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During a roundup in Eindhoven on Tuesday, May 16, 1944, a young girl was arrested. Three days later, she, along with her family, was deported from Camp Westerbork to Auschwitz-Birkenau in a freight car on a train. Once the train in Westerbork was about to leave, the girl cautiously peeked out between the train doors. On that day, the Jewish prisoner Rudolf Breslauer was filming the transport under the camp commander's instructions. The girl's interest was piqued by the camera, leading Breslauer to capture her on film. 'Step away from the door, you might get stuck,' her mother yelled, prompting the girl to retreat back into the wagon. Shortly after, the train departed for Poland. White headscarf After the Second World War ended, Breslauer's film footage resurfaced, featuring a memorable scene of a Jewish girl cautiously peering out of the train. Lasting for just seven seconds, the image captured her youth and the white headscarf she wore, but her identity remained a mystery. The image of the young girl became widely recognised as "The girl with the headscarf" over time. After journalist Aad Wagenaar saw the footage, he became fascinated by her and embarked on a quest to uncover her true identity. Upon investigating the wagon number visible in the footage, Wagenaar revealed that the girl was not among a group of Jews as initially believed, but rather one of the 245 Sinti and Roma individuals deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 19 May. For a long time, the unidentified girl's image symbolised the Dutch persecution of Jews. Born under the caravan Wagenaar discovered that the girls name was Settela Anna Maria Steinbach was born on 23 December 1934 in Buchten, South Limburg, under a caravan. Her father, a merchant who also played the violin at fairs and village gatherings, named her. In Eindhoven on 16 May 1944, she was taken into custody, and at Camp Westerbork, her hair was forcibly shaved off. She felt embarrassed by this act, leading her to wear a white headscarf. Tragically, Settela passed away in Auschwitz at the tender age of nine, unaware that her memory would endure in a remarkable manner. Documenting deportations Deportation films offer a unique glimpse into the Holocaust, serving as a scarce form of evidence. These films were predominantly commissioned by German officials, thus providing a perspective primarily from the viewpoint of the Holocaust perpetrators. Typically, these films were intended for internal use or as propaganda for the German populace. Regardless of their purpose, all recordings are influenced by the camera's viewpoint and the individual operating it. Due to their limited perspective, postwar documentaries that heavily rely on perpetrator footage have faced criticism. This movie serves as a multifaceted document. It was requested by those responsible for the deportation and produced by a Jewish inmate to capture the events involving the Romani community. Can we perceive this duality and intricacy within the film's viewpoint? Breslauer's camera briefly focuses on specific individuals, yet it also functions as an objective account of the deportation procedure. How should we interpret this material? Is it solely a document from the perpetrators' perspective, or can it be considered a primary source crafted by a fellow victim of Nazi persecution? Is it conceivable for a document to embody both roles simultaneously? A total of 245 gypsies were ultimately deported, including Settela’s mother, two brothers, two sisters, aunt, and three cousins, all of whom perished. Settela’s father passed away soon after the war. The exact number of persecuted gypsies in Europe remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 1.5 million. This is the raw footage of that day. We meet Settela at around the 2:16 mark.

On the evening of December 10, 1964, at 9 p.m. in Los Angeles, all eyes were on Sam Cooke at Martoni’s Italian restaurant. The 33-year-old R&B singer, impeccably dressed in his Sy Devore suit, and enjoying the attention he was receiving. Riding high on the success of his recent Live at the Copa album, Sam was poised to make a leap into the major leagues, positioning himself as a crossover artist alongside legends like Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis, Jr. Sam was enjoying dinner in the company of producer Al Schmitt and Schmitt’s wife, Joan. Despite the interruptions from well-wishers drawn to Sam’s magnetic presence, the trio engaged in conversation. With three or four martinis already in, Sam eventually got lured away to the bar. As their orders arrived, Al Schmitt sought out Sam, discovering him in jovial spirits with a group of friends and music industry associates. Sam, with a roll of cash that seemed like thousands of dollars, was treating the gathering. Not wanting to leave his conversation, Cooke told Schmitt and Joan that they should go on ahead and eat their food and that he’d soon be joining them. At a booth near the bar, there was a baby-faced 22-year-old Asian girl, sitting with three guys. Sam caught her eye. He’d seen her around. One