Today, Walter Sickert is a relatively unknown figure from a large swarm of European Impressionism of the later generation. Yet, in his time, he was a respected artist, a student of Degas and Whistler, and a mentor of Winston Churchill himself. In recent decades, researchers suspected that he might be successful in another, more morbid field: some believe he was none other than Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer. Read on to learn more about Walter Sickert and his life.

1. Walter Sickert’s Early Childhood Defined His Future

The British Impressionist Walter Sickert was the son of a Danish painter, Oswald Sickert. According to Sickert’s biographers, Oswald was a talented and well-educated artist who nonetheless struggled to truly express himself professionally, mostly working as a draftsman for local newspapers. His mother, an English woman, Eleanor Henry, was an illegitimate daughter of the astronomer Richard Sheepshanks. Both her illegitimate status and her father’s objections made her engagement and subsequent marriage to Sickert a troublesome yet successful quest.

Walter, born in 1860, was an expected and adored child and the oldest of the six Sickert siblings. Born in Munich, Sickert moved with his parents to London at the age of 8, completely changing his way of life, his culture, and even the language he spoke. This transition marked the beginning of a long path of Sickert’s creative self-invention. For years, he was preoccupied with the ideas of transformation and disguise.

2. He Was a Student of Whistler and Degas

Despite his father and grandfather’s artistic careers, Walter Sickert initially planned to become an actor, perhaps fueled by his interest in disguise and performance. He certainly had an inclination for drama: his younger siblings complained that his good looks and manipulative behavior won the attention of both their parents and house guests, often at the expense of other children. Parents referred to their kids as Walter and the boys, clearly stating the family dynamic.

However, Sickert’s acting career did not last long. He played several well-received roles but was never truly content. Less than three years into acting, he remembered his other passion that ran in the family—painting. Oswald Whistler had taught Walter the basics of his occupation already in early childhood. Still, he was extremely displeased to learn about his son’s artistic inclination—perhaps due to his own unrealized ambitions.

With a talent for being at the right time and the right place and socializing with the right people, Walter Sickert managed to find a job as an assistant to none other than James McNeill Whistler. At the time, Whistler was recovering mentally and financially after a disastrous public trial against the famous conservative art critic James Ruskin. Although Whistler won the case, the court expenses made him bankrupt, forcing him to sell his precious collections of porcelain and Japanese prints. Still, he was impressed by the young artist’s talents and eagerly started to teach him. Sickert, in turn, adored Whistler as a bold individual and an artist unafraid to defy conventions. However, less than two years later, he decided he had already taken everything he could from his teacher, and then an opportunity came along.

In 1883, Whistler sent Sickert to Paris with a parcel intended for Edgar Degas. Degas’ art had subtle but inherent darkness: the romantic little ballerinas from his paintings were inevitably exploited by rich patrons and had to resort to sex work or theft. Sickert was enthralled with the contrast of beauty and its unpleasant underbelly. After Degas, he started to paint dancers, music halls, and urban scenes instead of Whistler-inspired landscapes.

3. He Found an Avant-Garde Art Group

After several years in France, Sickert came back to England. During his travels, he managed to get married (for the first time out of three) and divorce, with his wife initiating the breakup on the grounds of Sickert’s frequent and rampant infidelity. He did not have any children, at least official ones, although there were rumors of swarms of illegitimate kids he ignored. Sickert was always much more interested in his work than in other humans. His art at the time reflected the Impressionist preoccupation with the contrast of private and public spaces, moving between private bedrooms and crowded music halls.

Sickert was a charismatic, although sometimes overwhelming, personality, and he was used to overpowering and organizing groups of people from his childhood. His obvious artistic talent and radical sincerity of his urban scenes attracted a large group of artists who shared the same ideas on art. Some of them, led by Sickert, formed the Camden Town Group that united some of the British Post-Impressionists and those interested in progressive art. Clearly inspired by Degas, Gauguin, and Van Gogh, they nonetheless painted darker and more somber works that sometimes felt claustrophobic.

4. He Probably Had an Issue With Nudity

An attentive viewer might notice that some of the decorative and compositional elements in Sickert’s works repeat frequently throughout the years of his practice. One such element is the iron bed frame that moved from studio to studio and from painting to painting. Sickert’s treatment of intimate interior scenes made some researchers suspect that the artist had some deep biases or even traumas that were reflected in his works. In such paintings, he usually painted women nude, but their male counterparts were always fully clothed. This led some to the conclusion that the artist might have had some deep insecurities and even misogynistic tendencies.

According to one of the relatives, before he reached his teens, Sickert had to undergo a series of lower-body surgeries due to a birth defect. In the 1860s, surgery was a risky and excruciatingly painful affair that hardly ever included any anesthesia and did not guarantee any result. This experience must have been extremely traumatizing for the child and might have been the reason for Sickert’s future struggles with body image and sexuality.

5. He Was a Known Shapeshifter

Sickert’s friends regarded this constant teasing as a sort of self-defense that would cover up deep insecurities and a sensitive character. Despite his seeming outgoingness, he avoided human contact and was quite secretive. Apart from his permanent residence, he rented several small rooms around London, motivating it by his need to work in isolation. These rooms’ addresses were unknown even to his wife and the closest of friends. His closest friends, however, did not last long. As noted by his sister, he had a habit of discarding relationships easily and mercilessly, like a child who quickly got bored with a new toy.

Sickert’s entire character was fluid, secretive, and ever-changing. He transformed from a gentleman to a layman, from conservative to progressive, from disciplined worker to bohemian hedonist. None of these masks seemed to be permanent, yet all of them seemed to be utterly sincere the moment Sickert put them on. Even his appearance changed with a rapid succession of different styles of beards, mustaches, and costumes following one another. Some found it an intriguing expression of deep disdain for societal expectations from a creative spirit. However, many of those who met Sickert were not charmed by his antics and secrets but found them rather threatening and suspicious.

6. He Might Have Been a Serial Killer

Despite all the secrecy and mysterious flair around the artist, those who meet Sickert for the first time are nonetheless surprised to learn that he was and remains one of the suspects in the most notorious and horrific crime of his era. Some crime and art experts believe that Sickert was the serial killer known as Jack The Ripper. The series of crimes known as The Whitechapel Murders happened in 1888 in an impoverished London neighborhood. Five sex workers were brutally slaughtered with their intestines taken out. The killer supposedly sent letters to the police and newspapers, boasting about his deeds. In 1907, another similar crime occurred, popularly known as the Camden Town murder. Although no direct link to the first series was found, the crowd also credited Jack the Ripper for it.

Walter Sickert was not on the list of the immediate suspects, yet he was always around, showing keen interest in the case. From 1905 to 1908, he painted a series of works with the provocative title Camden Town Murder and another canvas, Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom. This, as well as a list of circumstantial evidence, led some enthusiasts to assume that Sickert might have been the notorious serial killer. However, most researchers believe that the version is too far-fetched.

7. Walter Sickert Gave Painting Lessons to Winston Churchill

Although relatively unknown now, in his time, Sickert was considered one of the most important and influential painters to ever come from England. He became a successful and revered art professor, his art sold successfully, and young artists imitated him. In his later years, he developed his practice in accordance with modern times and started to use photographs instead of live models for his paintings. Nonetheless, by the 1920s, he was mostly perceived as an aged classic: respected but not expected to produce any innovation. Still, he had still experienced eventful meetings.

In 1927, he painted a portrait of Winston Churchill and befriended him. Churchill sometimes painted as a hobby and later stated that Sickert gave new life to his art practice. Even in his seeming physical and artistic decline, Sickert nonetheless maintained the constant fluidity and uncertainty. After living 67 years under the first name Walter, the artist suddenly legally dropped it in favor of his middle name, becoming Richard Sickert. Until his last days in 1942, he remained an enigma and a shapeshifter, always searching for a new mask.

We are used to thinking that science and occultism are matters that inherently contradict each other. However, in the early days of modern medicine, many believed that some unseen forces could be useful for healing and balancing the human body. The most influential of those believers was the 18th-century physician Franz Mesmer, who became a celebrity doctor and toured around Europe with his seances of mesmerism or animal magnetism that supposedly cured all existing illnesses. Read on to learn more about Franz Mesmer and his highly contested theories.

Who Was Franz Mesmer?

Celebrity healer Franz Mesmer, the protege of Marie Antoinette and one of the most influential figures of 18th-century quasi-science, had an astonishing career full of ups and downs. Raised in a large and poor German family, he moved from his native village to study theology and medicine in Austria. The influence of both disciplines, often contradictory in our mind, gave rise to a unique and outstanding body of work that Mesmer produced and promoted all around Europe. Although disproven, Mesmer’s healing practices were in high demand during his life. He became a friend of Mozart and Haydn and enjoyed the favors of European royal courts until his ambitions exceeded his talents.

Mesmer started developing his theories while he was still a medical student. In his dissertation, he explored the supposed healing powers of stars and planets. He claimed that the movement of cosmic bodies caused transformations in the alleged fluid field shared by every object in the Universe. Thus, by learning the astronomical movement patterns, it was possible to treat illnesses and improve an individual’s overall health. Mesmer was neither the first nor the last person to rely on astrology or invisible fluids in medical practice, but he was truly one of the first celebrity healers and charlatans who convinced thousands of people of his talents.

Humorism: The Early Precursor of Mesmerism

Some historians note that instead of inventing something new, Mesmer reinvented the old classics and wrapped them into a fashionable package of hand passes and ritualistic seances. Already, the ancient physicians of Greece and Rome, including the famous Hippocrates, described the so-called humoral theory, or humorism.

According to the theory, human bodies ran on four different fluids present simultaneously: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Any physical or mental illness was rooted in the unbalanced amount of any of these fluids. At the same time, each human had their own ratio of them, which helped to form their unique character and temper. From the theory of four fluids, ancient physicians developed the theory of four temperaments: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic, each dominated by blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile, respectively. The excessive amounts of each fluid could allegedly cause unexplainable fits of unmotivated cheer, anger, melancholy, or total passivity.

