Ardéche Winefest

For more than 40 years, the Fête des Vignerons Ardéchois in Ruoms has been the unmissable summer event for wine lovers.

It's a great celebration for young and old under the sign of grapes and red fruits from local vines. Numerous activities, such as tasting stands, dinners, a lottery, games for young and old, cycle tours, a parade of mule drivers in the village on the theme of vineyards and viticulture are on offer.

Every year, musicians, singers, dancers and comedians come to perform for the pleasure of locals and tourists.

Douglas Motorcycles

Douglas was a British motorcycle manufacturer from 1907 to 1957 based in Kingswood, Bristol, owned by the Douglas family, and especially known for its horizontally opposed twin cylinder engined bikes and as manufacturers of speedway machines. The company also built a range of cars between 1913 and 1922.

During World War I Douglas was a major motorcycle supplier, making around 70,000 motorcycles for military use.

In the 1920s Douglas built the first disc brakes, and had a Royal Warrant for the supply of motorcycles to the Princes, Albert and Henry.

Motorcycle production continued into World War II and was extended to generators. In 1948, Douglas was in difficulty and reduced its output to the 350 cc flat twin models. The first of these models designated the T35 was one of the first production motorcycles to be fitted with rear suspension (swinging arm) unique in that the springing medium was a longitudinal torsion bar. The 1955 350 cc Douglas Dragonfly was the last model produced.

The Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company Ltd bought Douglas out and production of Douglas Motorcycles ended in 1957. Douglas continued to import Vespa scooters into the UK and later imported and assembled Gilera motorcycles.

Douglas gained significant attention in 1932–1933 when Robert Edison Fulton, Jr. became the first known man to circumnavigate the globe on a 6 hp Douglas twin fitted with automobile tyres. Fulton went on to write a book on his adventure titled "One Man Caravan".

💐New Milestone for the Beret Spy🍾

 The Beret Spy turns 66 today!

Yes, my famous brother Emile, aka The Beret Spy is celebrating another milestone today - congratulations Bro💐🍾!

Pictured here the latest harvest of boineros/as in the Netherlands.

Pietro Annigoni

Pietro Annigoni, OMRI was an Italian artist, portrait painter, fresco painter and medallist, best known for his painted portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. His work was in the Renaissance tradition, contrasting with the modernist style that prevailed in his time. 

After his successful completion of his portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in London, Annigoni returned to Florence and posed for his special portrait for the Daily Mirror of Annigoni as seen by Annigoni. He is seen on the roof top of his Florence studio, with the Cathedral of Florence in the background. 20th March 1970.

Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley OBE (1973) is a British historian, author, curator and television presenter.

She is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television and Channel 5 series on historical topics.

Lucy Worsley studied Ancient and Modern History at New College, Oxford, graduating in 1995 with a BA First-class honours degree. In 2001, she was awarded a DPhil degree from the University of Sussex.

In 2005, she was elected a senior research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; she was also appointed visiting professor at Kingston University in west London.

High Society

British high society aiming for a workman's suntan at the beach at Biarritz, 1927.

Antonio Lopez

Antonio Lopez (Molina de Segura - Spain)

What are You doing about Education?

 British World War II poster.

Jerzy Zawieyski

Jerzy Zawieyski, born Henryk Nowicki, (1902–1969) was a Polish playwright, prose writer, Catholic political activist and amateur stage actor. He wrote psychological, social, moral and historical novels, dramas, stories, essays and journals.

As a secretary of the Towarzystwo Uniwersytetów Robotniczych, he did organizing work for the workers' educational and theatrical movement. Then he was an activist of the Związek Młodzieży Wiejskiej Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. During the German occupation of Poland, he was active in the underground cultural movement.

Zawieyski was homosexual. In 1933 he met Stanisław Trębaczkiewicz. They fell in love and lived together until Zawieyski's death in 1969. They were buried next to each other in the Laski Cemetery near Warsaw.

Petworth Park

 
A man and a woman ice skating in Petworth Park (West Sussex), February 1933.

Abdulla's Book of Beauty

 Abdullas Book for Beauty - Seventeen, 1935. 

