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Rex Luna
It’s been very German around here lately, hasn’t it? Four of the last five posts relate to natives of my host country, and today things take a further turn for the wurst as we visit the ultimate...
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Let them eat kuchen
So after I posted a couple of days ago about Ludwig II I remembered I had some photos kicking around somewhere of the palace Herrenchiemsee and its surrounds which I visited almost 10 years ago....
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Sewell on Ludwig
Oh, you lucky, lucky people. Something very special is about to happen to your ears. British art critic Brian Sewell, whose exotic parentage we explored late last year, was interviewed on BBC Radio...
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Ludwig at the movies
The role of Bavarian king Ludwig II is a gift for any film actor. With lots of solo screen time you can really let loose with the anguished soliloquies and tempestuous mad scenes. You also get to show...
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A Lorrain special, part 2
We may laugh at the prudery and hypocrisy of Victorian England, but Belle Époque France was little better. Reputations were dragged into the press and left bloodied and twitching, but as long as the...
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An eternal mystery
So I’ve noticed it’s been quite German around here lately, and you know what, I’m just going to run with it. I am very favourably disposed towards my adoptive home now that it’s finally made with the...
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Rex Luna (repost)
Strange Flowers gots mad luv for L2. This example comes from August 2010, as does this snowbound trek around one of his palaces. Brian Sewell definitely gots mad luv as evidenced by this interview, and...
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Circles: Ludwig II/Sissi
Sissi (Elisabeth) and Ludwig II should need no introduction to regular readers. The Austrian empress and the Bavarian king were cousins and – as we see below – might have been in-laws as well if...
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Circles: Erika and Klaus Mann
Gustaf Gründgens, Erika Mann, Pamela Wedekind, Klaus Mann This latest instalment of my bloody-minded exercise in making semi-legible diagrams of semi-marginal figures in cultural history was inspired...
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First Dick on film
Ludwig, eager to get his hands on Dick As you’ve doubtless realised, today is the 200th birthday of Richard Wagner. Last year in a survey of movies about Wagner’s royal patron, Bavarian King Ludwig II,...
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Meanwhile, on Starnberger See…
“How about we cool off?” Further reading Rex Luna Let them eat kuchen Sewell on Ludwig Ludwig at the movies An eternal mystery Circles: Ludwig II/Sissi First Dick on film
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Dress-down Friday equestrian special
In honour of the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Horse which begins today, here is a look at some of our favourite strange flowers in equestrian elegance mode. There’s Renée Sintenis (again),...
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Pearls: Ludwig II
Oh if only it were evening already, the sun set, the moon risen, the stars shining as a sign that bliss was weaving its way! Further reading Rex Luna Let them eat kuchen Sewell on Ludwig Ludwig at the...
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Sewell on Ludwig
Oh, you lucky, lucky people. Something very special is about to happen to your ears. British art critic Brian Sewell, whose exotic parentage we explored late last year, was interviewed on BBC Radio...
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Ludwig der Zweite, König von Bayern
In 1923, Marlene Dietrich appeared in one of her very first films, Der Mensch am Wege (The Man at the Wayside), a movie that also marked the directorial debut of Wilhelm Dieterle. At the start of the...
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The Liberace family tree
Władziu Valentino Liberace was born 100 years ago today. On this august occasion I commend to your attention the video below, Tony Palmer’s documentary about the colossally successful entertainer and...
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Places: Hermesvilla
We’re in Vienna! Well, just outside. We’ll be back soon for a more expansive look at the Austrian capital and its rich heritage of neurosis and peculiarity, but for now Partner and self find ourselves...
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Places: Ludwig the Second first and last
Alpha and omega. Das A und O, as the Germans say when they wish to emphasise the elementary importance of something. The essence, the crux. The beginning and the end. We find ourselves in Bavaria...
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The bitter tears of Empress Elisabeth
Over the years I have written numerous times about the inexhaustibly fascinating life of Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898) – a.k.a. Sis(s)i – and its heady amalgam of eccentricity, disaster, glamour,...
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Secret Satan, 2023
Berlin is cold and dark, there’s snow on the ground and the supermarkets are full of Lebkuchen and testy shoppers, so … it must be time for Secret Satan! Here we go with our annual serving of books...
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