Category: people

“The Paris prosecutor’s office said the suspect, who allegedly shouted “Allahu akbar!” while rushing toward the soldiers and was shot four times after slightly injuring one, remained silent during the interview and will remain in custody.”

“When one of them enjoys a coup or some kind of breakthrough, you feel the other man brood and take stock: how did he do that? It is not about admiration expressed through gritted teeth – there seems a genuine urge to absorb the other’s example, and then adapt it.”

After the German occupation of Austria, Hautzig knew he needed to get out. “Responding to an advertisement in a Jewish newspaper, he arrived at a Vienna hotel at 8 a.m. to audition for Emil Hauser, director of the Jerusalem Conservatory and a founder of the Budapest String Quartet. Mr. Hauser was not just offering fellowships; he was also offering exit visas.”

According to her latest director, Bening hates self-promotion. Mike Mills: “She doesn’t want to talk about herself, her work or anything – it all makes her queasy. She wants the work to be its own mystery so you have your own relationship with it.”

Wow: “It was there, amid the alkali flats, whistling winds and triple-digit heat of the Mojave Desert, that Ms. Becket and her husband resettled and built the Amargosa Opera House, where she performed her ballets and pantomimes for the next 40 years. Ms. Becket turned the Amargosa into a cultural institution in a desolate area, an attraction to tourists, ranchers, farmers and even prostitutes from a local bordello.”

Ashton was an art historian and thinker who didn’t simply observe. “She recorded the scene, and she inhabited it. She made a point of visiting artists in their studios, drinking with them at their favorite haunts and talking philosophy and aesthetics into the wee hours in downtown cafes.”

While he had successful stints at most of London’s broadsheet newspapers, Chancellor was best known for turning The Spectator from a tired old Tory weekly into a lively magazine he once described as “more of a cocktail party than a political party.”

“The attacker, who police say shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the assault, was seriously wounded after another soldier fired at him five times. A second man, who was reportedly acting suspiciously at the scene, has been detained.  The Louvre has been closed “until further notice” and a safety zone has been set up around the museum.

“The annual awards for best science fiction are called ‘Hugos.’ A futuristic story by William Gibson in 1981 was called ‘The Gernsback Continuum.’ But except for a few markers like these, Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967) has mostly vanished from our cultural memory, which is a pity, because he was an extraordinary man, and his influence on our modern age – electrical, science-permeated, and full of wonders – was outsized.”

“The singer is known as the forces’ sweetheart for entertaining troops during World War Two to boost morale. Dame Vera – 100 in March – currently holds the record for being the oldest living artist to get a top 20 UK album.”