According to ancient doctors, all four fluids were products of digestion and thus could be altered with a proper diet or exercise. In severe cases, however, they required more extreme medical practices, such as bloodletting or forced vomiting. By the 18th century, humoral theory had fallen out of fashion and had been disproved by scientists. Today, some of its remnants can be found in alternative medicine or popular psychology.

Animal Magnetism: Mesmer’s Seances

Franz Mesmer reworked the humoral theory by proposing the concept of magnetic fluid produced by human bodies surrounding them like an invisible aura. In his opinion, illnesses were caused by disturbances in this fluid field. Mesmer believed that by affecting this field with magnets and metal poles, he could restore the balance and channel the fluids in the right direction.

Mesmer started his seances by carefully listening to his patients’ complaints and assuring them that their illnesses would soon be cured. Dressed in a long purple gown, he then made hand passes and performed ritualistic movements with mechanisms. Initially, he used magnets to balance the animal magnetism of his clients. With metal rods, Mesmer claimed to create artificial tides that would relieve his patients from their symptoms. Later, he decided to trust his own supposed powers instead of mechanisms and ditched the extra instruments altogether. Soon, when the demand for Mesmer’s services exceeded his capabilities, he started to offer group seances. There, animal magnetism passed through up to two dozen of his clients at once, with them seated around a tub filled with metal rods.

Deliberately or not, the majority of Mesmer’s patients were women. Proponents of mesmerism believed that women’s magnetic fluid was much weaker than men’s and required more control. In Mesmer’s time, the most frequent diagnosis applied to women in almost any kind of mental or nervous distress was hysteria. Hysteria was a supposedly nervous condition with a list of possible symptoms large enough to account for almost any sort of emotion or behavior. Mesmer worked with hysteric patients and treated them with much more respect than the majority of doctors.

Instead of labeling them as hysterical due to the supposed weakness of their sex, he offered them a solution, however questionable it might seem today. The quasi-scientific appeal of Mesmer’s practice validated these women’s concerns for their health and indeed offered some relief by creating a safe and trusting space. This, however, did not make Mesmer’s methods any more credible. Over the years of performing in Vienna, he developed an astonishing sense of self-importance, greatly overestimating the possibilities of his method.

Mesmer’s Fall From Grace

After several years of working in Vienna, Mesmer’s luck ran out since his ambitions mismatched his actual abilities. A charismatic and convincing public figure, Mesmer was relatively successful in treating minor mental issues or psychosomatic symptoms yet had no actual medical qualification to treat physical illnesses. His reputation in Austria collapsed after a failed attempt to cure a blind piano player. Tricks that could possibly work on Viennese ladies suffering from anxiety did not cause the same placebo effect on severe physical traumas. Right at the same time, rumors started to spread about Mesmer’s alleged affairs with some of his patients. The imbalanced and unethical relationship between a doctor and his patient was concerning enough for the 18th-century public.

Soon, the entire of Austria regarded Mesmer as a charlatan and a fraud, mocking him in the press. To avoid further implications of scandal without sacrificing his ego, the celebrity healer rapidly moved to France in 1778. There, he quickly won the favors of the main Austrian representative abroad—the scandalous French Queen Marie Antoinette. Soon, Mesmer reestablished his reputation by treating the bored audience of Versailles and other royal premises.

Still, Mesmer’s questionable methods and already tarnished credibility have reached France soon enough. In 1784, a special commission led by none other than Benjamin Franklin, the first US ambassador to France, was launched in order to research Mesmer’s claims. Over several months, the commission conducted blind tests and trials with several focus groups. The investigation has shown that mesmeric methods worked only when patients were aware of it. Some were offered magnetized water and reported that they immediately felt better after drinking it. Others received the same liquid without announced qualities and did not notice any difference. Thus, Mesmer was exposed as a fraud and went into exile again, but he never lost genuine faith in his extraordinary abilities. He continued his practice in Switzerland until he died in 1815, almost forgotten.

Franz Mesmer’s Impact

Although Mesmer’s theories were disproven quite a long time ago, his impact was significant enough to alter the course of Western cultural history. Over the years, Mesmerists’ beliefs in invisible fields surrounding humans settled and found a new place among the nineteenth-century movement of Spiritualism. Similarly to Mesmerism, spiritualists claimed to apply scientific methods and concepts to the exploration of unseen forces and, vice versa, study the natural world through occult means.

Unlike widely accepted medicinal practices, late-stage mesmerism promoted the idea that a cure was not universally distributed through an unbiased medium like a pill or vaccine but through a specific person (Mesmer) or his followers, possessing unique skills. This further moved Mesmer and his theories from the domain of scientific method towards alternative medicinal practices often applied in cults.

Apart from the promised healing effect, mesmerism was entertaining to watch. A mesmerist made mysterious hand passes, magnets hovered above the patients’ heads, and strange instruments intrigued and impressed enough to make some forget about their pains and concerns. Moreover, many mesmeric seances were public, with participants holding hands to pass the magnetic fluid through each other. In such an environment, people were ready to share emotions and experiences. Even the staunchest of skeptics felt the urge to agree with the impressed crowd. In a way, Mesmer helped revive the old practice of exorcism by giving it a new fashionable look, with a physician instead of a priest and animal magnetism instead of demon possession.

Mesmer’s practice became almost synonymous with spiritualist fraud and trickery. Particularly, rumors of his affairs with his patients created a media archetype of a charlatan exploiting his female clients. Still, the remnants of his practice found their way into other popular yet controversial domains like hypnotherapy.

Remembered as one of early Hollywood’s boldest stars, Marlene Dietrich transformed her fame into a weapon against Nazi Germany. Despite Hitler’s attempts to lure her home as the face of Nazi cinema, Dietrich became an American citizen and toured the United States to sell war bonds. She donated her Hollywood paychecks to aid Jewish refugees and recorded propaganda music to weaken German morale. Her fight even reached the front lines, where she braved harsh conditions to perform for thousands of Allied troops from North Africa to England.

Rising From Berlin Cabarets to Hollywood Stardom

Born in 1901 in Berlin, Germany, Dietrich’s upbringing was marked by the violence of the First World War. Like many others, she turned towards the vibrant and expressive post-war art scene in Berlin. She quickly captivated audiences as a talented cabaret singer, actress, and dancer. Her scandalous lifestyle as a bisexual mixed with her alluring charm and more masculine style made her a sensation in the Weimar Republic. After the success of The Blue Angel (1930), Dietrich captured the attention of Paramount Pictures and Hollywood. Within a few years, she was one of the highest-paid and most acclaimed actresses in the world.

Refusing Hitler and the Demands of Nazi Cinema

The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda desperately wanted Dietrich to return to Germany and become the glamorous face of Nazi propaganda and fascist culture. High-ranking Nazi officials like Joachim von Ribbentrop offered her lucrative deals to become Germany’s biggest movie star. Adolf Hitler was especially eager for Dietrich’s support. He was an ardent fan of her films and allegedly wanted her to become his mistress. Instead, Dietrich rejected and condemned the Third Reich publicly. She even called Hitler an idiot on a British radio broadcast. In response, the Nazi regime labeled her a traitor and banned all of her films and songs.

Renouncing German Citizenship to Fund Refugee Escapes

Dietrich undermined the Nazis before World War II. In 1937, she renounced her German citizenship and created a fund with filmmaker Billy Wilder to help Jewish and other persecuted artists escape Nazi Germany. She donated her salary from the film Knight Without Armor (1937) to fund their evacuations, emigration costs, and new lives abroad.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Dietrich was one of the first celebrities to volunteer in the Allied war effort. She performed across the US in war bond tours. By 1943, she had sold more war bonds than any other star on tour.

Broadcasting OSS Radio Propaganda to Demoralize Axis Soldiers

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) also recruited Dietrich to produce propaganda music. The precursor to the CIA, the OSS developed a plot to mix popular songs with anti-Nazi messages and speeches called the Muzak Project. Dietrich agreed to record famous songs in German that resonated with Axis troops for these broadcasts. She re-recorded songs like “Lili Marleen” and other beloved pieces like “Mean to Me” and “Time on My Hands.” The programs were broadcast into occupied territories to demoralize the German and Italian soldiers and make them question their loyalty to the Axis powers.

Risking Death on the Front Lines During Allied USO Tours

From 1944 to 1945, Dietrich became one of the most involved, resolute, and risky performers on the USO tours. Performing alongside Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, she sang for hundreds of thousands of soldiers to boost morale from North Africa to the front lines in France. Even military commanders like General George Patton were taken aback by how close to the front she was willing to go despite being a marked traitor in Germany.

Granted an honorary colonel title, Dietrich charmed military personnel with her cheeky comedy performances, fabulous outfits, and serenades. Other performers joked, “she was always trying to get us killed,” as she remained near the front regardless of nearby shelling, frostbite, or influenza. She danced on makeshift stages with no electricity, wore military boots, slept in tents, ate alongside the soldiers, attended their training, and often visited the wounded.

In 1947, US President Harry Truman awarded Dietrich the Medal of Freedom for her wartime contributions. She stated that it was her proudest achievement and the most important thing she had ever done.

According to the National Coffee Association, about two-thirds of adult Americans start their day with a cup of that precious beverage: coffee. There is something special about its bitter flavor and potent aroma that stimulates the mind and the senses. It is estimated that around 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed each day. But when and where exactly did this caffeinated phenomenon begin? And how did coffee conquer the globe? From its humble beginnings in Ethiopia to religious challenges from Islam and Christianity to Europe’s obsession with the Orient, this is a brief history of coffee in ten fascinating facts.

1. The History of Coffee Begins with a Goat

A popular Ethiopian legend tells us of a remarkable discovery that would eventually change the world. Around the 9th century AD, a goat herder called Kaldi frantically searched the Ethiopian highlands for his beloved goats. He found them frolicking in the bushes, jumping wildly, and yelling. It did not take long for him to realize that the goats were eating small red berries.

