 |
| Hermine Speier in the Palazzo Apostolico |
Hermine Speier (1898 to 1989)
In 1934, Hermine Speier became the first female employee in the Vatican in the modern sense of employee with a salary and a pension plan. She wasn’t a nun, and more surprisingly, she wasn’t even Catholic.
Indian President Prathibha Patil on State Visit to Switzerland
Indian President Prathibha Patil has been on a two days state visit in Switzerland. She started the official program of her visit in Bern (seat of the Swiss federal government) and continued through Lausanne to Geneva from where she left for a state visit to Austria.
 |
| Prathibha Patil and Micheline Calmy-Rey |
Pity the Middleton Family
Many might think that having a Royal Duchess as a daughter must be like a dream come true. The reality is far from that. That being related to a member of the Royal Family resembles more to a nightmare is mainly due to the press and the media.
 |
| Carole Middleton |
Polanski Prize for Paedophiles
Roman Polanski will return to Zurich to receive a prize for his life work. While the pedophile filmmaker will be holding court to lap up public adulation from fellow pedophiles, Switzerland is powerless to hinder him due to a malfunction in the American legal system.
 |
| Roman Polanski, pedophile film director |
Dr James Barry, Transvestite Surgeon
Dr James Barry studied at Edinburgh and qualified with a Medical Doctorate. He entered the army and had a sterling career there. But not all things were as they seemed at the time. Who was Dr James Barry?
 |
| Dr James Barry and servant |
Skywalker Freddy Nock Skips a Rope Record
Circus artist Freddy Nock had to break off his latest attempt at a further world record on the rope. The planned record should have been completed in Bern by driving a bicycle over a tight rope 150 m (492 ft) in length and 50 m (164 ft) from the ground. The disappointment was obviously great.
 |
| Freddy Nock |
James Greenwood Started Investigative Journalism
James Greenwood started out as a printer. Later, he began writing adventure tales before entering journalism. As a journalist, he was the first to go undercover and to invent investigative journalism in the process. His subsequent writing was nothing short of revolutionary.
 |
| James Greenwood |
Skywalker Freddy Nock Knocks Down Another World Record
Circus artist Freddy Nock did it again. Only two days after completing a Guinness worthy world record on the Zugspitze in Germany, he completed another world record attempt successfully on the Feuerkogel Mountain in Austria, this time on a slack rope with a steady incline.
 |
| Freddy Nock, circus artist |
The Real Skywalker: Freddy Nock
Fancy a little walk? How about doing it on the cable of a cable car in the Alps with 150 meters (500 ft) of air between you and the ground? How about doing it over a kilometer, a mile, or more? That’s what a real Skywalker does for a living and currently to set some records.
 |
| Freddy Nock, circus artist |
Sherlock Holmes and the Fairies
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is remembered for his stories of Sherlock Holmes and the Lost World. A new biography tries to reconcile these seemingly highly logical writings with his unshakeable belief in fairies and the supernatural.
 |
| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle skiing |
Michael Phelps and Daley Thompson are in a Stable Gay Relationship
Michael Phelps and Daley Thompson moved to London on May 18th, 2011, coming from Edinburgh by way of Weymouth. A press release stated that it is hoped they will be able and willing to incubate eggs from unreliable heterosexual couples.
 |
| Michael Phelps in speedo |
New Dream Team: Pippa Middleton and Justin Bieber
This must be the new dream team: The Bieb and The Bum have joined forces to conquer the universe. In a right Royal salute, the Middletons and the Biebers have hooked up their common interests to gain supremacy over the World Wide Web’s tat market.
 |
| Justin Bieber undressing trial |
Supermodel Xenia Tchoumitcheva Moves to London
Watch out, London, Xenia Tchoumitcheva will make you her new headquarters in June. The Elite Model has announced that she will move to London despite the fact that she hasn’t yet found an appropriate apartment. Most importantly, she moves for career reasons, not love. Men, keep your eyes open!
 |
| Xenia Tchoumitcheva |
The United States Cheated the United Kingdom (again)
Following the state visit of their Obamishnesses to the United Kingdom, it emerged that the United States after all their protests of eternal friendship cheated again and in a backhanded vicious attack condemned the United Kingdom to face the final punishment.
 |
| Cheryl Cole |
Oscar Parties: Who Is Max Loong?
