With time,...
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famous Irina Antonova: Pushkin Museum
Irina Antonova (1922-2020) was born in working-class Moscow. Dad Alexander Antonov trained as an electrician, and was an early member of the Bolshevik party from 1906. Her Lithuanian mother, Ida...
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The Armenian Genocide: 1915–16
The Kingdom of Armeniaadopted Christianity as its national religion in the C4th, loyal to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Armenian Christians were just one of many ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire....
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King James VI ridding Scotland of witches.
The evidence. A witch kissed the arse of the DevilWitch-hunting plagued Europe, as soon as the idea that witches worshipped the devil took hold. Read an excellent book, Scottish Witches and...
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