He took a handful of the berries and visited the nearby monastery to ask for advice. The monks did not share Kaldi’s excitement. Instead, they proclaimed the red berries a devil’s creation and threw them into the fire. The story could have ended there, but as the seeds roasted in the fire, the potent aroma caught the monks’ attention. They gathered the roasted beans from the ashes, ground them, and tossed them into hot water. They tried the brew, and the rest is history.

Or is it? The story of Kaldi, his frolicking goats, and the skeptical monks is probably a legend. Yet, we know that Ethiopia holds a special place in the history of human civilization. Ethiopia is home to the earliest evidence of humankind, several ancient African cultures, and one of the oldest Christian churches. It is also probably one of the first places coffee was consumed, though as food rather than brewed. Like Kaldi’s beloved goats, Ethiopians discovered coffee by chewing the berries. However, it did not take long for coffee to become a staple of Ethiopian culture.

2. Yemen’s Ancient Port and Transport Hub Was Called Mocha

The next step in the history of coffee takes us eastwards across the Red Sea to Yemen, where coffee, known as qahwa, was first enjoyed in its liquid form. While Arab tribes had probably already been making wine from coffee cherries, the earliest historical evidence of coffee as a beverage comes from the 15th century. Sufi mystics, particularly around the port city of Mocha, used the revitalizing beverage to stay awake for their nightly religious rituals. Yemen is also the first place where coffee was roasted and served as we drink it today.

3. The Wine of Arabia: Unlike Alcohol, Coffee Was Omitted from the Quran

Mocha, Yemen’s ancient port city on the Red Sea coast, became a hub from which coffee was dispatched all around the Islamic world. Sufi pilgrims traveled along trade and pilgrimage routes, carrying coffee beans to major Islamic centers. The popularity of coffee among Muslims was boosted by its omission from the Quran, which was composed before the discovery of the brew. This gave coffee an advantage over alcohol, which is expressly forbidden, and it became known as the Wine of Arabia.

4. The First Coffee House Opened in 1555

By the mid-16th century, coffee was rapidly spreading across the Arabian Peninsula, North-East Africa, and Egypt. In part, coffee’s expansion was facilitated by the Ottoman conquest of Arabia, which brought coffee to every corner of the vast Empire, including its capital Istanbul. In 1555, the first coffee house opened its doors in what was then one of the largest and most important cities in the world.

However, not everyone was pleased by the taste of this aromatic beverage. Coffee houses were places where patrons would meet for discussions, listen to poetry, and play games like chess or backgammon. This caused alarm among some Muslim clerics who feared that coffee houses would endanger mosques and replace them as meeting places. Furthermore, the clerics believed that coffee would seduce the minds of the faithful, intoxicate them, and prevent them from thinking clearly. In addition, the authorities feared that coffee houses could become places for instigating public disorder or revolt.

Numerous attempts to ban coffee and coffee culture, including Sultan Murad IV’s introducing the death penalty for coffee drinking, ultimately failed. Coffee houses became a staple of Islamic culture in the Ottoman Empire.

5. Pope Clement VIII Wanted to Baptize Coffee

Like other exotic commodities from the East, coffee arrived in Christian Europe on Venetian trade galleys. In 1615, one could find street vendors selling coffee on the streets of Venice. Once again, coffee came under attack from both religious and secular authorities. The Catholic Church considered coffee a “Muslim drink” and a potential competitor for wine as used in the Eucharist. The heated debate was resolved only by the personal intervention of Pope Clement VIII. Upon tasting the beverage, he reportedly declared: “Why, this Satan’s drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.” The Pope enjoyed the cup so much that he wanted to baptize coffee.

The baptism never happened, but the Pope’s blessing increased coffee’s popularity. By the late 17th century, coffee houses were all over Italy. Another big boost came following the Ottoman failure to take Vienna in 1683. Among the spoils of war found in the Turkish camp were huge quantities of coffee beans. The victors took the beans and opened coffee houses in Vienna and the rest of Europe. From Habsburg Austria, coffee took the continent by storm, becoming a vital part of Turqueria, Europe’s obsession with Oriental fashion and trends.

6. From Taverns to Coffee Houses: The Global History of Coffee

Unlike taverns, coffee houses were well-lit places with their own libraries and music. In short, they were the places where European intellectuals would hang out. Some of the world’s brightest ideas sprang from the debates accompanied by a cup of coffee. Not everyone liked the rapidly growing coffee culture. In 1675, the English King Charles II tried to ban coffee houses, labeling them places of sedition. The Revolution was still fresh in the king’s mind. While the ban never went into effect, another exotic commodity, tea, gradually replaced coffee as a favorite drink in the British Isles.

7. The Dutch Established Plantations on the Island of Java

While coffee experienced a setback in England, the rest of Europe loved the bitter drink so much that they decided to break the Ottoman Empire’s monopoly one cofee beans. Colonizing nations took coffee plants to parts of the world better suited to growing it. The first were the Dutch, whose East Indian company established large coffee plantations in Indonesia, with the island of Java becoming one of the main trading hubs. Already in 1711, the first exports of Indonesian coffee reached Europe.

Across the Atlantic, the French began their own coffee businesses in the Caribbean and Mexico. While in South America, the Spanish and Portuguese colonizers laid the seeds for the future coffee superpowers of Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. By the 1800s, Europeans controlled the entire global coffee trade.

8. Revolution in a Cup Thanks to the Boston Tea Party

The rapidly growing popularity of coffee has its dark side. To satisfy increasing demand, European colonial powers imported slaves from Africa to toil on the plantations in the Caribbean, Asia, and the Americas. Yet, the history of coffee also had its positive side, playing an important role in the birth of modern democracy.

The famous Boston Tea Party of 1773, which sparked the American Revolution, caused a switch from tea to coffee. Drinking coffee became something of a patriotic duty for the nascent American nation. In fact, the demand for coffee increased so much that dealers had to hoard their scarce supplies and raise prices exorbitantly. After the war of 1812, coffee solidified its position as a favorite American brew.

9. Soldiers Relied on Caffeine to Boost their Energy

Remember Charles II and his attempt to ban coffee in England? The monarch’s fears seem to have been justified, as the revolutions that engulfed Europe in 1848 began at the meetings held in coffee houses, from Budapest to Berlin, from Paris to Palermo. These revolutions and other conflicts, such as the American Civil War, also helped increase coffee consumption, as soldiers relied on caffeine to boost their energy.

When the United States entered the war in 1917, General John J. Pershing declared coffee a critical strategic asset for troop morale and performance. The U.S. Military Quartermaster Corps purchased over 75 million pounds of coffee to feed the American Expeditionary Forces. At the same time, unlike in the European armies, alcohol was largely banned.

10. Coffee Goes to Space on the Apollo 11 (1969)

By the late 1800s, coffee had become a worldwide commodity, available to royalty and elites, but also to the common folk. The coffee house was a staple of every city, a place for discussion, contemplation, or just a leisurely drink. Coffee also helped to fuel the Industrial Revolution. Workers in unrelenting new factories toiled day and night thanks to coffee, or more precisely, the caffeine in it. Coffee was now ready to enter people’s homes.

Ironically, the arrival of coffee into households was facilitated by the two calamities that struck the world in the 20th century. During the Great War, instant coffee gave the troops a much-needed boost, while in the Second World War, American soldiers loved their brew so much that the G.I.s gave it a special name: “a cuppa Joe.”

With coffee omnipresent in every corner of the Earth, entering every aspect of people’s lives, there was one last place to go. The Final Frontier. While not considered a mandatory supplement for astronauts, the aromatic drink participated in the “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 drank coffee before landing on the Moon. Nowadays, the astronauts orbiting Earth on the International Space Station have state-of-the-art vacuum-sealed pouches and zero-gravity cups to enjoy their favorite hot beverage. And from 2015 onward, space coffee is now prepared in a unique device: the ISSpresso coffee machine located on the International Space Station.

The History of Coffee and its Future

Coffee has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the highlands of Ethiopia to a hi-tech space drink. But the journey is not over yet. After all, coffee still plays a major role in the global economy. As such, the coffee industry has a great impact both on humans and planet Earth.

For centuries, coffee production was powered by slaves. It was also one of the drivers of inequality, with big international corporations profiting from poorly paid local workers. During the Cold War, coffee played a part in instigating wars in Latin America that further weakened already unstable countries and their economies. Lastly, large coffee plantations cause environmental harm, endangering local flora and fauna. The price of your daily cup is a steep one.

Thankfully, things are changing. Already in the 1990s, a new movement arose in the United States. Some roasters began preparing coffee by hand, sourcing beans from smaller plantations owned by local farmers, and most importantly, supporting farms that do not endanger the environment. This was accompanied by the education of customers on the origins of the beans in their coffee cups. This evolved into what is now known as specialty coffee. In just a few decades, it turned into a worldwide phenomenon, taking coffee into an environmentally and socially aware future.

Charles Vance Millar was a man of many eccentricities. A successful businessman, Millar was fond of pranks, and some wondered if the instructions left in his will were an extension of his love for jokes. Regardless of his motivations, Millar left an entertaining but risky proposition to his fellow Torontonians, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. Though economic conditions soon proved unfavorable for Millar’s scheme, there was no shortage of participants. As a result, the Great Stork Derby was on, growing families and, eventually, some bank accounts across Toronto.

A Man of Contradictions

Charles Vance Millar, born June 28, 1854, in Aylmer, Ontario, was a lawyer who was admired for his legal knowledge and prowess. His brilliance was an extension of his success in school as a young man. He attended the University of Toronto, graduating with a 98% grade average.

In addition to possessing a natural legal sense, he was a skilled businessman. He opened a private law firm and eventually took over mail delivery contracts. He purchased land and rental properties. Though Millar soon became wealthy, he preferred to do things himself rather than pay others to do tasks such as repairs at his rental homes. He slept outdoors on his porch regardless of the weather forecast, claiming it made him “tougher.”

