Spectators enjoying a picnic and wine while waiting for the cyclists to pass by during the Tour de France in 1953 — when French wine consumption was 133 liters per capita

Mme de Staël, influential French-Swiss woman of letters, author of Corinne, born #OTD 1766; champion of Romanticism, pre-cursor of feminism, known for her observations on Revolutionary France & the rise of Napoleon.
Portrait after François Gérard, Château de Versailles

THREE GOALS, THREE POINTS FOR THE ALBION! 😁💙

Explore the work and life of Ralph Vaughan Williams in more detail, with our carefully curated collection of links to additional resources.

💻 Find them here 👉 vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/use...

Read a great line about what it is to live in a free society: not knowing where the nearest police station is. (Alexander Wolff, no relation, Endpapers, on his grandfather Kurt Wolff, publisher, fleeing Nazi Germany for America.)

In Greek mythology, Achilles concealed himself, dressed as a woman, amongst the seven daughters of Lycomedes. When Ulysses sought him out for the Trojan War, he tricked him into revealing himself, by staging an attack. Achilles reached for his weapons - and was revealed.

Achilles discovered by Ulysses amongst daughters of Lycomedes, oil on canvas c 1650, by Jan Boeckhorst, versatile German-born Flemish artist, friend & collaborator of Rubens; died #OTD 1668. Painter of well-composed & dramatic mythological scenes, he also designed tapestry cartoons.
Alte Pinakothek

Before & after: Humphry Repton, English picturesque landscape designer, born #OTD 1752; mentioned in Austen’s Mansfield Park & satirised by Peacock as Marmaduke Milestone; his famous red books suggested improvements to country house owners in overlay watercolour views.
Wentworth Woodhouse Yorkshire

"Reader, I married him."
Charlotte Brontë, born #OTD 1816, English novelist, author of Jane Eyre, published in 1847, under her pen name Currer Bell.
Chalk portrait 1850 by George Richmond, National Portrait Gallery London | Haworth Parsonage Museum

A fabulous opportunity available here! 👏

Backed by the VWF 🎶

A great work and an intriguingly modernist side of RVW.

Think the BBC might be a little late on this one.

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” —James Madison

Interior of Dome, Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, Roman church at end of narrow courtyard, with landmark spiral lantern cupola 1642-1660, masterpiece by Francesco Borromini, great Baroque architect, (1599-1667).
Original site of Sapienza, Università di Roma, founded #OTD 1303.

Contemplative portrait of Baronne Robert de Domecy 1900, with background of iridescent cloud, oil on canvas, by Odilon Redon, French symbolist artist, born #OTD 1840. Initially known for drawings admired by Huysmans in À Rebours, his later paintings foreshadowed surrealism.
@museeorsay.bsky.social

No doubt Starmer at fault. But UK currently spending 8 per cent of budget on debt servicing. Foreign bond holders do not take kindly to political turmoil. If turmoil happens, yields will rise and the fight over winter fuel allowance will seem like a vicar’s tea party.

I did research on antisemitism in Britain in 2024 and early 2025 (before the Manchester attacks), visiting a synagogue and interviewing people working in support groups. Even then the statistics about hate crimes against Jews were really worrying.

Even ex-Reform voters are considering backing the Green Party, its newest MP says Hannah Spencer tells Millie Cooke that Reform voters, disappointed by the party’s progress after it vowed to challenge the establishment, are turning to the Greens amid growing disenchantment with politics

In God we trust, but everybody else really needs to show their data

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” —James Madison

RIP Charles Darwin, died this day 1882.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives,
not the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate...

Reports of a third attempted arson attack on Jewish targets in North London this week. It's getting really scary and more people need to start taking it seriously.

Road to Caolas, Outer Hebrides, 2023, painting by Dale Bissland, Scottish artist.

NEW: Richard Tice failed to pay almost £100,000 in corporation tax, benefiting his investment company which made large donations to Reform UK.

First time Reform's deputy leader's tax affairs can be directly linked to finances of Nigel Farage's party.

Gestures like this are needed more than ever at this time. Thank you for posting @catherinemax.bsky.social

Trevor Phillips said on Sky News this morning that "everybody in the country who could read a newspaper" knew in advance of the Mandelson appointment that he was problematic

is this the same Phillips who interviewed Mandelson on October 08 2023 and didn't ask any questions about Epstein friendship?

St George & Dragon, 1889, with princess on rock above, by Gustave Moreau, French Symbolist artist, teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts; died #OTD 1898. Inspired by Raphael’s St George, Moreau used oil (rather than his customary watercolour) to deepen dramatic tension.
National Gallery London

Photo taken on Saturday 18th April 2026 of about 20 people standing outside King's College in Cambridge holding Ukrainian flags, as well as an EU and a UK flag, in a weekly Stand with Ukraine demonstration.

Photo taken on Saturday 18th April 2026 of about 20 people standing outside King's College in Cambridge holding Ukrainian flags, as well as an EU and a UK flag, in a weekly Stand with Ukraine demonstration.

Photo taken on Saturday 18th April 2026 of about 20 people standing outside King's College in Cambridge holding Ukrainian flags, as well as an EU and a UK flag, in a weekly Stand with Ukraine demonstration.

Photo taken on Saturday 18th April 2026 of about 20 people standing outside King's College in Cambridge holding Ukrainian flags, as well as an EU and a UK flag, in a weekly Stand with Ukraine demonstration.

Today's #StandWithUkraine demonstration in Cambridge remembered the victims of Russia's terrorist missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities this week.

With Putin's lackey Viktor Orban defeated in Hungary, we called for increased support for Ukraine from the democracies of Europe.

🇺🇦🤝🇪🇺🤝🇬🇧

Finance leaders warn over Mythos as UK banks prepare to use powerful Anthropic AI tool Release of new Claude model, so far limited to US firms, will expand to British institutions in coming days

Lagarde:

“I don’t think there is a governance framework that is there to actually mind those things. We need to work on that.”

Encapsulates the full dilemma. No other critical tech has leapfrogged its own regulation quite so blatantly/quickly.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

"Having this support has made so much difference, allowing me to really focus on my studies and dive into university life. My supervisor is such a brilliant teacher, and I’m already learning so much" - Vaughan Williams Foundation bursary holder.

As the island of Cythera was the birthplace of Venus, it is thought the painting depicts a departure from the island of love & its pleasures rather than an embarkation.

Fleeting pleasures: Embarkation for Cythera, 1717, by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), French artist who heralded Rococo style & defined genre of fête galante, with scenes of elegant dalliance in poetic, often autumnal landscapes.
Musée du Louvre

A bust length portrait of a seated white man with curled, powdered hair and a 5 o'clock shadow, wearing a salmon-colored jacket with gold frogging over a white shirt. His body faces toward the right edge of the painting, but her turns his head toward his right shoulder so that the viewer has a 3/4 view of his face. His right arm is bent to cross his body; he holds a stylus in his right hand.

Portrait of an Artist, 1773, by #ElisabethVigeeLeBrun (French, 1755-1842), who was born #otd, Apr 16. Held by @risd1877.bsky.social Museum, risdmuseum.org/art-design/c... #womenartists #artherstory