of the guys, a guitar player Sam knew, introduced them. The girl’s name was Elisa Boyer. Before long, the pair were cozied up in a booth. Martoni's Italian restaurant They left Martoni’s around 1 a.m. in Sam’s brand new red Ferrari and headed to a nightclub called PJ’s, where they were going to meet the Schmitts. By the time they arrived, the Schmitts were gone. In the club, Sam got into a heated argument with some guy who was hitting on Boyer. She asked Sam to take her home, and they left at 2 a.m. According to Boyer, Sam raced down Santa Monica, and against her protests, pulled onto the freeway. She later told police that she asked again to be taken home, but Sam said, “Don’t worry now. I just want to go for a little ride.” He stroked her hair and told her how pretty she was. They exited the highway at Figueroa Street, near LAX. Boyer asked again to be taken home, but Sam drove straight to the Hacienda Motel. He got out of the car and walked up to a glass partition at the manager’s office while Boyer remained in the car. He registered under his own name with the clerk, Bertha Franklin. Franklin eyed Boyer in the car, and told Sam that he’d have to sign in as Mr. and Mrs. Sam drove around to the back of the motel. Boyer claimed he then dragged her into the room, pinned her on the bed and started to tear her clothes off. “I knew he was going to rape me,” she told the police. She went into the bathroom and tried to lock the door, but the latch was broken. She tried the window but it was painted shut. When she came out, Sam was already undressed. He groped her, then went into the bathroom himself. Boyer, wearing a slip and a bra, picked up her clothes and fled. Partially undressed, Boyer ran to Franklin’s office and pounded on the door. Bertha Franklin was on the phone talking to the owner of the property, Evelyn Carr. She told Carr “wait a minute” and went to answer the door, but no one was there. Franklin then picked up the phone and continued on with her phone call. Boyer, knowing that Cooke would be coming after her, didn’t wait around for Bertha to open the door. She ran around the corner and up the street. Elisa Boyer About a block away from the Hacienda, she paused to put her clothes on and stash Sam’s clothes under a stairwell. She then went to a nearby pay phone and called the police. Boyer’s call was logged in at 3:08 am. “Will you please come down to this number. I don’t know where I am, I’m kidnapped.” At that instant, Sam Cooke roared up to Franklin’s office in his Ferrari. He left the motor running and the driver’s door open. He banged on the door, yelling “Is the girl in there?” Franklin still on the phone with Evelyn Carr, tells Cooke that she doesn’t know. Franklin recounted her experience to the police: “He just kept saying where was the girl, I told him to get the police if he wanted to search my place. He said, ‘Damn the police,’ and started working on the door with his shoulder … It wasn’t long before he was in. … When he walked in, he walked straight to the kitchen, and then he came back and went into the bedroom. Then he came out. I was standing there in the floor and he grabbed both of my arms and started twisting them and asking me where was the girl.” Through it all, Evelyn Carr is listening over the phone. Bertha Franklin would later tell police: “He fell on top of me … I tried to bite him through that jacket: biting, scratching and everything. Finally, I got up, when I kicked him … I run and grabbed the pistol off the TV, and I shot … at close range … three times.” Two of the bullets missed their mark, but one passed through Cooke’s heart and right lung. Sam fell back, and then yelled at Franklin “Lady, you shot me!” He then rose and charged at her, but she repelled his attack with several hard blows to the head and face with a broomstick. Sam Cooke slumped to the floor next to the damaged doorway. Evelyn Carr then hung up and called the police at 3:15 a.m., advising them that “I think she shot him.” The police arrived with wailing sirens and flashing lights to find Sam Cooke dead. Just minutes after police arrived at the scene, Boyer walked up and presented herself to them. An inventory of Cooke’s belongings showed that he had a wristwatch, a money clip with $108, and some loose change. Cooke’s wallet containing his driver’s license and credit cards was never found. A search of Boyer’s purse showed that she had only a twenty dollar bill. Sam Cooke is believed to have retrieved $5,000 in cash from a safe deposit box earlier in the day. Al Schmitt reported that Sam was flashing about $1,000 at the bar. It has never been determined where that money went. At 6 a.m., Sam’s widow Barbara greeted the news with hysterics, trying to shield their two young children from reporters and fans who were gathering at their house. Five days later, at the coroner’s inquest, Boyer and Franklin recounted their stories in a hasty proceeding that barely allowed Sam’s lawyer one question. Tests showed that at the time of death, Sam had a blood alcohol level of .16 (.08 is considered too drunk to drive). The shooting was ruled “justifiable homicide.” Case