Horse racing was another interest of Millar’s, one in which he invested significantly. He paid to expand and improve racetracks and owned several successful racehorses. Despite his occupation as a serious businessman and lawyer, Millar was well known for his love of pranks and practical jokes, played on both people he knew and complete strangers.

Contrary to other men of his social status, he was not actively involved in many fraternal organizations or charities. He seemed to be uncomfortable with his wealth, yet he was not known to donate any of it. Millar’s habit of holding his money close didn’t change until after his death, which occurred on October 31, 1926. He was in his law office in Toronto, discussing a case with a colleague, when he suffered a stroke and perished. Toronto would soon learn that the prominent lawyer and businessman would continue to have an impact on their city long after his death.

An Indecent Proposal

Millar did not have any close family of his own. He allegedly had his heart broken as a young man and never again pursued marriage. He had no children and his parents had predeceased him. As a result, he had no one to leave his assets and fortune to. Therefore, Millar distributed his life’s earnings by unconventional means, giving himself a bit of a last laugh while doing so.

His shares in a brewery were left to well-known temperance advocates, while his racetrack ownership percentages were designated to some outspoken anti-horse racing adversaries. Millar’s vacation home, located in Jamaica was left to three men who bitterly despised one another, and given on the condition that they own it together. What remained of Millar’s estate was up for grabs, to the winner of a contest he designed, a race that would become known as The Great Stork Derby of Toronto.

The contest for Millar’s fortune was open to all of the families in Toronto. He stipulated that the balance of the estate, in cash, would be awarded to the winner of the contest in ten years. How would the winner be decided? The woman who gave birth to the most children in the ten-year period would walk away with the cash. If there were a tie, the fortune would be divided equally among the finalists.

Announcements of the challenge were published in the press, but there was one obstacle. The government took the case as far as the Canadian Supreme Court, trying to get the contest nullified, but in the end, the Court upheld Millar’s offer as legal. There were some rules, however. Stillborn children did not count toward the total; children had to be born in Toronto, and they had to be born within a marriage—children born out of wedlock would not count in the tally.

Strange Motivations

Then and now, Millar’s motivation for creating the contest is truly unknown. However, there has been some supposition from those who knew him about why he would leave his money to the winner of such a wild and unheard-of contest. Some supposed that it was truly just one last practical joke to poke fun at the government and the people willing to stoop to such a level as to base their reproduction on a cash prize. Others argue that Millar’s motivations were more political in nature, perhaps a statement on birth control. Eugenics was also a hot topic in Canada at the time, including the idea that women of the “upper class” were not reproducing fast enough to keep up with the poor masses. Perhaps the contest was Millar’s way of sticking it to the wealthy cohorts with whom he never really felt at ease.

Big Families During Difficult Times

Meanwhile, the contest was in full swing. It is unknown how many families attempted to complete the challenge, just how many claimed to be participants at its conclusion. After the Supreme Court decision, the contest became a popular topic for news coverage. This became even more true after the fame of the Dionne Quintuplets, born in Corbeil, Ontario, in 1934. The Dionne babies were the first quintuplets in history to survive infancy, and their fame brought tourism and attention to Canada in droves. More babies were all the rage, but there were a few hindrances to those participating in Millar’s contest.

Firstly, there was the matter of time. With a nine-month gestation and no access to fertility drugs like in the modern era, women were simply limited on how many children they could have in a ten-year period. In addition, healthcare surrounding childbirth was light years from what it is now and was literally a threat to the mother’s health and survival. In the decade the contest ran, an average of 500 out of every 100,000 women died in childbirth, and infant mortality rates showed the death of 80 out of every 1,000 babies.

The onset of the Great Depression, which started in 1929, further added to the difficulties facing participants. The ripple effect of the Depression echoed that of what was seen in America. An estimated 30% of Canadians lost their jobs. More mouths to feed in a faltering economy could bring more hardships than blessings to those who were already struggling, but still, some contestants refused to quit.

The Winners… and Losers

Over two dozen Toronto families welcomed at least eight children during the Derby’s duration. At the conclusion of the contest, on October 31, 1936, the cash prize had reached about 1 million with the principal and interest, about 21 million by today’s standards. At first, it looked like the winner of the contest was Lillian Kenny, who had twelve children during the duration of the contest. Close behind her was Grace Bagnato, with eleven, and Pauline Mae Clark, with ten. However, none of the women who appeared to be in the top three initially would walk away with any winnings.

It turned out that four of Kenny’s children were stillborn, knocking her total for the contest down to eight. Bagnato was disqualified because she was an illegal immigrant from Italy with no Canadian citizenship. Five of Clark’s children were determined to be born out of wedlock, putting her out of the running.

Instead, four women would tie with nine children each and be declared winners: Annie Katherine Smith, Kathleen Ellen Nagle, Lucy Alice Timleck, and Isabel Mary Maclean. Still, they wouldn’t receive the funds in an even split immediately. Due to lawsuits and court costs, each of the four women received $75,000, and it took them two years to receive it. Kenny and Clarke both sued, and each received a $12,500 settlement.

The Aftermath

The four families that were declared contest winners all appeared to use their winnings wisely, buying homes and investing in businesses. Clarke disappeared from the public eye, as did Bagnato. Kenny, who had proven to be one of the most outspoken contestants throughout the decade of participation, continued to be harassed by the press. By 1941, her family had run through the settlement funds and was once again living in a poverty-stricken area of the city.

Perhaps Millar’s greatest legacy from the Great Stork Derby was the moral and ethical conversations it brought to light. Revitalized in a 1994 thesis by a Dalhousie University student, Elizabeth Wilton, in podcasts and novels, the Great Stork Derby still brings questions and discussions to historians decades after its conclusion.

Topics such as reproduction, birth control, eugenics, social class, and religion are all interwoven in Millar’s contest and still remain highly controversial even today. The contest can be seen as an allegory for the Great Depression itself, and it has a fairy-tale enigma as well. It provided hope that would allow a family to leap from poverty to wealth at a time when all hope was lost. At the same time, potential repercussions could send a losing contestant to permanent melancholy and strife. While it was sometimes treated lightly in the press, the Great Stork Derby is a strong, serious representation of social attitudes that have proliferated in history and is a case study of morality.

The International Bartenders Association recognizes 102 cocktails. These cocktails are divided into three categories, named Contemporary Classics, Unforgettables, and New Era. Besides these select few, thousands more recipes, variations, and creations are now commonly considered cocktails by both mixologists and customers, whether recognized by the IBA or not.

Why not take a step back in time, and then behind the bar, to discover what bartenders of the finest establishments so skillfully create each evening? Let us unmix an abundance of ingredients, with the intention of revealing more about ten classic iconic cocktails. They all have one thing in common: they are all named after genuine, historical figures.

1. Gioachino Rossini  (The Rossini)

How better to begin a list of cocktails than with a classic Italian favorite, the Rossini?

In comparison with some of the upcoming cocktails on this list, the Rossini is very popular with restaurant customers all over the world and is also exceptionally easy to drink. This delightful blend of alcoholic fizz mixed with summer fruits makes for a sweet and refreshing beverage. The taste is generally likable to most, and although it is around twelve percent alcohol, it goes down just as easily as a soft drink.

Another advantage of the Rossini is how easy it is to prepare. A sparkling wine, (Prosecco or Champagne interchangeably), should simply be mixed with strawberry puree or strawberry syrup. There are no other instructions or pieces of advice concerning the actual cocktail. However, the finished product should be delivered to the drinker in a traditional Champagne flute, and perhaps garnished with half a strawberry.

The Rossini is named after a 19th century Italian composer, Gioachino Rossini. He lived between the years 1792 and 1868, and during that time became a renowned composer of songs, chamber pieces, piano works, and even some sacred music. However, Rossini is now best remembered for his 39 operas, the most famous of which being William Tell and The Barber of Seville.

2. Giovanni Bellini (The Bellini)

The Bellini is the better-known sibling of the Rossini. The recipes are remarkably similar, the only difference being that a Bellini is made with peach puree or syrup rather than strawberry. Just like Rossini, a Bellini can be made with either Prosecco or Champagne, and should be served in a traditional Champagne flute.

The first ever Bellini was mixed by Giuseppe Cipriani, who lived between 1900 and 1980. He was the founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice. He is also credited with being the first person to serve the dish we now know as Beef Carpaccio.

The Bellini became popular between around 1934 and 1948, and evolved into a specialty not only of Harry’s Bar, but also its counterpart in New York. It soon became a favorite in both Italy and the United States.

This loveable concoction of peach and Champagne was named after an Italian painter called Giovanni Bellini, who lived between 1430 and 1516. But, why did Cipriani consider the name of this Renaissance artist a suitable title of his invention? It is said that Cipriani thought the light, pink and peachy colors of the Bellini cocktail reminiscent of the colors so often used in Bellini’s masterpieces.

Some of Bellini’s best known works, all of which have religious themes, include Saint Jerome Reading in the Desert (1455), Christ Blessing (1500), Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (1480), The Feast of the Gods (1514), Saint Francis in Ecstasy (1480), Holy Allegory (1490), and Madonna and Child (1450).

3. Beau Brummell (Beau’s…)

When applied to a beverage, the name Beau Brummell does not refer to one particular cocktail. Instead, it can be added to the name of any item on a drinks menu as a mark of sophistication, luxury, or expense. For example, a simple Negroni may become a Beau’s Negroni, if it possesses something a little more special. The inclusion of the name Beau Brummell can signify the best or most coveted drink available in the establishment, in the same way that a Chef’s Recommendation notice can showcase one of the highest standard of dish on an a la carte menu.

The real Beau Brummell lived between the years of 1779 and 1840, and was quite the fashion icon during his era. The Encyclopaedia Britannica describes him as “an English dandy, famous for his friendship with George, Prince of Wales,” and also claims that he was “a leader of fashion at the beginning of the nineteenth century.”

According to urban myth, Beau Brummell took five hours per day to get dressed, and also demanded that his shoes be polished with Champagne. If this is true, there is little wonder that his name has become synonymous with high quality and glittering extravagance. Fortnum and Mason, the distinguished London department store, describe Beau Brummell as “a true icon of Regency dandyism.”

