Tag: History

Journalist

William Smith (1769-1839)

William Smith: Fame after Shame

Bankruptcy and jail by Anton Foek Amsterdam, October 21st 2021– The story of William Smith is simply fascinating: the orphaned son of an English country blacksmith, who became obsessed with creating the world’s first geological map and ultimately became the father of modern geology.  Craters on Mars named after him as well as an annual lecture of the…
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Hotel La Lousiane Paris

Eternal Centre of the World

Paris: Hotel La Louisiane Part I By Jacinthe Gigou Amsterdam, 30 September 2021 — The list of famous and perhaps not so famous moviestars, theatre personalities, national and international artists, painters, writers and the like, who have spent the nights there, is almost endlessly long.  But next week, beginning October 2021, the Hotel La Louisiane, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, will…
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Aukus Agreement submarine

Humiliation To The Bone

Business as Usual At What Price Part I of II by Yanis Varoufakis edited by Anton Foek Amsterdam, September 26th 2021– Former U.S. president, Donald Trump, humiliated the European Union by annulling the Iran nuclear deal.  And now the current president, Joe Biden, has done so too, by announcing the new AUKUS agreement with Australia…
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Archi Mali timbuktu People climbing

The Timbuktu Storyteller

Centre of the world Part II by Anthony Ham Amsterdam, September 12th 2021—Ag Mohamed Ali initiated travellers into Timbuktu’s secrets. He took them to the private family libraries that still held manuscripts from Timbuktu’s golden age – biographies of the Prophet Muhammad on pages of gold leaf and scientific treatises from the great Islamic scholars of…
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Painstaking Art of Watchmaking

The painstaking art of watchmaking

From antique pocket watches to limited-edition luxury timepieces, watch the video to see how a small Swiss town became a centre for astounding craftsmanship and precision. I think with mechanical watchmaking, it’s more of an art,” says Michel Nydegger of luxury watchmaking company Greubel Forsey. “There is an interaction with your timepiece… it’s not just…
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Russian Watch Collectors

Cold War time: The mysterious world of Soviet watch collectors

Source: CNN With pseudonyms like the The Bastard, The Broker, The Astronaut and The Vampire, they’ve banded together deep inside the world of Soviet-era watch collecting. This cabal of watch aficionados spans the globe, albeit in cyberspace, bringing history to the wrists of thousands with timepieces dating back to the days of Stalin. Dashiell Oatman-Stanford…
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Henri Matisse Chapel Vence

Henri Matisse: The teacher

The Chapel in Vence AF Amsterdam, August 14, 2021–Don’t beat around the bush and we’re certainly not going to lie to each other, but when we visit the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, near Nice on the Riviera in  Southern France, it’s not necessarily out of love for sacred art.  It is rather and…
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Zanh Xielin Ping Pong

Ping Pong diplomacy the Road To Peace

Fifty Years ago Ammsterdam, Agust 4th 2021– It was 50 years ago but Zhang Xielin still remembers vividly how a shaggy-haired American table tennis player stepped onto the Chinese team’s bus, a chance encounter which would shape history. It was the world championships in Nagoya, Japan, and Glenn Cowan mistakenly hopped in with Zhang and…
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Bertrand Russell 1957

Bertrand Russell: His Philosophy

From Mathematics to Philosophy Romney Wheeler interviews British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic Bertrand Russell at Russell’s home in Surrey, England. Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (b. May 18, 1872 at Trellech, Monmouthshire, Wales; † February 2, 1970 at Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd, Wales) was a British philosopher, mathematician, religious critic, and logician.…
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British art history

Grand mural projects by Jeremy Musson Amsterdam, 23 July 2021–In her book, Lydia Hamlett unpacks the literary, cultural and political significance of “the animated wall” Mural paintings are some of the most ambitious works of art commissioned by British patrons during the 17th and early 18th centuries. From Rubens’ work at Banqueting House, Whitehall, to…
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