After vanishing for 62 years and ending up as a coffee table, a mosaic that adorned the bridge of one of Emperor Caligula’s lavish pleasure barges has returned to Italy. The 2,000-year-old, 5 sq. foot red, green and white pattern was recovered from the bottom of Lake Nemi — 19 miles south of Rome — … Read more
The emperor penguin has managed to create a home in one of the most hostile habitats on Earth – Antarctica. And award-winning photographer Stefan Christmann has captured their unique existence there in a quite breathtaking collection of photographs, showcased in a stunning coffee table book called Penguin – A Story of Survival, published by teNeues … Read more
It is one of the most beautiful – and most elusive – butterflies ever to be found in Britain. And after decades of decline, the magnificent Purple Emperor is set to make a comeback in record numbers this summer, thanks to May’s unusually warm weather. ‘This year will be amazing and possibly the best this … Read more
My favorite fairy tale when I was a kid was Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. It’s about a narcissistic, deluded, arrogant, materialistic and detached Emperor of a city who loves expensive new clothes. Two conman weavers persuade him they can create beautiful suits made of such fine fabric that they would be invisible … Read more
Chinese vase that once belonged to 18th century Chinese Emperor sells at auction for £3.4m after being found in Paris apartment Vase once owned by Chinese Emperor Qianlong sells for more than £3million Auctioneer Olivier Clair found the object while executing a will in an apartment The gourd was possibly looted during the sack of the … Read more
MEMOIR RESCUING MY FATHER by Susanna Johnston (Zuleika £10, 128pp) Doting elder sister of the late Spectator editor Alexander Chancellor, slightly less adoring daughter of the late-lamented (and late-demented, poor man) former Reuters chairman Sir Christopher Chancellor, the writer Susanna Johnston has collated this charming, witty selection of vignettes and diaries from her well-connected life. … Read more