4. Queen Mary I (The Bloody Mary)

It would not be unreasonable to suggest that the Bloody Mary possesses a challenging taste, particularly for those with sweeter preferences. With primary ingredients such as vodka, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, horseradish, celery, lemon juice, and tomato juice, it is safe to say that this pungent beverage is not for everyone. Due to its strength and its spicy, savory flavor, it is consumed primarily in the afternoon as a hangover cure.

The origins of the Bloody Mary are generally unknown. It was probably invented sometime in the 1920s, and had become more prominent by the 1930s and 40s. It was named after Queen Mary I, the Tudor queen who ruled between 1553 and 1558, and who now possesses the epithet of Bloody Mary. She gained this nickname due to her persecution of Protestants, as around 300 were executed for heresy in just five years. It seems strange that the word bloody has fallen on Mary rather than her father, King Henry VIII, who willingly signed away many tens of thousands of lives throughout his near-40-year reign.

Although we will never know for certain, it is assumed that this name was chosen due to the fact that the thick, dark red concoction is usually reminiscent of blood.

5. Charlie Chaplin (The Charlie Chaplin)

Most people are familiar with Charlie Chaplin, the comic actor and filmmaker who lived between 1889 and 1977. But are you familiar with Charlie Chaplin the cocktail? The former was the iconic star of silent movies, and the latter is his namesake, a popular and enduring concoction of fruity ingredients.

The Charlie Chaplin cocktail was first mixed in 1934, and the recipe was published later that same year in a book named The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, having been written and compiled by Albert Stevens Crockett. The drink is simple to make, for it includes only three different liquids in equal parts. The first is sloe gin,  the second is apricot brandy, and the final is fresh lime juice. The end result produces a palatable but slightly sharp flavor.

The Charlie Chaplin is believed to have been created specifically for Charlie Chaplin. The vibrant and unusual flavor of the cocktail is supposedly reflective of Charlie Chaplin and the memorable factors that are so characteristic of his work.

6. Mary Pickford (The Mary Pickford)

Who better to follow Charlie Chaplin than his friend, the woman with whom he co-founded United Artists?

This next cocktail comprises a mixture of white rum, fresh pineapple juice, grenadine, and maraschino. The mixture should be shaken thoroughly and strained into a traditional cocktail glass with no ice.

It is said to have been created especially for its namesake, Mary Pickford. Legend has it that it was mixed to suit her tastes sometime during the 1920s. Mary Pickford’s exclusive drink was first served up to her by one bartender or another, either Eddie Woelke or Fred Kaufmann. They worked at the Hotel Sevilla-Biltmore, where Mary Pickford stayed while vacationing in Havana with Charlie Chaplin and her filmmaker husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Whether or not she enjoyed her personalized beverage is unknown.

Due to the time at which it was popularized, the Mary Pickford can be described as a Prohibition Era cocktail. This means that it was produced at a time when the production, importation and sale of alcohol was prohibited in the United States.

7. Ginger Rogers (The Ginger Rogers)

There is a cocktail that calls for two ounces of gin, three-quarters of an ounce of fresh lemon juice, ten fresh mint leaves, and a lemon or lime wedge. If you don’t know which beverage these ingredients form, the next two will surely give it away immediately. Next, your bartender should add three-quarters of an ounce of ginger syrup and stir thoroughly, and finally, the glass should then be filled to the top with ginger ale. Who else could this cocktail be named after, other than the American Hollywood icon, Ginger Rogers?

The Ginger Rogers, renowned for its refreshing but spicy taste and aroma, was first created by a bartender named Marcovaldo Dionysos. It was first mixed in 1995, the year of Ginger’s death at the age of 83. Now, it is often referred to as either a gin mojito or simply a ginger lemonade.

In the 21st century, Ginger Rogers is remembered not only for her films but also for her five husbands, for her six-year dance partnership with Fred Astaire, for winning an Oscar for her role in Kitty Foyle (1940), and for being one of the biggest box-office draws and highest-paid actresses of the decade.

Some of the best-known films in which Ginger Rogers starred include 42nd Street (1933), Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936), Stage Door (1937), Vivacious Lady (1938), and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949).

8. Shirley Temple (The Shirley Temple)

The Shirley Temple is unique on this list. It is the only cocktail included that does not contain any alcohol. Traditionally, the beverage consists only of ginger ale and sometimes lemonade, but mixed with grenadine and garnished with a maraschino cherry.

So, who invented the Shirley Temple, and why is it named after a child star of the 1930s? One popular version of the story tells us that the concoction was first mixed by the bartenders of Chasen’s Restaurant in West Hollywood. Their motivation for creating such a cocktail was their desire to provide something special and sophisticated, but non-alcoholic, for the young Shirley Temple whenever she visited the establishment.

Unfortunately for the creators, Shirley Temple herself was hardly a fan. When questioned about the drink in an interview in 1986, she publicly proclaimed her dislike of the creation. “All over the world I am served that,” she complained, “people think it’s funny.” She finished her answer by confessing that she hated the Shirley Temple cocktail, and found the taste far too sweet.

9. Rob Roy (The Rob Roy)

The concoction now known as a Rob Roy was first mixed in 1894. The creation is credited to the mixologists at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, an establishment responsible for countless other classic recipes.

A Rob Roy should include sweet vermouth (for sweetness), and Angostura bitters (for a depth of flavor). However, the primary alcoholic ingredient is Scotch whisky. Essentially, the Rob Roy is a variation of the Manhattan cocktail, but substituting American whiskey for Scottish. The inclusion of Scotch is likely to be the reason the cocktail is now associated with Scottish folklore and Scotland in general.

Naturally, this Caledonian cocktail was named after a Scottish folk hero. The chosen man was none other than the popular Jacobite outlaw named Rob Roy MacGregor, who lived between 1671 and 1734.

It is thought that the creator of the cocktail was inspired to choose the name after watching an operetta about his life. This operetta, named Rob Roy, was composed by Reginald De Koven and Harry B. Smith, and was loosely based on the story of his life.

To enjoy a Rob Roy at its best, it should be served in a chilled glass with a few cubes of ice.

10. Margarita …? (The Margarita)

The Margarita is one of the world’s best known and most commonly created cocktails. Despite this, the history of the drink is shrouded in mystery, and its origins are the cause of much debate amongst historians and mixologists alike. The only thing we know for certain is that the cocktail was in existence by the year of 1936, for this was when it was first mentioned in print, in a newspaper article written by journalist James Graham.

However, the date is commonly contested. It is argued that the Margarita predates this mention by many decades. Interestingly, it was the following year, in 1937, that the first Margarita recipe was printed in a book. It was included in a compilation of drink recipes named the Café Royal Cocktail Book, which was published in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, some say that the cocktail was created as late as the 1940s.

The other thing we don’t know about this cocktail is the origin of its name. It seems likely that it was named after a woman named Margarita. But we have yet to discover which Margarita it was named after, or whether it was named after a woman at all. Regardless of the lack of historical evidence, many potential candidates named Margarita have been suggested as its inspiration.

Some claim it was the beautiful, Mexican-German daughter of an ambassador, named Margarita Henkel. Some claim it was the Dallas-born socialite, Margarita Sames. Some claim it was the Mexican showgirl named Margarita, better known as Rita de la Rosa. Interestingly, throughout the 1940s, the company Jose Cuervo ran an ad campaign for their Margarita with the slogan, “Margarita: it’s more than a girl’s name.”

A classic Margarita should include tequila, lime juice, and triple sec. Whether or not to add ice is down to personal preference. Famously, the rim of a Margarita glass should be lined with salt.

Walking into a great history museum is the closest we can get to true time travel. From London and Berlin to Cairo and Mexico City, these 15 institutions rank among the best history museums in the world. Each museum holds culture-defining artifacts including the Rosetta Stone, the treasures of Tutankhamun, the Terracotta Warriors, the Parthenon sculptures, and much more.

1. British Museum (London, UK)

Welcoming over six million visitors annually, the British Museum has long been regarded as one of the best history museums in the world. Founded in 1753 as the world’s first national public museum, it now houses more than eight million objects spanning every continent and all of human history. It is considered a “universal museum” and remains free to enter.

From ancient Egypt to Anglo-Saxon England, its collection redefined how we understand global civilizations. Some of the collections are controversial, as there are questions around how they were obtained and if they should be returned, such as the Benin bronzes from West Africa and Greece’s Parthenon marbles.

2. Pergamon Museum (Berlin, Germany)

The Pergamon Museum is Berlin’s crown jewel, attracting millions with its full-scale reconstructions of ancient monuments. Located on Berlin’s famous Museum Island, it was conceived in the 1880s when Carl Humann discovered the remains of the Pergamon Altar in western Turkey and shipped it back to Berlin for reconstruction. However, construction difficulties meant that the museum did not open until 1930.

The museum is also home to the Ishtar Gate, a reconstructed Babylonian gateway made from shimmering turquoise-glazed bricks dating to the 6th century BC. There is also the Market Gate of Miletus, an example of Roman monumental architecture from the 2nd century AD.

The main Pergamon Museum is currently closed for renovations, with galleries scheduled to reopen individually between 2027 and 2037. Meanwhile, visitors can see many of its treasures at the nearby Pergamon Museum: The Panorama.

3. Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza, Egypt)

Situated in the shadows of the pyramids of Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum is the largest archaeological museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization. Recently opened to the public after decades of planning, it is a state-of-the-art mega-museum that celebrates Egypt’s fascinating history. The museum’s glass facades are structurally aligned to provide panoramic views of the pyramids.

The museum’s most popular exhibition is the Tutankhamun galleries, as the museum houses all 5,398 artifacts together. It also has a colossal 3,200-year-old, 83-ton statue of Ramesses II and King Khufu’s solar boats, alongside plenty of Egyptian gold, pharaonic mummies, magic amulets, and more.

