The Literary Lion Of Tulsa

For nearly half a century, Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko has been “a piercing voice of conscience, sometimes bitterly angry, other times overflowing with enthusiasm and hope. Many Americans see him as part Walt Whitman and part Bob Dylan; Russians know him as a wildly popular poet who embodies their country’s spirit and has often screamed truths that others feared to whisper. His fame has spread far beyond his homeland, and today he is among the world’s most widely admired living writers.” And now he’s in Tulsa…

A Home For Frankenstein

The Bodleian Library got a £3 million gift from the National Heritage memorial fund to save a trove of Mary Shelley’s papers in one place – and save the original manuscript of a Gothic classic. The award is to be used towards the purchase of a collection known as the Abinger papers, until now in private hands.

Let’s Don’t God Save The Queen!

David Blunkett is a sportswriter who has had to endure more singing of England’s national anthem than anyone ought to have to, he writes. What a sad little tune, without much redeeming value. “God Save The Queen offers neither entertainment nor cultural commentary… it stubbornly refuses to transcend the 18th-century stolidity of its four-square rhythms and trite melody.” Maybe it’s time for a competition for a new national song?

Two Rembrandts Stolen

Two Rembrandt etchings were stolen from a home in Melbourne last week. “Police said the etchings were taken along with their certificates of authenticity during a break-in at the family home. One of the etchings depicts a self portrait of the artist and the other a portrait of Rembrandt’s mother.”