“Can a woman like Katharine Hepburn balance love and career?” A headline like this might have appeared in the 1940s, when the independent, free-spirited actress …
Sam Snead: The Man Who Shaped Golf with a Swing
Few golfers left as lasting a mark on 20th-century golf as Samuel Jackson “Sam” Snead. With his distinctive, flowing swing that earned him the nickname …
Caterina Valente: A true cosmopolitan
This article was published on January 14, 2025, the day Caterina Valente would have celebrated her 94th birthday. There were few singers whose voice was …
Marlene Dietrich & Erich Maria Remarque: Exiles between war and love
One might wonder whether the writer Erich Maria Remarque had any idea that his novels would not be the only works he would leave to …
Ben Hogan: The determination to play golf
There is hardly another golfer of the 20th century who influenced golf in the same way as Ben Hogan: his typical “Ben Hogan swing” in …
Glenn Miller: His vision of swing
Writing an arrangement was the best way for him to express himself as a musician: With his swing arrangements, Glenn Miller shaped the world of …
Karen Blixen: Aristocrat or far-sighted rebel?
“Human beings don’t always seek happiness, they seek destiny.” With her work, the Danish writer Karen Blixen shaped the literature of the last century like …
Charles Trenet: His chansons tell stories
There are melodies and lyrics that one never forgets: La mer by Charles Trenet is without question one of these melodies and lyrics. Like no …
Dmitri Shostakovich: The musical bridge builder
“Dmitri is a good name. We’ll call him Dmitri,” the priest present at Dmitri Shostakovich’s baptism is said to have decided. His parents actually wanted …
Comics, mangas, animes – why is it that Goethe was fascinated by illustrated stories?
When one thinks of an animated series in the western world, one inevitably associates it with entertainment for children: the Japanese form of “animation” is …