From Punch, or the London Charivari. - March 6, 1935.

Pat Kensit

Patricia Jude Kensit (1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.

Beginning her career as a child actor, including the Rod Steiger film Hennessy (1975), Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Birds Eye frozen peas. She then went on to appear in the films The Great Gatsby (1974), Gold (1974), Alfie Darling (1975), The Blue Bird (1976) and Hanover Street (1979). Balancing a dual career as both an actress and a singer, in 1983, Kensit formed and became the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder. 

The group produced several successful singles including "I'm Not Scared" and "Cross My Heart" before their split in 1989.

Sailboats & Berets

NIVEA ("doesn't do gay")

Nivea is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG. This was the origin of Eucerin brand. Nivea comes from the Latin adjective niveus, nivea, niveum, meaning "snow-white".

 In World War II, the trademark "NIVEA" was expropriated in many countries. After the war, Beiersdorf bought the rights back.

In June 2019, marketing and media industry journal Ad Age reported that FCB, Nivea's long-time ad agency, had ended its relationship with the company. 

Among the primary reasons cited was NIVEA's rejection of a proposed ad that featured two men's hands touching because, according to a NIVEA executive, "we don't do gay at NIVEA." FCB had ended the relationship of more than a century. 

At MacKenzies

 Smashed avocado and eggs at MacKenzies. 

Punks for Pussies

John Nikolai, a photographer and painter who once taught at MIT and worked at CBGB simultaneously, began rescuing homeless cats in October 2017 because someone was poisoning cats in a rough neighborhood in Downtown L.A. 

Selby (top) was found in 2018 near the building where Nikolai worked. She was eventually adopted by L.A.-based punk musician Mike Livingston

There he met Linda, a homeless woman living in her car with her cat and two dogs, who told him about a nearby auto graveyard where homeless cats were having babies in and under wrecked cars dating back to the 1950s. They began rescuing kittens and finding them homes. Calling it his "mission from God," Nikolai began getting the adults sterilized, getting the sick and injured medical attention, and providing hospice care. 

Several musicians from the original L.A. punk scene became involved, adopting the cats and playing benefit concerts, and the "rescue disorganization," Punks For Pussies was formed. Getting more organized, it became a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity in 2020, under the name of Lifelines For Felines, Inc.

Paul

Two photos by my brother Frans, taken on his way to the Hasselt (Belgium) railway station.

All I know is the name of the boinero, Paul. A typical picture of a Flemish/Dutch 'alpino' wearer. 

John Sinclair

John Sinclair (1941 –2024) was an American poet, writer, and political activist from Flint, Michigan.

Sinclair's defining style is jazz poetry, and he released most of his works in audio formats. Most of his pieces include musical accompaniment, usually by a varying group of collaborators dubbed Blues Scholars.

In 1972, Ann Arbor's annual marijuana celebration and Toke and Smoke Fest in the Diag began. This was four months after the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, who was at the time still serving time on his ten-year sentence for possession of two joints. John Lennon had come to that rally and penned a song.

Sinclair made a career of being a poet and promoter. He also promoted concerts and festivals and helped to establish The Detroit Artists Workshop and Detroit Jazz Center were among his promoted events, as were other concerts and festivals. At Wayne State University he taught Blues history and hosted radio programs in Detroit WDET, New Orleans, and Amsterdam.

Still Open All Hours

Still Open All Hours is a British sitcom created for the BBC by Roy Clarke, and starring David Jason and James Baxter. It is the sequel to the sitcom Open All Hours, which both Clarke and Jason worked on throughout its 26-episode run from 1976 to 1985, following a 40th Anniversary Special in December 2013 commemorating the original series.

The sitcom's premise focuses on the life of a much older Granville, who now runs his late uncle's grocery shop with the assistance of his son, continuing to sell products at higher prices alongside seeking to be with his love interest.

Unlike the original series, the cast for Still Open All Hours includes a more regular group of characters and additional side-plots.

A seventh series had been commissioned in 2019, but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and despite plans to record it, the series was eventually cancelled in 2023, with the BBC saying it had no plans for any new episodes.