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Category / Conversation Starters

The European Castles, Ruins and Unlikely Homes Opening their Gates to Refugees

Europe is filled with scores of enchanting abandoned and underused historic structures that have survived war and ageing. Only now, they’re offering shelter to those in immediate need: refugees. Cathedrals and churches, halls and barns have successfully sheltered armies, citizens and the sick in the past, surely the forgotten old wings of once-great castles and…

London’s Abandoned Eiffel Tower Replica

When a tower made of 7,500 tons of steel and iron was unveiled at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris, it was an immediate triumph, made even more victorious in light of the controversy which had surrounded the Eiffel Tower prior to its opening. Protesters had argued to “imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris…

The American Art Scene was a Man’s World, Until They Came Along

When Francoise Gilot split from Picasso, he prevented galleries from buying her work. Camille Claudel’s lover, Augustin Rodin, signed a number of her sculptures as his own, and after their romance ended badly, it’s rumored he told the Ministry of Fine Arts to stop commissioning her. If you walk through any museum, you’ll often see…

Petition to Teach Kids about the Mad Adventures of Nellie Bly in History Class

When Nellie Bly got bored of writing about fashion and gardening, she went undercover as a patient in a mental asylum and faked insanity to expose the institutional abuse. When she read Jules Verne’s book Around the world in 80 Days, she attempted the fictional journey herself, and did it in 72 days, 6 hours,…

Art History’s Hidden Sexual Innuendo: The Weasel

Elevated to divine status, unicorns, lions, eagles and the occasional white rabbit are the loved and familiar characters in our romantic bestiaries, but the little weasel has never managed to secure such a position. Always wild, always wayward, it was the ideal material for folklore and fable. Early Macedonian culture saw them as a good…

A Brief Guide and History of Travelling Experimentally

When you next leave the house, turn right. Then turn left. Then right again, followed by another left. And by Jove, I think you’ve got it! Do this until you’re blocked by an obstacle, whether that’s a dead-end, a river, or a sheer drop. Congratulations, you’ve just completed your first act of travelling experimentally. Alternating…

That Time Reality TV made a Real-Life Lord of the Flies

One of the most popular questions in ethics is what would happen in a real Lord of the Flies in which a group of children were left to fend for themselves. In 2007, one reality TV show decided to find out, letting 40 kids loose on a movie ranch set with no adult supervision —…

10 Reasons to Visit the Only Country Where North Koreans Can Take a Permanent Vacation

When I first began researching Kyrgyzstan, a country I’d honestly never heard of, bordering China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, I thought I was going to be discovering a mini North Korea. For Kyrgyzstan is the only country in the world where North Korean citizens can stay for an unlimited amount of time (if they can manage to get past…

The Forgotten Elephant of the Moulin Rouge Garden Party

It turns out that Nicole Kidman’s fantastical elephant boudoir in Baz Luhrman’s 2001 motion picture, Moulin Rouge, was not a just a Hollywood embellishment added to the iconic cabaret, but in fact, a very real fixture of the Belle Epoque establishment, forgotten in the archives of Parisian history. I found the uncaptioned black and white image, floating around on a Pinterest board…
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Mum & Dad named me Vanessa, but you can call me Nessy.

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