Listening to the Revolutions podcast right now. They just did an episode on the murder of Rasputin. Apparently, he was never poisoned. The person responsible neglected to actually poison the food. But he did survive at least one serious gunshot wound and almost escaped before they shot him some more.
Why is Marilyn Monroe on so many lists. She wasn't that good an actress. Is she on so many lists simply because she oozed sex, maybe had an affair with JFK and died tragically? Are those reasons to make it on a these lists?
Just a little comment about Charles Darwin's photograph. This is the usual photo of Darwin and it is a pity because he was a very energetic young man. To read 'The Voyage of the Beagle' is to realise what a terrific character he was.
Baltimorean I understand that some historians now doubt the aristocrats' story about how difficult to kill Rasputin. Possibly to help rationalise his huge influence with the imperial family.
amusingly enough, I thought that De Gualle, a leader of the Free French, was Petain, the leader of the Vichy state, who was propped up by the Nazis while De Gualle fought them.
I get that not everybody has to know what De Gaulle or Pétain looked like, but if you saw pictures of them side-by-side, they actually look very different - mainly because De Gaulle has a very recognisable weird head shape, while Pétain looks more like a run-of-the-mill old-timey soldier.
"Fun" fact: did you know that there is a plaque commemorating Pétain, an enthusiastic Nazi collaborator, on Broadway, in the section nicknamed the "Canyon of Heroes"? French me stumbled upon it by accident when I visited NYC in 2008, and I couldn't believe it.
I read books all the time, but I'll admit I've never read one by Hemingway. As it happens, I've taken this quiz several times and I still haven't managed to guess him correctly.
Yeah, just because you've read a book by an author doesn't necessarily mean you know what that author looks like. Like, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books, but I couldn't pick Harper Lee out of a lineup with a gun to my head.
He was the only one I got wrong, but I have several of his books. None of them have his picture on them anywhere. I think this is the first time I've ever seen a picture of him.
By that logic, there are a lot of trumpet playing communists on this site as most people got Mao and Louis Armstrong. Books rarely show pictures of the author - I wouldn't have a clue what Orwell, Steinbeck or Fitzgerald looked like and the only reason I got Hemingway was because I saw a travel program about the Florida Keys and there was a Hemingway lookalike competition taking place
For Hemingway, I just started thinking of old poets and writers, because he has that look to him. My first thought was Walt Whitman with a shorter beard.
Most pictures I have seen of Sir Isaac Newton depict him as a feeble old man or passed out on the lawn under a tree with an apple near the bump on his head.
Lol, and that's a bad thing why?
Also Jan Pawel II because he was polish
I refuse to name that woman who was British PM 1979-90