Oscar presenter James Franco will host his after Oscar party at the Supperclub in the converted Vogue Theater just 100 yards from the Kodak Theater. The owners of the Supperclub on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are Jerry Garcia, Abdi Manavi, and Max Loong.
 |
| Max Loong, presenter |
First International Solar Flight a Success
Solar Impulse has successfully completed the first international flight on solar power alone in flying history. The historical flight took it from Switzerland to Belgium where the airplane will be on display during the Green Week in Brussels.
 |
| Solar Impulse in flight |
Six Curious Facts About The FIS Alpine Ski World Championship
The FIS Alpine Ski World Championships have been running for 80 years. There were a few curious instances in that time. They include time differences between winners and runners up of almost 30 seconds, the championship that never was, one without snow, and the man who became women’s world champion.
Flying Without a Permit
When flying was all new and shiny, it was also still in paradise. There were no permits to get and no exams to pass; you just got into your flying machine and took off. But paradise ended when the snake came in; this snake took the form of an international body which started to issue permits.
How Not to Win a Grand Slam
Andy Murray is following in Roger Federer’s and Rafael Nadal’s footsteps. He just broke the first long standing tennis record. He is the first player to have lost his first three appearances in a grand slam final without winning a single set. That is not the kind of record to inspire confidence in his ability to win one.
 |
| Andy Murray |
10 Best Earning Corpses
They are dead and earn millions every year. Celebrities from the recent and not so recent past are still generating huge income. Meet the ten corpses who earn more in a year than you will in a lifetime. Some of their names you will easily recognize, some of them maybe not.
 |
| Heath Ledger |
Why James Bond is Eternal
The Man With The Golden Touch: How The Bond Films Conquered The World by Sinclair McKay was published by Aurum. Just one more writer jumping on the marketing train of Quantum of Solace? Not quite.
 |
| Sean Connery |
Pomp and Circumstance for Haider
Jörg Haider’s funeral brings 30,000 people to Klagenfurt, many of them Nazis. The press ignores this and concentrates instead on defamation of gays and gay lifestyle.
 |
| Jörg Haider |
A Quantum of Boredom
Roger Moore’s My Word Is My Bond is published by Michael O’Mara Books. I don’t know where he found his ghost-writer, maybe it’s his accountant.
 |
| Roger Moore |
Roger Federer's Interview on Swiss Television
A summary compiled on the interview given by Roger Federer on Swiss Television on October 19, 2008. Roger Federer comments on the season, on press, on marriage, on Stanislas Wawrinka, and his plans for the Davis Cup.
 |
| Roger Federer |
Barbara Cartland Lives
Just in time for Halloween, BBC4 rings on a drama based on Dame Barbara Cartland’s life. TV reality more ghoulish than any Halloween haunt.
 |
| Dame Barbara Cartland |
Six Notable Women
Royal Mail has issued the portraits of six women of distinction (?) as a new stamp series. The inclusion of a Nazi has provoked heavy criticism. The other five faces on these stamps are also controversial.
 |
| Royal Mail stamp collection |
Haider's Unlamented Death
Jörg Haider, the well known Austrian Nazi spokesman, died in a car crash breaking one law too many. He brought brown politics back into fashion while living it up in a £25 million estate seized from its Jewish owner during the War.
 |
| Jörg Haider skinny dipping |
An Eulogy on Tony Blair
Adam Boulton, Sky’s former political editor, tried to write a book on the Blair (blah) years at 10 Downing Street: Tony’s Ten Years: Memoirs of the Blair Administration published by Simon & Schuster. Boulton is married to Anji Hunter, the longstanding personal assistant to the Prime Minister; with so much inside information available one would have expected more than what resulted. On the other hand, one is not surprised that the book is one sided and boring while missing out on all major points of interest.
 |
| Tony Blair and Pope Benedict XVI |
James Bond 007 Quantum of Solace
James Bond is back. I mean the real James Bond 007, not some washed up replica from the eighties trundling around with his gadgets. I got news to share on the film to come: Quantum of Solace.
 |
| Daniel Craig as James Bond 007 |
Barbara Cartland's Etiquette Handbook
Random House republished Dame Barbara Cartland’s Etiquette Handbook. But why? Sometimes, writers, and not only second class writers like Dame Barbara Cartland, just go off in a tangent from what they normally write, and thereby produce what can be best titled as literary fraud. Obviously, there can be extremely funny frauds. One of my favorites, gladly brought back to mind by the Daily Mail, is Barbara Cartland’s Etiquette Handbook published by Random House.
 |
| Dame Barbara Cartland |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)