closed. Cooke’s body carried out of motel There are many problems here. Let’s start with Elisa Boyer. She testified that she met Sam at a “Hollywood dinner party” and that he sang a song at the party. No mention of Martoni’s or PJ’s. She said she was “kidnapped” by Sam and couldn’t escape because his car was going too fast. Yet when Sam went to the motel window to register, Boyer was left alone in the car. She could’ve escaped or yelled for help. Moreover, if it was Sam’s intention to rape Boyer, why would he have registered under his real name? Boyer said she mistakenly took Sam’s clothes from the room when she grabbed her own. Wouldn’t it make sense that she was merely trying to prevent his pursuit? And what about the wad of cash that she spied earlier in the night? Surely she knew right where it was. A month later Boyer was arrested in Hollywood for prostitution. The Hacienda Motel, which offered $3-per-hour rates, was known as a hangout for hookers. One theory of what may have happened is that Sam paid for Boyer’s services, and when he stepped into the bathroom, she ran out with his cash and credit cards. In the aftermath, Bertha Franklin received numerous death threats and had to go into hiding. She resurfaced to sue Cooke’s estate “citing mental anguish and physical injuries.” Perhaps disgusted, Cooke’s widow, Barbara, countersued. However, Franklin was awarded $30,000. Franklin relocated to Michigan and died in 1989. Elisa Boyer, who had testified in support of Franklin’s lawsuit, was arrested again in 1979 after a fight with her boyfriend that led to his death. For this, she was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. Elisa Boyer testifying during the coroner’s inquest, Dec. 16, 1964 As for Barbara Cooke, her husband’s infidelity was nothing new to her. But she also had some action going on the side with a local bartender. On the day of Sam’s funeral, he was seen in the congregation wearing Sam’s watch and his ring. Two months after Sam’s death, Barbara had dumped the bartender and married Sam’s friend and back-up singer Bobby Womack. For Sam’s part, he was always a womanizer. As his friend Bumps Blackwell once said, “Sam would walk past a good girl to get to a whore.” There were all kinds of theories around his death—a drug deal involving someone close to Sam, a Mafia hit, a set-up devised by a jealous Barbara Cooke. Many believed it was a racist plot in the entertainment business. As with any rising star, Sam had made some enemies. As one woman friend of his said, “He was just getting too big for his britches for a suntanned man.” There are some things about this case that just don’t add up properly. If you’re wondering about the large wad of cash that was seen in Cooke’s hand on that fateful night – then you might be unsurprised to find out that it wasn’t found. Cooke was killed by a .22 pistol. However, the gun registered to Bertha Franklin was of a completely different caliber (.32). The single bullet that killed Cooke disappeared while in police custody. In her memoir, Etta James recorded some of the awful injuries that she saw on Cooke’s body at his funeral. However, none of these visible injuries were ever recorded in the official autopsy report for Cooke. This includes broken and crushed hands and his head being almost entirely detached from his shoulders. With everything considered, it’s no surprise that many people have questioned whether Cooke was in fact murdered off the property by someone else. If this was the case, Sam Cooke’s body might have been unceremoniously dumped outside the motel. Franklin after shooting Cooke Aside from being a political spearhead, Cooke also founded his own publishing branch and record label. Both of these avenues paved the way for other artists to own the rights to their work while also generating larger profits. This made Cooke very unpopular in the eyes of existing record companies. Though he was but one man, Cooke was the embodiment of an economic and social threat as he opposed the way the record industry was structured. Add in his political stance, and it’s easy to see why he was put on the bad side of some powerful figures. A lot of the mystery shrouding Cooke’s death comes from LAPD’s cursory investigation into the happenings of the evening. Their apparent lack of interest in discovering what actually occurred implies that the authorities just wanted to put the case out of sight. Norman Edelen even questioned whether they may have felt some sort of gladness that Cooke had died. It does make us question whether the FBI did have some sort of involvement. Although this theory has never been ruled out or proven. The FBI’s view of Civil Rights figures and minorities during this period is also relevant. During this period, the FBI was led by J. Edgar Hoover, a deeply paranoid man who kept tabs on people who opposed or undermined his position, including Cooke. Cooke had a strong rapport with other prominent black figures such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, who were under constant FBI surveillance. While Cooke was less overtly political, he used his position to push boundaries in