A century ago today, the Wright brothers took turns steering one of the first powered heavier-than-air aircraft on a series of controlled flights, the longest of which lasted fifty-seven seconds.

I say "one of the first" because there is a bit of controversy ab…

I was predisposed to like Rotterdam sight unseen, on historical grounds. Rotterdam had been utterly destroyed in the Second World War, just like my own hometown of Warsaw, and had to be rebuilt from the ground up after hostilities ended. Unlike Warsaw, however, the job hadn't been done by Stalinists, and this had to be a good thing.

Say wha…

The great oil painters of the past generally fall into two categories - those it would be great to have a beer with (Rubens, Manet, Breughel, Bosch) and those best left to drink alone (Gauguin, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Degas).

This has nothing to do with talent, and everything to do with a certain basic affability. For example, Vincent Van …