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OF COMINGS AND GOINGS, Continued.
An exhibition celebrating Roman Emperor Hadrian at the British Museum included a bronze head of the leader traveling to both ends of Hadrian's wall. The 2nd Century head was found in the River Thames.
A year-long program comprising 350 events to promote Liverpool as a European Capital of Culture was begun with the help of Ringo Starr, who performed on the roof of St. George's Hall in the city's center.
According to a 16th Century Florentine city official, the model for Leonardo da Vinci's portrait, the Mona Lisa, was Lisa del Giocondo. Notes written in the margins of a book by Agostino Vespucci (a friend of the artist), dated October 1503, have lead German academics at the Heidelberg University Library to this conclusion.
Millions of movie memorabilia items are on display at the Margaret Herrick Library in California, including posters, photographs, scripts, fan magazines, etc. A great resource for researchers and fans.
John Lennon's Across the Universe became the first song to be beamed into space by the US space agency Nasa. Aimed at North Star, Polaris (431 light years from Earth) on the 40th anniversary of the song's recording, the track was transmitted through the Deep Space Network of antennas.
British actress Julie Walters (Educating Rita, Harry Potter films), made an OBE in 1999, has received a CBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
The University of Notre Dame has honored actor Martin Sheen with the Laetare Medal for his humanitarian work.
A 10 second portion of a woman singing the French folk song Au Clair de la Lune, recorded in 1860, was played for the first time in 150 years. It is possibly the oldest recorded human voice known.
Bob Dylan has received an honorary Pulitzer Price for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture."
In a series of polls of film critics, entertainment magazines, and the American Film Institute, Humphrey Bogart emerges as the Number One movie star of all time.
The oldest known bust of Roman leader Julius Caesar was recovered from the bottom of the River Rhone in France. Discovered near Arles (founded by Caesar), the bust is dated at 46 BCE, which is also the date of the town's foundation.
A miniature watercolor portrait of Thomas Lefroy, painted on ivory in 1789 by English artist George Engleheart, is thought to have been the inspiration for the character of Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice.
Nowhere Boy, a film about John Lennon's early life is a project given a grant by the UK Film Council. Based on a book by Lennon's half-sister, the film is being developed by Matt Greenhalgh.
Cuba has presented thousands of documents, through an electronic archive, of writer Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway wrote many of his works while living there. A joint operation of the Heritage Council and the US Social Science Research Council, the items include photos, letters, and manuscripts.
Researchers have discovered that drawings by artist Leonardo da Vinci at the National Library of Wales were stored, during World War II, in the library's secret cave as a protective measure in the event of a war in Europe. Among the works hidden away, were: the Saxon Chronicles, the works of Chaucer, and the Magna Carta.
Sheet music found by the staff of the Nantes, France library has been authenticated as a work of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The 2 minute piece had its first public performance in Nantes, performed by violinist Daniel Cuiller.
Ancient Egyptian works of art first acquired by the British Museum in the 1820s and displayed until the late 1990s are back on display after a 7 year conservation project. The paintings are from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun, which was located near Luxor, and depict a Temple of Amun accountant at Karnak who died in 1350 BCE.
A series of displays of British art in China includes an exhibition of JMW Turner's work to be presented at the National Art Museum in Beijing.
Celebrations of the 250th birthday of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns abound; this web-site will help you link to the man and his work: www.bbc.co.uk/robertburns/
The house of Charles Darwin opened as a museum marking the 2009 bicentenary of his birth. Apparently the peculiar institution of slavery revolted him, and a new book, Darwin's Sacred Cause, follows Charles Darwin as his outrage makes black slaves a "man and brother" to his scientific mind. His 1837 notebook entry in which he damns slavers and their "separate species" lie leads to a series of evolutionary insights that culminate in the 1871 publication of The Descent of Man, which considers slavery a "great sin."
The National Museum Wales in Cardiff presented a "soundscape" for its exhibit of Neanderthal artifacts. Jazz composer Simon Thorne created a 75-minute piece based on academic research, providing a musical backdrop for the paleolithic exhibition.
2009 marks the 100th birthday of Miep Gies, one of a group that helped Anne Frank and her family hide from the Nazis.
A love letter concealed in the Vatican for almost 5 centuries has surfaced, written by King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, his second wife. It will be on display at the British Library in London as part of a major exhibition on Henry. Written around 1528, the letter shows Henry's soft side; by 1536 he had Anne beheaded and then eventually married another four women.
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