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Autograph of the Week

The Trial of the Bravest of the Brave

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Marshal Ney is probably the most popular of all Napoleon's marshals - he was certainly the most popular with the men who served under him. Napoleon called him "The Bravest of the Brave" and his red hair earned him the nickname Le Lion Rouge.Honourable, devoted to the welfare of his men - his leadership during the catastrophic retreat from Moscow...

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Margot Asquith delivers a piece of her mind - as only she knew how

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Some people are more opinionated than others. And when it comes to Margot Asquith, well . . . nobody did it better. Here she is giving Lord Knutsford her opinion on the statue of Edith Cavell now by the National Portrait Gallery (she didn't like it); the statue of Florence Nightingale (she liked it even less); and the difference between Tories...

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A Pioneer of Homeopathy

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This is signed "Prince de la Moskowa". but it's not the heroic Marshal Ney. It's his son, Napoleon-Joseph Ney (many of Napoleon's marshals named their sons after the emperor - there must have been a lot of young Napoleons in France at one point).But why is it so interesting? Because he was a believer in homeopathy. And he was able...

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Going home to Aldeburgh

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In the first part of the 19th century, George Crabbe was an admired poet. Have you read any of his work? Not very many people have today.But if I mention that he was happy to return to his home town of Aldeburgh (using the variant spelling Aldborough) it might spark some interest. Indeed, Aldeburgh's other famous resident, Benjamin Britten, used...

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Think first about people and purposes

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Sometimes a letter catches your eye because of one phrase, and then you realise that the writer had something interesting to say. This is one of those letters, and the phrase is "My final advice is not to begin thinking about buildings - that is the last step. Think first about people and purposes." Lewis Mumford wrote this letter to...

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