pursuit of equal rights. These associations made him a target. This is an especially relevant fact in the half-hearted investigation into Cooke’s death, mainly because the singer had a strong rapport with other high-profile and influential black people during the 60s, such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, who were both under constant FBI surveillance. While Cooke was less overtly political than his friends, he used his position in the public eye to push boundaries in order to achieve equal rights. By association, these associations made him a target for the FBI. Muhammad Ali with Sam. Add in the fact he was a very strong-willed man who was more than likely seen to be a threat to popular culture, and it really isn’t hard to believe that there was some kind of racially motivated plot against Sam Cooke by those in authority.  Cooke was noted for his defiant attitude in the face of an oppressive white society. He began to make a statement by publically embracing his natural hair and, by rights, his black heritage, too. In addition, his single – A Change Is Gonna Come (1964) became an early protest anthem of the Civil Rights movement. The Civil Rights movement continued, and although Coo ke’s song became an anthem, not much of change came. Still, it was, and still is, a song used for fighting injustice, and it’s played as often today as it was over six decades ago Two Funerals Sam Cooke’s funeral included three full days of viewing in L.A. His $4,000 casket was fitted with a glass top to allow fans one final look. The body was then flown to Chicago for a funeral in his hometown, then returned to Los Angeles for burial. The Staple Singers, Lou Rawls, Billy Preston, and Ray Charles all presented musical tributes. The most poignant was Rawls’s rendition of “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” Was Sam Cooke lured into a trap at the Hacienda Motel? Were Elisa Boyer and Bertha Franklin working in tandem? Was Barbara Cooke involved somehow? Or was it all just a tragic accident? Over the years, investigators have made noises about reopening the case, but with most of the principal players dead, it seems unlikely it will ever be solved. Sources https://people.com/movies/why-mystery-still-shrouds-singer-sam-cookes-shooting-death-nearly-60-years-later/ https://performingsongwriter.com/mysterious-death-sam-cooke/ https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/sam-cooke-death-murder-netflix-documentary-soul-singer-songs-255456?srsltid=AfmBOorzihW4sGtSnkLLmkz8vZ7AjwsZC4svkmixPcpoP_90CRRdxCbU https://www.legacy.com/news/culture-and-history/sam-cooke-king-of-soul/

While the Munich Agreement was being negotiated in Europe in the autumn of 1938, Charles Chapin was completing the first draft of a script that had been prepared with the utmost secrecy. There was a rumour that the man who created the Tramp had chosen to do his first talking movie. It was also reported that he would be portraying an Adolf Hitler-inspired figure. In Jürgen Trimborn's biography about Leni Riefenstahl (the Nazi propaganda film-maker), it's mentioned that Charlie Chaplin and French director René Clair watched Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will together at a screening at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Filmmaker Luis Buñuel recalls Clair being alarmed by the film's impact, expressing concern that it should never be shown again as it could jeopardise the West In contrast, Chaplin found humour in the film, drawing inspiration from it for his work in The Great Dictator. Chaplin viewed the film repeatedly to imitate Hitler's gestures and actions accurately. Trimborn proposes that Chaplin was influenced by Riefenstahl's film when deciding to create The Great Dictator. The speech at Hynkel's rally in the film, spoken in a mix of German-sounding gibberish, serves as a satirical portrayal of Hitler's powerful oratory style, which Chaplin carefully observed in newsreels. Chaplin aimed to shed light on the increasing violence and oppression faced by Jews from the Nazis in the late 1930s, a reality conveyed to him through his close Jewish friends and colleagues in Europe. The repressive and militaristic nature of Nazi Germany was widely recognized at that time. In 1942, Ernst Lubitsch's film "To Be or Not To Be" also touched on similar issues, incorporating a Hitler character with a case of mistaken identity. Reflecting on his own work, Chaplin later expressed regret, stating that he wouldn't have made the movie had he been aware of the full extent of the Nazis' atrocities. Following the revelations of the Holocaust, filmmakers spent nearly two decades grappling with how to approach and satirise the tragic era. During the era when Hitler and the Nazi Party were gaining influence, Chaplin was achieving international fame. During a visit to Berlin in 1931, he was swarmed by fans, which irked the Nazis. Disliking his comedic style, they released a book titled The Jews Are Looking at You (1934), depicting Chaplin as "a distasteful Jewish performer" (despite his not being Jewish). Ivor Montagu, a close associate of Chaplin's, revealed