Believe It or Not...
  NOV
1: A tooth said to have belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte is up for
auction in Britain and expected to sell for up to $14,000.
It is believed to have been extracted in 1817 during the French
general’s exile on the British island of Saint Helena, in the South
Atlantic Ocean, after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo two years
earlier.
“Historically, we know that Napoleon had had toothache in 1816 and
this was put down to a mouth inflammation diagnosed as scurvy,”
valuer Chris Albury said Tuesday.
The tooth — an upper right canine — is thought to have been
extracted by Napoleon’s physician Barry O’Meara, who then gave it to
General Francis Maceroni, aide-de-camp to the King of Naples. It
stayed in the Maceroni family for generations before it was acquired
by its present owner in 1956.
The tooth, estimated to fetch
approximately $14000, will go under the hammer at the Dominic Winter
auction house in Swindon, Wiltshire, in southern England.
In
a more innocent age, it was said that Rasputin's
legendary power over women was due to his piercing eyes.
But a new museum of erotica suggests that the mad monk's charm
may instead have been, ahem, concealed beneath his cassock.
Measuring about 11 inches - allowing for shrinkage caused by
pickling - Rasputin's penis displayed in a tall glass bottle is, to
put it delicately, a big attraction at the museum.
 Director of the erotica museum said he bought the object from a French
antique dealer for $US8,000, along with several of
Rasputin's hand-written letters.
Reputed both for his mysticism and his debauchery, Rasputin was a
powerful influence at the court of the Romanov Czars.
Concerned about his unusual hold over the Empress Alexandra, a group
of aristocrats decided to kill him to save Russia.
They lured him to an assignation in 1916, fed him drugged cakes,
shot him and finally killed him by wrapping him in a carpet and
throwing him into the frozen Neva river.
The aura of sexual power and mysticism lives on. Some Russians think
just by staring at the object, they can cure sexual impotence. One
visitor asked Knyazkin if this is true. "Without a shadow of doubt,"
he replied with a smile.
Knyazkin, 37, a urologist and sexologist, set up the museum in the
clinic he runs, partly with the aim of helping his patients overcome
impotence. The atmosphere of the museum makes patients "more
optimistic and relaxed," he said.
"The aim of the doctor is to free his patient from anxiety and
fears. Men who come here are ill at ease because of their problems,
and our light and happy atmosphere reassures them."
Only part of Knyazkin's collection of 12,000 erotic objects is
displayed in the clinic, which is staffed by buxom nurses wearing
short white blouses and high heels.
"I keep the valuable stuff at home," he said.
While
researching I discovered an answer to a question I wasn't aware I
was looking for. It may well be the wrong answer, but at least
you'll get a recipe.
 If
he slept with most of St Petersburg as well as all gypsies west of
the Urals, where did Russia's greatest love machine get the energy?
Conceivably he fuelled his performance with...Rasputin's Codfish
Soup
* 2 small whole codfish
* 1 cup milk
* 1 cup heavy whipping cream
* Salt
* Pepper
Clean codfish. Remove head and cut fish into fillets. Remove fish
bones. Cut fillets into 2-inch pieces and place in saucepan. Add
milk and whipping cream. Place over medium heat and bring to
scalding temperature. Do not boil. Reduce heat and continue
simmering until fish is done. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Ladle into soup bowls and serve hot.
Makes four normal servings. Or one for Rasputin. |
