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Category / People / Icons / Muses

Abdul, the Servant who stole Queen Victoria’s Heart

The British monarchy has been known to be better than the KGB at covering up its scandals and destroying evidence. But where there are secrets, there are detectives lurking nearby (especially when it comes to the affairs of the royal family). Queen Victoria’s kids did their best to cover up her private life, especially the relationship…

Inside Le Monocle, the Parisian Lesbian Nightclub of the 1930s

If you were to hang around Montmartre after sundown in the 1920s & 30s, it’s likely you were looking for something a little more Avant-Garde than what you might find on the Parisian Left Bank. At the time, it was a haven for struggling artists, bohemians, burlesque dancers, straying husbands as well as a vibrant gay & lesbian community. In Montmartre, they…

How a 1960’s Band of Outsiders Wanted Us to Experience Paris

What if there were walkways over the Paris rooftops, if the metro was open after midnight for pedestrians to navigate by foot, and if all museums were abolished and their masterpieces displayed in restaurants and bars? These were actual proposals put forward by the Situationist International, a playful group formed in 1950s which comprised mainly…

Did Jayne Mansfield Fake her Own Shipwreck?

One of Hollywood’s favourite sex symbols of the 20th century, Jayne Mansfield was as notorious for her publicity stunts as she was for her provocative presence on-screen. But in 1962, things got a little more dramatic when the actress was reported lost at sea, feared drowned after her boat capsized in the Bahamas. The ordeal quickly reached…

The French Fartist who Headlined at the Moulin Rouge

I can imagine the Moulin Rouge had some pretty exotic acts in its heyday, but entertaining an audience with rhythmic flatulence? Surely our ancestors had a little more class! Meet Joseph Pujol, professional fartist and one of the most popular and highly paid stage performers in Europe prior to World War I. Posters all over Paris billed…

One of Canada’s Biggest Tourist Attractions Was a Set of Quintuplets

When Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie and Marie Dionne were born in a rural Ontario house with no running water or electricity in 1934, no one expected them to survive. They were two months premature and at a combined 14 pounds, were each small enough to fit in one hand. But with the help of neighbors…

Rolling with Raquel

Once upon a time, Raquel Welch made a movie about roller derby. Was it an excuse to get in her in a pair of hot pants and tube socks? Let’s just say it didn’t win any oscars, but Raquel insisted the 1972 movie she co-produced was less about her looking like a sex symbol and…

Elvis Presley’s Abandoned Tiki Paradise

The moment Elvis Presley floated down the lagoon at the Coco Palms Resort with Hawaiian flowers around his neck, serenading his new island bride in 1960s panavision technicolor, the hotel had solidified its place as one of the most desirable couples’ destinations on the planet. It would forever be the setting of the classic mid-century…

Forgotten Glamour at Mermaid City

Girls would come from as far as Tokyo to audition for the chance to be a Weeki Wachee mermaid in the 1960s. They performed to sold-out crowds; half a million people a year came to watch their dazzling underwater shows, including the King himself, Elvis Presley. They took etiquette and ballet lessons and they were treated…

A Real-Life Wes Anderson Character

Meet Ashrita Furman. If he isn’t a real-life inspiration for a Wes Anderson character, well I don’t know who is. He was a kid who could have gone to any Ivy league college and had any job he wanted, but instead, Ashrita chose to dedicate his life to breaking records. Oh, and to being happy. Watch…

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