that he sent Chaplin a copy of the book and believed that Chaplin decided to respond by creating 'Dictator'. In the 1930s, artists and comedians often highlighted the similarity in moustaches between Hitler and Chaplin. Chaplin cleverly used this likeness to make an exception for his Little Tramp character. In his memoir My Father, Charlie Chaplin , Chaplin's son Charles Chaplin Jr. described his father as being haunted by the similarities in background between him and Hitler; they were born four days apart in April 1889, and both had risen to their present heights from poverty. He wrote: Their destinies were poles apart. One was to make millions weep, while the other was to set the whole world laughing. Dad could never think of Hitler without a shudder, half of horror, half of fascination. "Just think", he would say uneasily, "he's the madman, I'm the comic. But it could have been the other way around." In 1938 and 1939, Chaplin developed the storyline for his film and commenced filming in September 1939, just after the start of World War II. The filming concluded approximately six months later. A TV documentary from 2002, named The Tramp and the Dictator, revealed previously unseen clips from the movie production (captured by Chaplin's older half-brother Sydney), showing Chaplin's early attempts at the film's conclusion, recorded prior to the fall of France. Chaplin arranged for the film to be sent to Hitler, with an eyewitness verifying its delivery. Hitler's close associate, Albert Speer, refuted claims that the leader had watched it. Hitler's reaction to the film remains unknown, although there are reports suggesting he saw it on two occasions. Interestingly, some of the storefront signs in the movie's portrayal of the ghetto display text in Esperanto, a language that Hitler criticized as an anti-German cultural threat sparked by the Jews. After an extensive and painstaking period of revising and directing, Chaplin ultimately unveiled The Great Dictator in New York on October 15th, 1940. The historical context in which he was immersed during those two years was undeniably extraordinary. Despite England declaring war in September 1939, Chaplin, a British citizen residing in the United States since 1913, found himself in a nation resolved to remain neutral amidst the bloodshed in Europe. Chaplin's decision to confront Hitler through film was a bold personal statement, reminiscent of his previous work in Shoulder Arms. The production of The Great Dictator caused controversy even before filming started, angering German and British diplomats in the United States and drawing Chaplin into the spotlight of celebrities targeted by the House of Un-American Activities. “Any resemblance between Hynkel the Dictator and the Jewish barber is purely coincidental.” - Charlie Chaplin There's no agreement between critics on the relationship between Chaplin's earlier Tramp character and the film's Jewish barber, but the trend is to view the barber as a variation on the theme. French film director François Truffaut later noted that early in the production, Chaplin said he would not play The Tramp in a sound film. Turner Classic Movies says that years later, Chaplin acknowledged a connection between The Tramp and the barber. Specifically, "There is some debate as to whether the unnamed Jewish barber is intended as the Tramp's final incarnation. Although in his autobiography he refers to the barber as the Little Tramp, Chaplin said in 1937 that he would not play the Little Tramp in his sound pictures." In My Autobiography , Chaplin would write, "Of course! As Hitler I could harangue the crowds all I wished. And as the tramp, I could remain more or less silent." In his review of the film years after its release, Roger Ebert says, "Chaplin was technically not playing the Tramp." He also writes, "He [Chaplin] put the Little Tramp and $1.5 million of his own money on the line to ridicule Hitler." Chaplin’s real history was not just the one he was facing up to, but also the one he was recounting by combining the characters of the Tramp and the Jewish barber in the image of the “pariah”. One might be tempted to use the cliché that 'the speech is just as powerful now as it was then' and there are many similar comments online, but in reality, it is extremely difficult to understand how the movie must have leaped off the screen and captured the attention of millions of viewers in cinemas with its message of the commonality of humanity, and the urgent need to assist those in great need across the ocean in Europe where millions were being mercilessly slaughtered. One might be tempted to use the cliché that 'the speech is just as powerful now as it was then' and there are many similar comments online, but in reality, it is extremely difficult to understand how the movie must have leaped off the screen and captured the attention of millions of viewers in cinemas with its message of the commonality of humanity, and the urgent need to assist those in great need across the ocean in Europe where millions were being mercilessly slaughtered. The final speech from the film is Chaplin's Magnus Opus.

