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Staring Into The Face of Death

It’s not on display any more, but one of my favourite objects in The British Museum is Napoleon’s death mask. Death masks were often used in an era before photography was widespread and captured likenesses which were used in sculpting busts of the decased post mortem. John Constable’s is on display at the Royal Academy […]

Six Olympians From the Past

Despite the setbacks of happening in the middle of a global pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics of 2021 has already seen an impressive haul of medals for Team GB: as of current time of writing we have thirteen golds, sixteen silvers and thirteen bronze medals, placing as sixth overall out of two hundred and six nations. […]

The Top 6 Graves of Père-Lachaise

Here we go. Such has been my apprehension in attempting to write an entry about the most famous cemetery in the world that it’s taken me nearly a year to finally put my visit into words. How – how, dear reader – can you do justice to this place in one post? How can I convey […]

The Top 6 Graves of Chartreuse

Feminists, mummies and Death himself: Cimetrie de la Chartreuse is literally crammed with history and fascinating people Opening in 1791, it was built on the former gardens of a Carthusian monastery and is a literal suburb of the dead; many of Bordeaux’s great and good have been laid to rest here. I was supposed to […]

A Them-Days Jamie Oliver

Celebrity chefs are common-place nowadays – the likes of Gino Sheffield Di Campo, Ainsley Harriott and Jamie Oliver. But let’s turn back the clock and look at the very first ‘sleb cook whose grave is one of the most impressive funerary monuments in the country. A true story of love and devotion: one of the people […]

The ‘Crappest’ Actor

Beneath a plain stone in Kensal Green Cemetery lies the most remarkable actor to tread the boards of any stage. Orator, costume designer, eccentric – yet his grave is decidedly plain. Imagine you’ve just spent a decent amount of money to see (actor) in (show). You sit down with your Häagen-Dazs ice cream and programme; put […]

Normandy in Colour – A Photo Post

by Christina Cemeteries can be quite bleak, somber places. Understandable, given what they are and what they symbolise. When I think about war cemeteries, this is the sort of thing I imagine – somewhere quiet and bleak and sombre. Recently I went to Normandy with Dan and we visited Bayeux War Cemetery and the […]

Looking for the Mystery Saint of Montcuit

by Christina It’s Friday night and I’m home doing Internet research. It is infuriating because I can’t find what I’m looking for, and in this day and age, when does that ever happen anymore? Seriously – when was the last time you typed a search into Google and you just didn’t find a single thing? […]

A Lesson In Simplicity

Owing to a looming deadline for Sheldon’s tour-guiding studies, today’s entry is written by Ian Brentnall. Ian is a Choirmaster and Organist who has over thirty years experience of working with choirs and choral societies. He very kindly offered to write an entry detailing a recent visit he made to France where the legacy of […]

Normandy on D-Day and Other Stories

I spent D-Day 2013 in Normandy, and more specifically, in Bayeux and Arromanches; the latter staring out at Port Winston and Gold Beach, imagining what it must have been like that bloody, horrific day in 1944. The streets of the town are buoyant – full of American rock n roll music blasting out of the […]