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Harper Lee wasn’t Capote’s first choice to help with his writing. He’d wanted to bring along his friend Andrew Lyndon, another young southern writer, but when Lyndon said he couldn’t do it, Capote turned to Lee instead. He was headed out of town for a story, he explained, to a part of the country he barely knew, and he wanted someone to be his “assistant researchist.” It would involve helping him conduct interviews and gather material, and it would require traveling with him

About nine miles from the city of Nagasaki sits an abandoned island, void of inhabitants but steeped in history. Hashima Island, once a mecca for undersea coal mining, was a sharp representation of Japan‘s rapid industrialization. Also known as Gunkanjima (meaning Battleship Island) for its resemblance to a Japanese battleship, Hashima functioned as a coal facility from 1887 until 1974. Once the coal reserves started depleting and petroleum began replacing coal, the mines shu

By the summer of 1973, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s marriage was on the rocks. As an unusual remedy, Ono suggested that Lennon embark on an affair with their assistant, May Pang. That decision led to Lennon’s “Lost Weekend,” the 18 months that the ex-Beatle lived with Pang in her New York apartment and a rented home in Los Angeles. Musically, it was a productive time. Lennon completed three albums – ‘Mind Games,’ ‘Walls and Bridges’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ – and produced LPs for Ri

The "Orient Express" was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The carriages which now make up the world renowned, luxury train - the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, have each acquired their own history and special character developed over years of travelling the original Orient Express route, which was simply a normal international railway service across Europe. In 1864, George Mortimer Pullman, a creative railway

Meet the Victorian gem that rolled right out of our dreams, and into the little city of Abilene, Kansas. The yellow brick mansion – boasting two dozen rooms and five storeys – is the ultimate Addams-Family-meets-Wes-Anderson fantasy. The “Lebold Mansion,” est. 1880, is already renovated – such a rare case for these beauties, which often crumble on the market place – but thankfully, they didn’t strip the historic home of its Victorian quirk. And as you’re about to discover, th

Hundreds of thousands of wooden coffins are left to slowly rot away in dank Chinese caves in the belief it will let the souls of the departed ascend into heaven. The curious tradition, which sees the caskets stacked in caves on the steep cliffs of Anshun, in southwest China's Guizhou Province, is believed to have been practised since ancient times. In one of cave alone there are more than 500 coffins stacked, layer upon layer in various stages of decay. It's been the ‘coffin

In 1961, Hendrix was given a choice between  two years in jail or or joining the Army after a run in with the law for riding in stolen cars. He took the option to join the army, and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in May of 1961. But just one year later, Hendrix was discharged. In the document below, you can make out the reasons for his discharge. “Behaviour problems, required excessive supervision while on duty, little regard for regulations, apprehended masturba

In 1981 Paul McCartney flew to Monteserrat, where Beatles producer George Martin had installed a state-of-the-art studio, to begin work on his Tug Of War solo album. One song in this album is Get It, to which recording session he invited Carl Perkins to provide vocals. Carl loved the experience and the following morning he wrote My Old Friend for Paul in appreciation. In fact, he recounted to Paul that usually when he writes he needs a pen and a sheet of paper to record his t

The Netherlands is famous for its canals and fairytale-like little towns, but the tiny village of Giethoorn in the North rally stands out from the crowd. It is located in the province of Overijssel, this place looks wonderful. The canal runs through the entire village and it looks like the tiny cottages around it are there to decorate its banks. The entire population of Giethoorn is about 2,260 people, which makes it the perfect quiet weekend getaway. If you love to spend tim

Postman’s Park is one of the few gardens you can find in the old City of London. It’s just north of St. Paul’s Cathedral But it isn’t just a spot to eat a Pret baguette on your lunch break. It’s also home to the touching memorial to heroic self-sacrifice. It contains 54 plaques, each dedicated to an ordinary person who did something most extraordinary: gave their life in an attempt to save someone else. Devised in 1887 by artist George Frederic Watts, it was first unveiled in

On December 10, 1967, the plane carrying Otis Redding and his band the Bar-Kays crashed into the frigid waters of Lake Monona in Wisconsin, killing nearly everyone on board. Redding was only 26 years old when he died. And while he was the life force of Memphis’s Stax Records and the internationally acclaimed King of Soul, he had not yet reached the peak of his powers. Such was indicated, anyway, by the new creative direction of a song released the month after his death, “(Sit

“If it were easy to talk about, I’d be a writer. Since I’m inarticulate, I express myself with images.” – Helen Levitt Helen Levitt’s photographs provide us with a glimpse into the furor and fastness of life in New York from the 30’s to the 80’s. Chronicling half a century of life on the city streets, Levitt’s lyrical eye reveals the playfulness at the heart of human interaction in the metropolis. A few years later, in 1938, she had a meeting and portfolio review with Walker

The concept of inemuri can be simplified as ‘sleeping on the job’, but a more accurate definition would be ‘being present while asleep’. Inemuri – sleeping at train stations, in class, on the steps of the mall – is a much more common sight in Japan than in America or Europe. And more than that, it’s socially acceptable. Delve further into the Japanese concept of inemuri. History of Inemuri People have been taking the odd nap in public since the dawn of civilization. But the m

Creating portraits that are startlingly lifelike, Chinese artist Leng Jun is a master of hyperrealism. The accomplished painter is particularly known for his detailed oil paintings of women, where every wisp of hair and fibre of clothing is rendered to perfection. Born in 1963, Leng came of age during a time of great economic reform known as the Opening of China. This great cultural change, and the Western influences it introduced, greatly influenced his art. Interested in pa

Metallica didn’t exactly make an auspicious arrival. Danish émigré Lars Ulrich – a devotee of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – took out an advert in South California newspaper The Recycler at the end of 1980, looking for likeminded metalheads to start a band influenced by Iron Maiden, Diamond Head and the Tygers Of Pan Tang. James Hetfield answered the ad and, after a false start, drummer Lars and guitarist/vocalist James forged what was to become a legendary partnership.

Woody’s songs—like “Reuben James,” “Roll on Columbia,” “Union Maid” and “Pastures of Plenty”—have been some of the most recognizable and enduring contributions to American folk music in the twentieth century. To some admirers, he was the father of the American folk song in its modern form. 1 In addition to the help he received from the radio and the phonograph, Woody was fortunate to be a singer of folk songs at a time when the struggling blue collar workers, farmers and day

A Victorian Era women’s suffrage campaigner, Josephine Butler also campaigned for the right of women to better education, the abolition of child prostitution and to end human trafficking of young women. Butler, the daughter of John Grey and Hannah Annett, was born on 13th April 1828. Grey was a wealthy landowner and the cousin of Earl Grey, the British Prime Minister who led the Whig administration between 1830 and 1834. Her father was a strong advocate of social reform and p

Creating a good headline for an article is an art within itself. Just think about it: you basically have to describe your whole text using just one sentence. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don’t, and sometimes you produce such a mind-bogglingly dumb headline, that people still remember it 20 years later.

The story of Dr Harold Moody, a man that led the first effective black pressure group in this country, the League of Coloured Peoples. He was born in Kingston Jamaica on 8th October 1882, the eldest child of a prosperous retail chemist and strict Congregationalist. Moody came to London in 1904 to study medicine at King's College. He was completely unprepared for the colour bar in Edwardian London. He found it hard to find lodgings; after winning many prizes and qualifying as