On 16th March 1978, along via Fani in Rome, a faction of the militant far-left organization called the Red Brigades intercepted the two-car convoy transporting former Italian Prime Minister, Aldo Moro, abducting him and tragically killing his five bodyguards. This event occurred as Moro was en route to a session of the Chamber of Deputies, where discussions were scheduled to address a vote of confidence for a new government under the leadership of Giulio Andreotti. Notably, this government would mark the first instance of Communist Party of Italy support, aligning with Moro's strategic political vision. Furthermore, Moro was widely regarded as the leading contender for the upcoming 1978 Italian presidential election. Via Fani, where 5 bodyguards were killed Aldo Moro was widely thought of as one of Italy’s most adept politicians in the post-World War II era. As a centrist figure within the Christian Democratic Party, he held the position of prime minister on five occasions throughout the 1960s and 1970s, fostering collaboration among Italy’s diverse political factions. Upon assembling his initial cabinet in 1963, Moro notably integrated Socialist members, marking their return to governmental involvement after a 16-year hiatus. His final tenure as prime minister concluded in 1976, following which he assumed the presidency of the Christian Democrats in October of the same year. On March 11, 1978, he helped end a government crisis when he worked out a parliamentary coalition between the Communist Party and the dominant Christian Democrats. Just five days later, Mr. Moro’s two-car convoy was attacked by a dozen armed Red Brigade terrorists. His five guards were killed, and Moro was abducted and taken to a secret location. In the subsequent days, trade unions mobilised for a nationwide strike, while security forces conducted numerous raids in Rome, Milan, Turin, and other urban centres in pursuit of Moro's whereabouts. Locations associated with Moro and the abduction became focal points for minor pilgrimages. An estimated 16 million Italians participated in large-scale public demonstrations. After several days, even Pope Paul VI, a close confidant of Moro, intervened by offering himself in exchange for Moro's release. Despite the deployment of 13,000 police officers, 40,000 house searches, and 72,000 roadblocks, no arrests were made by the authorities. The Red Brigades, established in 1970 by Italian Renato Curcio, employed bombings, assassinations, kidnappings , and bank robberies as a means of promoting communist revolution in Italy. The Italian Communist Party, which supported democracy and participated in Parliament, condemned the terrorist Red Brigade, and the Red Brigade accused the Communist Party of being a pawn of the bourgeoisie. Renato Curcio and 12 other Red Brigade members were on trial in Turin when Moro was kidnapped, and legal proceedings were only briefly halted after his abduction. The Red Brigades proposed a swap: Moro's life for the release of several prisoners. Speculation arose during his captivity that various government officials, including the then Interior Minister Francesco Cossiga, might have been aware of his whereabouts. Italian politicians found themselves split into two camps: one advocating for negotiation (linea del negoziato), and the other vehemently opposing any form of negotiation (linea della fermezza). The government swiftly adopted a firm stance, asserting that the state must not yield to terrorist demands. Notably, this position faced criticism from prominent members of the DC party, such as Amintore Fanfani and Giovanni Leone, who was serving as Italy's president at the time. All major political factions echoed this firm stance, including the Communist Party of Italy (PCI), despite its democratic stance and parliamentary presence; the Red Brigades accused the PCI of being a tool of the bourgeoisie. Exceptions to this hardline approach were the Italian Socialist Party under Bettino Craxi and the extra-parliamentary left. On March 19 and April 4, letters apparently freely written by Moro were delivered pleading with the government to negotiate. The government attempted secret talks, but on April 15 the Red Brigade rejected these negotiations and announced that Moro had been found guilty in the people’s trial and sentenced to death. Threats to execute him led nowhere, and on April 24 the terrorists demanded the release of 13 Red Brigade members held in Turin in exchange for Moro’s life. On May 7, Moro sent a farewell letter to his wife, saying, “They have told me that they are going to kill me in a little while, I kiss you for the last time.” On 9 May 1978, the terrorists placed Moro in a car and told him to cover himself with a blanket, saying that they were going to transport him to another location. After Moro was covered they shot him ten times. According to the official reconstruction after a series of trials, the killer was Mario Moretti . Moro's body was left in the boot of a red Renault 4 on Via Michelangelo Caetani towards the Tiber River near the Roman Ghetto Two days later, his body was found on Via Caetani, within 300 yards of the headquarters of the Christian Democrats and 200 yards from the Communist Party headquarters. In accordance with Moro's expressed wishes during his abduction, no Italian politicians were included in his funeral arrangements, and Pope Paul VI personally presided over Moro's funeral service. On January 23, 1983, an Italian court handed down life sentences to 32 members of the Red Brigades for their involvement in the abduction and killing of Moro, alongside other criminal activities. Despite numerous trials, many details and aspects of the case remain unresolved, giving rise to various alternative theories about the events.