4. Topkapi Palace Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)

For nearly 400 years, Topkapi Palace was the seat of Ottoman sultans. It now serves as one of Istanbul’s most important museums. Opened in 1924, it reveals the opulence of imperial court life through jeweled treasures, sacred relics, and private chambers.

The Harem, once a political and family center, is a highlight for most visitors, though only a fraction of its 300 rooms are open to the public. Important objects include the Topkapi Dagger, an emerald-encrusted ceremonial weapon; the pear-shaped, 86-carat Spoonmaker’s Diamond, one of the largest diamonds on public display; and 2,500 original garments from the imperial wardrobe.

5. Vatican Museums (Vatican City)

The Vatican Museums are a group of palaces, galleries, and courtyards that hold collections amassed by the popes over the last five centuries. The museums were born when the statue of Laocoön and His Sons was discovered. Pope Julius II bought the stunning piece and put it on public display, and the museums grew up around it.

The museums have Renaissance masterpieces, many commissioned by the popes, such as Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. The Vatican also has one of the world’s finest collections of classical antiquity, mostly housed in the Pio-Clementino Museum, including the Belvedere Marbles.

6. National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico City, Mexico)

Mexico’s most visited museum, the National Museum of Anthropology, attracts millions with its iconic modernist design and collection of Mesoamerican treasures. Opened in 1964, the museum’s vast galleries showcase Mexico’s pre-Columbian cultures, from the Aztecs to the Maya.

Full-scale reconstructions bring ceremonial spaces to life. Among the most stunning is the full-scale reconstruction of the burial chamber of the great Mayan ruler K’inich Janaab Pakal with his actual green jade funerary mask.

7. Acropolis Museum (Athens, Greece)

Opened in 2009, the Acropolis Museum was built to display the masterpieces of the Acropolis of Athens in direct view of the Parthenon above. Its glass floors reveal ancient ruins beneath, while the Parthenon Gallery mirrors the temple’s original layout, offering unmatched context for the sculptures inside.

Beyond the Parthenon, the museum also displays the original five Caryatids from the Erechtheion temple, the archaic Moschophoros (calf-bearer) sculpture, and a statue of Nike adjusting her sandals from the Temple of Athena Nike.

8. Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses (Xi’an, China)

Discovered in 1974, the ancient underground Terracotta Army is one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. The Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses preserves thousands of life-sized warriors and horses, originally created to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor. Each figure has a unique face, believed to reflect those of real soldiers from the Qin dynasty.

While today the warriors appear in uniform clay-gray, they were originally painted in bright colors, including red, blue, green, and purple. The museum is using cutting-edge chemical stabilization to preserve these colors as new warriors are excavated.

9. National Museum of Korea (Seoul, South Korea)

The National Museum of Korea is South Korea’s largest and most prestigious cultural institution, attracting millions of visitors annually. Since 1945, it has preserved Korea’s heritage, from prehistoric artifacts and Buddhist art to modern works, all within a museum surrounded by tranquil gardens and reflecting pools.

The first floor provides a chronological journey through Korea’s history. The second floor is dedicated to calligraphy and painting, and the third floor showcases Asian Arts. The museum also boasts a reconstructed ten-story Pagoda of Gyeongcheonsa Temple from the 14th century.

10. National Archaeological Museum (Naples, Italy)

The National Archaeological Museum in Naples is a favorite with Roman history lovers because it is the repository of finds from Pompeii and Herculaneum, tragically frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The collection includes frescoes, mosaics, jewelry, and more.

The museum also holds the Farnese Collection of sculptures, including the famous Hercules leaning on club sculpture that became a blueprint for Renaissance representations of male athleticism. The museum also holds the third-largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in Italy.

11. Apartheid Museum (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Opened in 2001, the Apartheid Museum is the only museum in the world devoted solely to South Africa’s apartheid era. Its exhibits trace the rise and fall of racial segregation while honoring the struggle for democracy.

Visitors to the Apartheid Museum begin their journey with tickets randomly classifying them as “White” or “Non-White,” a poignant reminder of apartheid’s daily reality. Due to its unique focus, it is recognized as one of the world’s best 20th-century history museums.

12. Imperial War Museums (London, UK)

The Imperial War Museums are one of the world’s foremost institutions dedicated to the study of modern conflict. Founded in 1917, it documents the impact of war on people and society through vast collections that span the World Wars, the Cold War, and beyond. The Holocaust Galleries and dramatic displays of tanks, planes, and rockets remain deeply moving.

Beyond the central London galleries, IWM Duxford is Europe’s premier aviation museum. The Churchill War Rooms are a secret underground bunker beneath Westminster that has been preserved. The MHS Belfast is a massive Royal Navy light cruiser permanently moored on the River Thames.

13. Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, D.C., USA)

Opened in 2016, this Smithsonian institution is the first national museum devoted solely to African American history and culture. Its architecture, inspired by Yoruban art, makes it one of the most striking buildings on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Inside, exhibits span slavery, civil rights, and contemporary culture, creating both a memorial and a celebration of African American life.

The Slavery and Freedom Gallery has artifacts like an original weathered timber slave cabin from Edisto Island, South Carolina, and iron shackles used for captured children. The Era of Segregation gallery includes a massive 1940s segregated Southern Railway passenger cart.

14. National Museum of India (New Delhi, India)

One of Asia’s largest museums, the National Museum of India, preserves over 200,000 works spanning 5,000 years. Founded in 1949, it houses Harappan relics, Mughal masterpieces, and more. Its Central Asian antiquities and relics associated with the Buddha make it not only a museum but also a destination for cultural pilgrimage.

Collection highlights include a 4,000-year-old bronze statuette of a dancing girl and a 5th-century standing Buddha made from pink sandstone. The museum also holds manuscripts, paintings, and silks that reflect trade along the Silk Road between India, China, and the West.

15. Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, England) 

The Ashmolean Museum is the world’s first university museum and the oldest public museum in the English-speaking world. Originally a cabinet of curiosities built around objects collected by John Tradescant, it became the blueprint for modern museums.

It is more manageable than some of the mega museums, but still holds internationally important collections. These include the Alfred Jewel, a rare Anglo-Saxon treasure, the Jericho Skull, a plaster-faced human skull from around 7000 BC, and the Messiah Stradivarius, considered the most valuable violin on Earth.

Quick Facts: Must-Visit History Museums

From peasant to trusted advisor and friend of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, Rasputin is one of the most intriguing figures of the late Russian Empire. A monk with a unique interpretation of Orthodox Christianity, a self-proclaimed healer, and a seducer, Gregory Rasputin’s rise and fall inspired generations of writers and filmmakers. While his name is famous, his story is mysterious. Discover more about the enigmatic figure with 11 unbelievable facts about the “Mad Monk.”

Rasputin Life Timeline

1. Rasputin’s Childhood Is Considered a “Black Hole”

Not much is known about Rasputin’s early years before his religious conversion, and it is sometimes referred to as a “black hole.” Born on January 21, 1869, he was probably one of nine children born to his peasant parents. Potentially only one of his siblings, a sister called Feodosiya, survived to adulthood. He lived in a small Siberian village named Pokrovskoye, and harsh conditions resulted in high infant mortality rates.

His father seems to have been a farmer and local church elder, and also worked as a government courier, ferrying people and goods between Tobolsk and Tyumen in the harsh Siberian environment. This probably meant that Rasputin received no formal education and was illiterate well into adulthood.

2. He Was Married with Children

Rasputin lived a fairly standard peasant life until he joined the Orthodox Church in the 1890s. He travelled to Abalak, another Siberian village, to find a wife, a peasant girl named Praskovya Dubrovina. He courted her for several months and then married her in 1887, taking her back to Pokrovskoye.

The couple had seven children together, three of whom survived into adulthood: Dmitry, born in 1895; Maria, born in 1898; and Varvara, born in 1900.

3. He Joined an Illegal Sect in the Russian Orthodox Church

The 28-year-old Rasputin went on a pilgrimage in 1897 that led to a religious awakening. He visited various towns and churches and discovered the Khlyst sect. One of the many beliefs of the Khlysts was that only by committing sins and repenting can one get close to God. This is based on his later religious beliefs, which aligned with Khlyst ideas, but there is no evidence that he actually joined the sect.

It is believed that he learned to read and write when he spent several months at a monastery in Verkhoturye, but did not stay because he criticized the monks for engaging in homosexuality.

Following his “awakening,” Rasputin returned home, but spent much of his time traveling around the Russian Empire, declaring himself a “Holy Man” with supernatural abilities, such as healing. When he was home, he had a small circle of followers who prayed with him on Sundays and other Holy Days, with their secret prayer sessions raising local suspicions.

4. He Was Probably a Hypnotist, Not a Healer

Shortly after the Russian Revolution of 1905, Rasputin was introduced to the Royal Household. He gradually got close to the Romanovs and, in 1907, helped stabilize the condition of the sick young heir Alexei. This event would gain him the favor of Nicholas II, and more particularly, of his wife, Alexandra.

It is unlikely that the monk possessed any of his self-proclaimed healing abilities. As a matter of fact, even the inner circle of the Royal Household disbelieved this. While he indeed helped young Alexei, he may have used hypnosis skills that he developed during his “religious awakening.” Hypnosis was very common among Orthodox priests. Rasputin often utilized his abilities, particularly to impress the ladies of the Russian nobility.

5. Rasputin Had Terrible Manners and Horrible Hygiene

According to most of his contemporaries, Rasputin’s manners were unfit for Russian nobility. Like most peasants, he was accustomed to a humble lifestyle. The use of spoons, forks, and knives had yet to be generalized among the peasantry, and thus, the monk struggled to adapt to the customs of his new entourage.

However, by all accounts, his bad manners were excessive even for the peasantry. It is said that he would lick spoons before serving others and often had food portions in his beard. In addition, Rasputin rarely washed and often had a foul odor.

