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Leonardo da Vinci: polymath for the ages
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance, a highly-skilled architect, draughtsman, engineer, painter, scientist, sculptor, and theorist. Although he initially acquired fame as a painter, he later became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a wide range of topics, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and…...
Randy Andy and the Dungeon of Crumpet
Although he later became a helicopter pilot, Prince Andrew in his youth was never able to fly below the radar of the British tabloids because he was such an obvious target. Before getting married, he was relentlessly tracked by the paparazzi for the sheer number and diversity of his dates – college girls, actresses, models,…...
Jackie Collins: wild child does Hollywood
Although her sister Joan achieved fame first, Jackie Collins found her own path and ultimately worked her niche as romance novelist to achieve blockbuster status. Along the way, many of her highly popular novels, eg, The Stud, The Bitch, Hollywood Wives, and many more, were made into movies and TV series, for most of which…...
Halston: the birth of urban chic
When the biopic series on American fashion designer Roy Halston appeared on Netflix, it presented the ideal binge-watching experience – urbane, provocative, and poignant but over all too soon – like a wild weekend whose escapades linger on in the memory. Halston was an interesting subject for such a series, being one of the…...
Paul Gauguin: painter in paradise
Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French post-Impressionist artist, unappreciated until after his death, now recognized for his style and experimental use of color. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer. His work influenced French avant-garde artists such as…...
Kala Sarpa and the Beatles
Although the Kala Sarpa pattern appears in only one out of eight horoscopes, or 12.5% of the general population, it turns up with surprising frequency among the Beatles and their immediate entourage. Not only do Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have Kala Sarpa horoscopes, but so too did manager Brian Epstein, producer George Martin, and…...
Ricardo Ramirez, the Night Stalker
Throughout the spring and summer of 1985, a lone killer terrorized Los Angeles. People bought guns and double-locked their doors and windows at night. The frightening thing about the murders was that they were all over the map, not only vis-à-vis district, but in terms of their victimology. They were random and opportunistic, seemingly without…...
Phil Spector: unhinged melody maker
Many famous people employ a bodyguard to protect them from the public. But in the case of legendary “Wall of Sound” music producer Phil Spector, the bodyguard was usually there to protect the public from Phil. Spector was licensed to carry a handgun, and often had one on hand. During the mid-70s, while recording John…...
Kanye & Kim: last train to Splitsville
“I still think I am the greatest,” Kanye West once said. In this respect, at least, his ego shared the same heights as Donald Trump’s. But as events this month have revealed, we see how the myth of Icarus can play out in different ways for different people. For Trump, it was hubris that got…...
Grandmasters of Chess
Given the recent popularity of The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, people in the Covid era may soon be searching their closets for that chess set they haven’t touched since university years. After all, who isn’t piqued by a 1500-year-old game whose basic rules are easy to learn, yet whose complexity is such that it took…...