In the early part of 1890, Robert McGee sat for photographer E.E. Henry (1826-1917). The picture, the portrait you see above, shows McGee after he was scalped in the summer of 1864. Scalping, the act of removing the scalp from the head of a living or deceased person, is one of the most brutal practices recorded in history. Although it has often been associated with Native American warfare, the reality is that scalping was not exclusive to any single group or time period. The Origins and Techniques of Scalping Scalp-taking is a gruesome cultural practice that has developed independently across various civilisations throughout history, both in the Old and New Worlds. As part of the broader practice of taking human body parts as trophies, scalping may have originated as an alternative to head-taking. The process allowed for easier transport, preservation, and display of the spoils of war. The techniques of scalping were relatively uniform across different cultures, involving the use of sharp instruments to cut around the desired portion of the scalp, which was then forcefully removed from the skull. Instruments used in scalping varied, ranging from stone knives made of flint, chert, or obsidian, to other materials like reeds or oyster shells. Despite the differences in tools, the essential method remained the same: a quick and violent removal of a portion of the scalp, which could be performed on either living or deceased victims. Although scalping was not inherently fatal, it was most commonly inflicted on those who were already gravely wounded or dead. Scalping in the Context of North America The history of scalping in North America is complex, with its practice varying by region and purpose. Among Native American tribes, the taking of scalps held significant cultural and spiritual meaning. For example, in the Southeast, scalps were taken to achieve the status of a warrior and to placate the spirits of the dead. Among Plains Indians, scalps were taken as war honours, often from living victims. In some cases, warriors would shave their heads as a challenge to their enemies, demonstrating their readiness for combat. The arrival of European settlers in North America brought about an increase in the practice of scalping. Aggression between the settlers and indigenous peoples, combined with bounties offered for enemy scalps, led to a rise in scalping incidents. The Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam, for instance, saw Governor Willem Kieft offering bounties for the scalps of enemy Indians, further entrenching the practice as a tool of warfare. The Legend of Robert McGee: A Survivor of Scalping In the summer of 1864, a 14-year-old boy named Robert McGee embarked on a journey that would forever etch his name in the annals of American history. Born into a family of emigrants, McGee and his family decided to migrate west, a common pursuit for many at the time, in search of a better life on the American Frontier. The family joined a wagon train heading towards Leavenworth, Kansas, but tragedy struck along the way when McGee's parents died, leaving him an orphan. Upon reaching Fort Leavenworth, Robert sought to join the army, but his application was rejected due to his age. Desperate for work, he took a job with a freight company tasked with transporting supplies to Fort Union in New Mexico. In July 1864, McGee joined a wagon train that set out from Fort Leavenworth towards Fort Union. Given the dangers on the trail, the wagon train was accompanied by a U.S. army escort. On July 18, after a long and exhausting day on the trail, the pioneers made camp near Walnut Creek, not far from Fort Zarah, near present-day Great Bend, Kansas. With the fort in close proximity, the teamsters and their escort grew complacent, setting up camp about a mile away from the army escort. This lapse in security proved fatal when, at around 5 p.m., the camp was attacked by 150 Sioux warriors, allegedly under the command of Chief Little Turtle. The attack was swift and brutal, with the warriors overwhelming the unprepared pioneers, who were quickly slaughtered. Robert McGee’s story, however, did not end with the massacre. According to McGee, he was scalped personally by Chief Little Turtle. While lying face down in the dirt, having already suffered multiple arrow wounds, a pistol shot to the back, and a tomahawk wound, McGee remained conscious as the Sioux leader removed 64 square inches of his scalp, starting just behind the ears. It is said that Sioux warriors took much larger pieces of scalp compared to other tribes, adding to the horror of the act. When the soldiers charged with protecting the wagon train finally arrived at the scene, they found a gruesome massacre, with every member of the caravan scalped. Yet, to their amazement, they discovered that Robert McGee, along with another boy, had survived the ordeal. McGee was taken to Fort Larned, where the post-surgeon treated his injuries. Despite the severity of his wounds, McGee recovered, albeit without his scalp. Robert McGee’s survival became the stuff of legend, earning him the nickname "the man with 14 lives." His disfigurement, coupled with the press’s sensationalised accounts, helped McGee establish a career in public appearances. Surgeons experimented on McGee, but attempts to restore his hair were unsuccessful. While the legend suggested that McGee was the only person to ever survive a scalping, he was not alone in his ordeal. Josiah Wilbarger , for instance, was attacked by Comanche Indians near modern-day Austin, Texas. Like McGee, Wilbarger was scalped and left for dead, but he too survived. He later recounted that while the act of scalping was surprisingly painless, the sound of his scalp being removed resembled "the ominous roar and peal of distant thunder," according to James de Shield’s Border Wars of Texas . Another survivor, William Thompson , endured a similar fate when he was ambushed and scalped. Despite fainting from his injuries, Thompson survived and even attempted to have his scalp reattached to his head. Scalping in North America was more than just an act of brutality; it was deeply intertwined with the cultural practices of the time. For Native American tribes, scalps were often offered as ritual sacrifices or preserved and carried by women in triumphal scalp dances. The scalp could also be retained as a pendant by the warrior, used as tribal medicine, or discarded depending on the tribe’s customs. The practice of scalping, both among Native American tribes and European settlers, serves as a stark reminder of the violence and brutality that marked the history of North America. Although the stories of survivors like Robert McGee, Josiah Wilbarger, and William Thompson may seem legendary, they underscore the grim reality of frontier life during a time when scalping was a widespread and feared practice. Sources de Shields, James T. Border Wars of Texas . 1912. Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Indians and English: Facing Off in Early America . Cornell University Press, 2000. White, Richard. The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 . Cambridge University Press, 1991. Stannard, David E. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World . Oxford University Press, 1992.