6. Rasputin Called Himself “Christ in Miniature”

Following his religious conversion in 1897, Rasputin traveled around the country, supposedly healing people with his “unnatural” powers. He progressively developed a reputation as a mystic and declared himself a “holy man.” He embraced this reputation so strongly that he claimed to be sent by God to save the Russian Empire, knew the time of his death, and said to the French Ambassador that “despite his terrible sins, he is Christ in Miniature.”

Those words would have usually passed for the rambling of a madman if it weren’t for the fact that a significant part of the Russian nobility believed him and followed his words, including Tsarina Alexandra.

7. Rasputin Seduced Several Noblewomen

Despite his self-declared holiness, Rasputin indulged in several activities considered sinful. The “Mad Monk,” as he was called by many, was a heavy drinker. It is said that he rarely sobered up, and when he did, it was only to spend time with various ladies of the court.

In fact, despite his severe lack of hygiene, Rasputin managed to gain the favor of many noblewomen. It is even said that he had an affair with the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. While this is questionable, he certainly had a great influence over her,  and she blindly implemented his advice when her husband left her in charge of the country in 1916 following his departure to the front.

Both his political influence and his popularity among the ladies of Saint Petersburg gained Rasputin enemies in the upper class. The latter’s resentment only grew with time and reached a breaking point on the eve of the First World War in 1914.

8. He Influenced Russia’s Involvement In World War I

Rasputin opposed Russia’s entry into World War I. He claimed that the conflict would be disastrous for the country and have cataclysmic consequences for the monarchy. As his advice was not heeded, Rasputin insisted on going to the front to bless Russian troops. This was refused, and the army’s  Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, vowed to have him hanged if he got anywhere near the frontlines.

However, Rasputin correctly predicted the early disastrous defeats of the Russian Empire. This pushed Tsar Nicholas II to heed his advice to take command of the army, thus abandoning Saint Petersburg to his wife, who was under the monk’s influence. The Tsar’s leadership in battle did not impact the stalemate with the Central Powers and damaged his popularity.

9. Rasputin Predicted His Own Death

The correspondence of Rasputin and Tsar Nicholas II after the monarch’s departure to the frontlines indicates that the monk had quite an interest in his own death. In a letter from December 1916, Rasputin wrote: “I feel that I shall leave life before January 1st… If it was your relations who have wrought my death, then none of your children will remain alive for more than two years.”

It would indeed be the Tsar’s relations that ended the life of Rasputin. Growing weary of his lasting influence, some of the most prominent noblemen of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg’s name during World War I) plotted his assassination in December 1916, two months before the start of the February Revolution that would end Romanov rule. His prediction that the Tsar’s children would die two years after his death came true.

10. Rasputin Survived an Assassination Attempt In 1914

Due to his influence, the many enemies of Rasputin were not only members of the Russian nobility. Many priests of the Orthodox Church severely condemned the self-declared “Christ in Miniature.” Among them was Sergei Trufanov, also known as Hieromonk Iliodor. He was one of the followers of Georgy Gapon, a leading figure in the 1905 Revolution, and severely condemned the shortcomings of the late Romanov rule.

On the 12th of July 1914, a peasant woman named Chionya Guseva, a supporter of Iliodor, approached Rasputin on the streets and stabbed him in the stomach. The Mad Monk managed to run away and survived the wound. The would-be assassin was later found insane and isolated in an asylum in Tomsk. Iliodor fled to Norway right after learning of the failed attempt.

11. Rasputin Proved Hard to Kill

Prince Felix Yusupov, a nobleman and significant opponent of Rasputin, lured him to his palace on the 29th of December 1916. With co-conspirators, the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich and Deputy Vladimir Purishkevich, Prince Yusupov fed the monk some cyanide-laced cakes and drinks. But despite the high quantity of consumed poison, Rasputin did not die and continued indulging himself in the various offered commodities.

Exacerbated, Yusupov and his allies shot the monk several times. But even then, Rasputin survived. However, he found himself incapacitated by the wounds and was thrown into the Malaya Nevska River. The water found in his lungs suggests that Grigory Rasputin died by drowning at the age of 47. A few months later, the Tsar abdicated, and the Russian Empire was no more.

Jane Austen’s novels promote the idea of virtuous living within a complex social setting, delivering stories that contain moral education. Austen drew on a classical tradition that had enumerated the virtues necessary for a good life and the ideas of Christian virtue that permeated her own life. In the novels, moral improvement involves, as writer and critic C.S. Lewis observed, the experience of a profound self-awareness. Austen carefully choreographs her characters’ actions, using what Lewis calls a “grammar of conduct,” leading them on a journey of success or failure in achieving moral improvement.

Austen’s Use of Classical Virtues

The Greek philosopher Aristotle defined virtue as that which “will be the state of character which makes a man good and which makes him do his own work well.” Jane Austen’s novels flesh out the complexity of that process. For Austen, a virtue is not the capacity to obey rules and meet obligations. She focuses on character virtues developed through life experience that define the choices her characters will make.

Many critics have speculated about the sources of Austen’s approach to virtue, with some pointing to similarities she shares with Aristotle, who, in his work The Nicomachean Ethics, outlined a detailed scheme of what was necessary to achieve happiness. For Aristotle, the pursuit of happiness was both practical, rooted in action and choices, and philosophical, leading to wisdom.

Aristotle produced what philosopher Gilbert Ryle described as “copious and elastic discriminations,” focusing on excesses and deficiencies that strayed from what Aristotle defined as the mean, or the ideal middle way. For Aristotle, the way to happiness was to find the middle way in conduct.

Thus, in Austen’s novels, characters are drawn away from this middle ground by complex family and social relationships as they strive for happiness. For some, like Darcy and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, this results in joy; for others, like Lydia and Mr. Wickham, the refusal to follow the path of moderation ends in hardship.

Some critics detect a Christian aspect of Austen’s view of the virtues. Her father, a clergyman, had a scholarly background and may well have influenced Jane’s interest in the virtues. As a result, although not explicitly depicted in the novels, Christian virtues such as faith, hope, and charity were added to the classical virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude.

The Challenges of the Virtuous Life

In Jane Austen’s novels, the virtuous life is not easy. Happiness comes at a cost and is won by struggle and sacrifice. The choice to pursue a course of virtuous action can follow careful deliberation, as with Elinor in Sense and Sensibility. It can also emerge from a natural inclination learned through habit, as Fanny Price demonstrates in Mansfield Park. In both cases, the decision to pursue virtue and seek personal happiness creates obstacles that disrupt the lives of the protagonists and those in their immediate social circle.

In Sense and Sensibility, unlike her sister Marianne, who allows emotion to overwhelm her, Elinor keeps her head, preserving the vital virtue of prudence. By contrasting the two sisters, Austen highlights the importance of maintaining self-control in society. For Elinor, the virtues of temperance and prudence are essential. For Marianne, their lack becomes problematic.

Fanny Price, in Mansfield Park, is placed in a domestic situation with the Bertram family, which requires her to draw on her hard-won internal resources. She becomes what Lewis calls the “spectator of deceptions.” While the characters who inhabit or pass through the grand Bertram family house act out their virtues and vices, Fanny remains constant in her refusal to be affected or changed by them. Fanny resists the advances of Henry Crawford and the attempts by his sister Mary to tempt her into making ill-judged choices. Fanny emerges resolute and, by the novel’s end, is ready to marry Edmund.

The Complexity of a Life of Virtue

Aristotle described the path of the virtuous life as one of moderation. In Jane Austen’s novels, we also witness the complexity and variety of virtues. There are no simple choices between good and evil in Austen’s work. Her characters are not cardboard characters inhabiting a simplistic moral universe. This enables subtle comparisons of temperament, desire, and capacity. Fine details of excess or deficiency in virtue are examined for narrative effect.

In Sense and Sensibility, the difference between Lucy Steele and the Dashwood sisters lies in the contrast between false emotion and the capacity for careful deliberation in moral matters. With Elinor and Marianne, we see the inner complexity of their lives as they struggle for coherence in their ethical judgments.

Darcy, in Pride and Prejudice, is portrayed as a snob who is disdainful of those he considers inferior. But Elizabeth senses depth to Darcy’s character and explores these throughout the novel, challenging him whenever necessary. Darcy eventually succumbs to Elizabeth’s pressure. But Austen does not stop there. In prompting the transformation of Darcy, Elizabeth comes to important self-knowledge. “I never knew myself,” Elizabeth admits after encountering Darcy in all his complexity.

Austen displays skill at delineating subtleties of character, even with someone as imperturbable as the hero of her most famous novel. Austen does not confine this approach to her hero and heroine. Each of the Bennet sisters exemplifies an aspect of pride gone wrong. Jane’s lack of pride becomes indifference to consequences, while Lydia’s presumption leads to an ill-judged marriage.

Doing the Right Thing in Austen’s World

For Aristotle, what was correct in personal conduct was whatever was done “at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way, is what is both intermediate and best, and this is characteristic of virtue.”

In Jane Austen’s novels, this principle dominates the narrative. It is the principle of the moderate middle way, and few characters escape its controlling effect. At the foundation of this principle is the necessity of deliberation. In Austen’s novels, characters who cannot deliberate bring disorder into their lives. Even with a character as prudent in her judgments as Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, it may take the course of the entire narrative for the right balance to be achieved.

Emma Woodhouse in Emma takes it upon herself to become a matchmaker. She fails to deliberate sufficiently about the consequences of this choice, and it falls to Mr. Knightley to act as the correcting force. He stands back, viewing the results of Emma’s interference. Throughout the novel, George Knightley openly critiques Emma, ultimately guiding her to moral improvement. In his eyes, Emma has failed to do what was right for the right person at the right time. Her scheming has been born of a deficiency in practical reasoning, which leads to an insensitivity toward others. Emma has strayed from the middle way of careful reasoning.

In Emma, the heroine illustrates the negative impact upon others of a lack of empathy. Acceptance of the judgment of others and personal humility are the only ways this vice can be corrected. Mr. Knightley becomes the source of that correction.

