Pearl Harbor Demotivational

Memories of the Festival

Mark and Dora dine in an Australian pub & grill on the South Bank, near the County Council building. In 1951, this very location was a centrepiece of the Festival of Britain. By 1972, most famous exhibition structures, the Skylon and Dome of Discovery, are long gone. But not forgotten...

 

Мы за несколько минут добрались до огромного здания Совета графства, рядом с которым чернели каркасы выставочных павильонов, память об Имперском фестивале, отшумевшем двадцать лет назад. Купола, который запомнился мне по предыдущим поездкам, уже не было. На его месте зеленела трава, петляли дорожки – желтые для пешеходов, белые для велосипедистов. А за живой изгородью краснела вывеска "Баран и Кенгуру, паб и гриль".

Images: The Telegraph (1), Old UK Photos (2), architecture.com (3), mickeyashworth, on Flickr (4)







1930: Real Vogue Covers

Georges Lepape for Vogue Paris, April (above) and November (below), 1930

 

Via Fantomas-en-Cavalle

Let's Talk About Wine

It is safe to say that Tokaji Aszú is the first (since the sweetened and doctored wines of the ancient world) of the great sweet wines, well established as such by the mid-17th century. The beneficial effects of botrytis were noted here almost a century before they were accidentally discovered in Germany.

Moreover, the vineyards were the first ever to be classified: in 1700 Prince Rákóczi of Transylvania introduced 1st, 2nd and 3rd class (or growth) quality ratings. Tokaji was the most highly regarded and sought after wine particularly by Russian and Polish royalty and nobility. The vineyards, mostly owned by the Hungarian aristocracy, were the country’s most valuable assets.

Марк заказал нам «Асу», великолепный дар семидесятикилометровой полосы земли у подножия Татр. Бутылка, высветив янтарь содержимого, заняла место в левом углу стола, на котором к этому моменту были расставлены фрукты.
– Говорят, это вино любила Екатерина Великая, а русский царь Петр держал отряд казаков в Токае, чтобы не остаться без вина. Да и Король-Солнце благосклонно принимал посылки из Токая...
– Я знаю. Но мне очень хотелось услышать это от тебя.
– Это вино сильных духом. Твое здоровье, девочка! – Марк поднял бокал, наполненный лишь на треть.

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Info & 1st image: Finest and Rarest

1930: Real Radio Transmitter

U.S. Army Signal Corps station, Fort Myer, VA

 

Source: Signal Corps Regimental History

Funny Money

A 1000 Mark Reichsbank note was worth a fortune before the Great War but its value gradually diminished during the Great Inflation. Would you give a damn for a thousand when a loaf of bread costs you 250 billion? But a lot of gullible Germans kept their bills, marked with a red stamp (see below).

A little bird told them that the government, planning a long-awaited currency reform, will be so kind to change "red thousands" to new Marks by their nominal value, i.e. 1:1. Like many optimistic rumours, this one was total bullshit.

Деньги не имели никакой ценности для тех, кто выбрасывал их на улицу. У нас прямо под ногами валялись тысячемарковые билеты кайзеровского рейхсбанка. Мы находили пачки этих билетов в разбомбленных домах. Обычно – с красной печатью, хотя были еще черная и зеленая. Во время большой инфляции, когда такая банкнота не стоила ничего, кто-то пустил слух, будто «красные» поменяют на новые марки по номиналу, один к одному.

1930: Real Rover

Rover Light Six made history by becoming the first car to beat the Blue Train on it's 750 mile journey From Paris to Nice, in January 1930

Rover Light Six Sportsman's Saloon, two-door Weymann body

 

Images: Rover Freunde Deutschland

 

Eiffel Tower Demotivational

In OTL*, the picture was taken on June 23, 1940

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* OTL = Our Timeline = real history

1930: Real Hanussen

Historians digging into the archives to reconstruct the chronicle of the Twentieth Century will have to deal with this strange phenomenon of Erik Jan Hanussen <...> It will be their task to unravel a complex maze of reality and legend, myth and romance, to reach the core of the true personality of Steinschneider, alias Hanussen.

Pierre van Paassen, 1942

 

Erik Jan Hanussen made a name for himself as Europe’s most audacious and controversial soothsayer. Billing himself as “The Man Who Knows All,” he performed in cabarets and music halls, attracting the attention of everyone from Sigmund Freud and Thomas Mann to Marlene Dietrich and Peter Lorre...

Klaus Maria Brandauer as Hanussen (1988, director: István Szabó):

 

Prologue: Lago di Garda, 1939

In the Strangers' World, Mark spent a good part of summer vacation with his father on the shores of Italy's largest lake. Later, he's been haunted by false memories of canceled reservation and alarming radio braodcasts. The world was on the edge of something terrible...

It's not easy to remember something that never happened. Especially if the real summer of 1939 was so full of fun.

На самом деле занятия в сентябре 39-го никто не отменял. И на Лаго ди Гарда мы в то лето поехали, было очень здорово. Соседний домик снимала семья с собакой – большим черным спаниелем, у которого на груди и на боках блестели серебристые, будто седые, пятна. Как звали его хозяев, не помню. Зато помню его самого. Егор. Такая смешная кличка.

Real 1972: Fashion in Black & White

Chloe fashion show,

Spring 1972

1930: Real Amy Johnson

In 1930 the world took notice of a different type of flyer. Amy Johnson was a newcomer to the world of long distance flying, but in May of that year she took the aviation world by surprise when she flew her single engine Gipsy Moth biplane, named Jason; from London to Darwin, Australia. (Read more)

Amy's role in hour new book is still undecided. Probably she will make a guest appearance in one of the 'British' chapters. Probably not. In any case she can't avoid being mentioned.

Photo: Aeroflight