Month: February 2018
King Louis XIV of France clocked almost as many hours on Ballet as a professional ballet dancer. He performed 80 roles in 40 major ballets. A ballet myth goes …
The Word of the day is qualtagh- the first person you meet after you leave the house. No Splay-footed here To ensure luck, a qualtagh should be a dark-haired …
The Suffragettes had a secret Bodyguard Society trained in martial arts. Bartitsu or Suffrajitsu was an eccentric ‘mixed martial art‘ combining boxing, jiu-jitsu, kicking, and walking sticks. (It’s quite …
A castle on Central Park West was the country’s first Cancer hospital. The building’s fairytale-like appearance, it turns out, wasn’t unusual for hospitals of the time. Many were …
The long, strange history of Groundhog Day has witches, magical elixirs, and a suicidal groundhog. Groundhogs, including the famous Punxsutawney Phil, Fred la Marmotte (Quebec) and Poor Richard (York, PA), …
There’s a story that Victor Hugo wrote naked to force himself to be productive. The author of Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame had his servant take all …
Legend has it when the US acquired Alaska they got the tasty ice cream dessert Baked Alaska as a fringe benefit. How did the dish known as “Norwegian omelet” …