The Rewards of Virtue

For Aristotle, each person seeks a goal, or what Aristotle called a “telos.” In Jane Austen’s novels, this end is dramatized as the final reward of virtuous acts, often in the form of marriage. While the novels have been described as domestic comedies, and marriage ultimately plays a central part in their conclusions, the happiness achieved by Austen’s characters is not confined to marital bliss. Happiness is achieved in a life lived well, meeting the demands of virtue, and in accordance with the principle of moderation. It is also illustrated by the establishment of a renewed social order.

Throughout the course of the narratives, each of Austen’s characters is challenged. They must show the extent to which they possess the virtues. Some meet the challenge, achieving personal union with another. Elizabeth and Darcy marry; Emma and Mr Knightley are wed at the end of the novel. By contrast, Henry Crawford and Maria in Mansfield Park reap the rewards from their transgressive choices, outcasts of the Bertram family society. Mr. Elliott and Mrs. Clay in Persuasion also suffer social banishment after straying from the path of moderation.

The virtues gained by Austen’s characters strengthen society. In this sense, she adds a Christian dimension to her narratives. Charity, the central virtue of Austen’s Christian faith, becomes the means whereby the disorder of polite society is banished, to be replaced by an order essential for the future lives of her characters.

Jane Austen’s novels promoted virtuous living through stories that dramatized the challenges of being virtuous, its complex nature, and the dangers of straying from the middle way into excess and deficiency in conduct. Her large array of characters allowed Austen to use narrative to overcome the limitations of moral instruction delivered in philosophical and religious tracts.

What inspired Jane Austen’s beloved novels, and how have they stood the test of time? This article provides a brief summary of the main events of Austen’s life. In 1981, the influential 20th-century philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre wrote in his seminal work After Virtue that Jane Austen was “the last great representative of the classical tradition of the virtues… because she unites the Christian and Aristotelian moral traditions masterfully.” According to MacIntyre, no writer after Austen could combine these two traditions. Moreover, while Henry Fielding and Samuel Richardson had mastered the novel of morality before her, Austen refined the form. Following Austen, the Victorian novel moved on to other concerns, leading McIntyre to call her the last great English novelist. Is this a fair claim, and what was the source of her genius?

Jane Austen Life Timeline

Jane Austen’s Early Years

Jane Austen (1775–1817) was born in the village of Steventon, Hampshire, on the 16th of December 1775 to the Reverend George Austen and Cassandra Leigh. She had six brothers and one older sister, Cassandra. Jane enjoyed a deep and close relationship with her only sister, captured by their many letters.

Jane’s father was an Anglican clergyman and Rector of Steventon and nearby Deane. Mr. Austen attended Oxford University, and his academic background had a profound influence on Jane. From an early age, her father encouraged Jane in her studies and her tentative steps as an author. Until his death, George Austen did all he could to help Jane develop her burgeoning literary abilities.

Jane’s mother, Cassandra, was descended from a family of prominent clerics and Oxford scholars. The Austen family home in Steventon was situated in a rural environment, and education was largely conducted within the household, following unsuccessful attempts to place the two girls in boarding school. Amateur family dramatics were a feature of home life, as was rigorous learning guided by Reverend Austen’s watchful eye. Jane became well-read in the literature of the 18th-century Enlightenment. The epistolary novel Sir Charles Grandison by Samuel Richardson was a particular favorite.

Soon after Jane’s birth, financial difficulties prompted Mr. Austen to take private pupils into his home to supplement the family income. The Austen family lived in relative comfort within their modest means, but their financial situation remained a constant source of worry in the years to come. Anxiety about money was a theme found in all of Jane’s future novels.

A Large & Important Family

Family, especially her brothers, played a central part in Austen’s life. She was close to them all and, throughout her life, was attentive to their fortunes. James became a vicar; Francis and Charles joined the Navy, and both eventually took part in the Napoleonic Wars; Henry also joined the military, but he left for a career in finance. Young George, who had epilepsy, was sent to live with a relative.

In 1783, when Jane was eight years old, the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Knight adopted her brother, Edward. Years later, when he became the Austen family’s benefactor, Edward was a crucial source of support for his parents, brothers, and sisters. Jane contributed some of her earliest writings to The Loiterer, a weekly publication edited by her brother James while he was at Oxford University.

Between the ages of eleven and eighteen, Jane wrote 27 pieces, which would later make up her collected juvenilia. Included in these volumes were short tales, plays, fragments, and various unfinished scraps. Jane described some of these very short works as “novels,” including one that contained a comedic account of an incident-packed day out in London.

The Austen Family Moves to Bath

In December 1800, Jane’s father decided to retire and move to Bath. The following year, Jane and her parents left Steventon, their home for many years. Bath had become a popular destination for the English upper classes, eager to take advantage of the healing Roman water spas and indulge in the many social entertainments, including balls held in the Assembly Rooms. At these events, echoed in her novels, Jane formed judgments and opinions about the people she would later depict in fiction. Jane and her family spent most of the next few years in various residences in the town.

In 1802, Jane finished revising a novel, initially called Susan but later titled Northanger Abbey. She sold the book to a publisher for £10, who took it without clearly indicating when he would publish it. The book remained unpublished for the rest of Jane’s life, a fact that became a source of distress to her. Years later, Jane tried to have her novel returned so she could offer it to another publisher, but she was threatened with legal action. The publisher was unaware of Jane’s identity since her novels, now enjoying modest success, had been issued without carrying her name. It was only after her death that her brother Henry bought back Northanger Abbey.

Love & Tragedy in the Life of Jane Austen

In matters of the heart, young Jane Austen was not immune to the temptations of romantic affection. She formed an important and, what seemed to her, deeply felt attachment with young Tom Lefroy, but it came to nothing.

Later, in 1802, Jane accepted a marriage proposal from Harris Bigg-Wither, a young man of some substance, but changed her mind after reconsidering the situation overnight. Accepting and subsequently rejecting a marriage proposal carried significant social consequences. During her overnight deliberations, Jane realized she had grave doubts about the character of her intended husband. Inevitably, Jane’s actions caused outrage in the family of Harris Bigg-Wither. This episode affected Jane greatly.

In 1805, Jane’s father, George, died after a brief illness, and Jane grieved deeply. George Austen had been a moral guide to Jane and a provider of religious instruction, which was reflected in the prayers she wrote. His loss proved a serious setback for Mrs. Austen and her two daughters, placing the family under great financial distress. It prompted their removal from Bath, and a period of economic uncertainty prevailed.

Eventually, Edward, now established in his new role as the head of a growing Knight family at the grand residence at Godmersham in Kent, offered Mrs. Austen, Jane, and Cassandra the opportunity to create a Hampshire home for themselves. She had already drafted what would become Pride and Prejudice, and here she would complete the work.

A New Home & Fresh Beginning

In July 1809, Mrs. Austen and her two daughters moved into the house at Chawton, a small village near the main travel route to Winchester. In this comfortable home, situated close to the grand residence owned by her brother Edward, Jane completed almost all of her most famous novels, including a revision of the previous drafts of First Impressions, which became Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813.

Chawton was to be a place where Jane Austen experienced her greatest happiness. The house at Chawton, large enough and well-appointed, enabled Jane to focus more of her energies on writing fiction. It was during these years at Chawton that she formed what would become her distinctive body of work, unique in English literature.

A year after moving into the house at Chawton, the novel Sense and Sensibility was accepted for publication. Jane immediately started work on Mansfield Park, completed in 1813. It is interesting to note that readers have often seen Mansfield Park as a different and inferior kind of novel to Pride and Prejudice. Many reviewers over the years have found Mansfield Park’s heroine, Fanny Price, unappealing and even priggish. MacIntyre praises Fanny Price for possessing the virtue of constancy in the face of the various moral defects she finds during her life with the Bertram family. In any case, by writing a work so obviously different from Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen was already showing her mastery over the novel form and its potential as a vehicle for moral narrative.

Finally, a Life of Writing & Publishing

While living at Chawton, Jane published Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. In the year of her death, 1817, she began Sanditon, which was issued posthumously along with Persuasion, thanks to the efforts of Jane’s faithful brother, Henry.

Taken collectively, these works demonstrate Jane Austen’s remarkable range as a novelist, showcasing her skills in crafting incisive character portraits, sharp social satire, and comedy, as well as a powerful sense of morality honed by her acute observation of the world in which she lived.

As critics have suggested in recent years, the moral quality of Jane Austen’s work, not didactic but subtle, resulted from her father’s efforts to provide a broad education in the classics, theology, and literature to his daughter. The private prayers written by Jane also reveal a profound Christian sensibility, a clear legacy of her father’s religious influence. During her years at Chawton, Jane’s work grew in popularity, though not in greater financial rewards. Estimates suggest that during her life, she earned only a few hundred pounds from her fiction.

Jane Austen’s Death & Legacy

After a long battle with illness, Jane Austen died on the 18th of July 1817. A week later, she was buried in Winchester Cathedral. On her gravestone were carved the words:

“The benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her temper, and the extraordinary endowments of her mind obtained the regard of all who knew her, and the warmest love of her intimate connections.”

After her sister’s death, Cassandra Austen worked tirelessly to ensure that Jane’s legacy would be looked after, involving herself in the ongoing publication of the novels. Cassandra’s affection for her sister was reflected in the care with which she protected Jane’s literary inheritance. However, Cassandra’s decision to destroy selected letters from her sister frustrated the future efforts of biographers to discover some aspects of Jane’s life. Under Cassandra’s stewardship, the literary reputation of Jane Austen was maintained and then passed to her successors. For the remainder of the 19th century, Jane Austen’s six principal novels came to be regarded as high points in English literature.

Jane’s reputation grew steadily with the passing years. Tennyson compared her to Shakespeare, and C.S. Lewis likened her to Samuel Johnson, inheriting his common sense, his morality, and much of his style. In likening her to past literary giants, Lewis was affirming a future assessment of her uniqueness. Her novels continue to be read into the 20th century and have gained new relevance in a variety of fields of literary studies, from feminism to postmodernism.