Many composers like to handwrite their sheet music, but there have been so many machines invented to help print music. Perhaps one of the most interesting to look at is the Keaton Music Typewriter. First patented in 1936 , it definitely doesn’t look like an ordinary typewriter. Robert H. Keaton from San Francisco, California created the machine, which is now a rare collector’s item. The original patent was for a 14-key typewriter, which was then upgraded to 33 keys in an improved 1953 patent . Introduced to the market during the 1950s at a retail price of approximately $255, this device stands out with its unique appearance characterised by a circular keyboard. Keaton, the designer, aimed to craft a machine capable of printing characters with precision on a staff while providing clear indicators for the placement of subsequent characters, thus ensuring accuracy. The unique keyboard arrangement was born of a desire to separate two types of characters. “One keyboard is adapted to type one class of music characters such as bar lines and ledger lines, which, when repeated, always appear in the same relative spaced positions with respect to the [staff] lines… and a second keyboard adapted to type another class of musical characters, such as the notes, rest signs and sharp and flat signs etc., which may, when repeated, appear in various spaced positions with respect to the [staff] lines,” Keaton wrote . The Keaton Music Typewriter boasts an intriguing design that sets it apart. Engineered with a curved meter on the left, dubbed the Scale Shift Handle and Scale Shift Indicator by Keaton, it offers precise control over the placement of notes and characters on the page. Adjusting the handle up or down by a notch alters the printing position by 1/24 inch in either direction, corresponding to a single musical step. To enhance visibility for musicians, Keaton incorporated a long needle alongside the ribbon, ensuring accurate printing placement. Notably, the two keyboards interact differently with the Scale Shift Handle: the larger one, featuring notes, scales, sharps, and flats, moves in sync with the handle, while the smaller keyboard, housing bar lines and ledger lines, remains stationary as these characters consistently align with the staff lines. Despite its niche appeal, the commercial success of the product remains uncertain. Nevertheless, the Keaton Music Typewriter has garnered a devoted following as a cherished collectible, occasionally surfacing on platforms like eBay and other online auctions. Its elegant design and nostalgic charm evoke a bygone era, rendering it a rediscovery-worthy invention.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, remains one of the most enduring mysteries in American history. Over the years, countless theories and speculations have emerged, each attempting to shed light on the events of that fateful day in Dallas, Texas. Among the intriguing figures connected to the assassination is David Ferrie, a complex character whose ties to Lee Harvey Oswald, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the broader conspiracy landscape continue to captivate researchers and historians. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Ferrie was raised in a Roman Catholic household and attended various educational institutions, including St. Ignatius High School, John Carroll University, and St. Mary's Seminary, where he studied for the priesthood. He also spent time at Baldwin Wallace College and the St. Charles Seminary in Carthagena, Ohio, before leaving due to emotional instability. Ferrie's career path took various turns, including obtaining a pilot's license and teaching aeronautics at Benedictine High School in Cleveland. However, he was dismissed from his teaching position due to misconduct, including taking students to a house of prostitution. He later worked as an insurance inspector before relocating to New Orleans in 1951, where he worked as a pilot for Eastern Air Lines until his dismissal in 1961. Throughout his life, Ferrie was involved with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), serving as an instructor and commander in New Orleans. His involvement with the CAP continued even after he left his official squadron due to disagreements. He eventually started his own unofficial squadron, the Metairie Falcon Cadet Squadron, where he engaged in inappropriate relationships with teenage boys. Politically, Ferrie described himself as a liberal on civil rights issues but was vehemently anti-Communist. He initially supported Fidel Castro's campaign against Fulgencio Batista in Cuba but later became convinced that Castro was a Communist. He actively participated in anti-Castro activities, collaborating with right-wing Cuban exiles and engaging in raids on munitions depots. Ferrie's associations extended to individuals such as Guy Banister, a former FBI agent and right-wing political activist, with whom he worked on various projects, including assisting Carlos Marcello, a New Orleans Mafia boss, in legal matters. There were also allegations of Ferrie's involvement in flying Marcello back into the United States from Guatemala after he was deported. Despite his various involvements, Ferrie's life was marred by controversy and legal troubles, including arrests on morals charges and accusations of crimes against nature and extortion. His activities leading up to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 raised suspicions and speculation about his potential involvement in conspiracy theories surrounding the event. The FBI and Secret Service took an interest in Ferrie shortly after the Kennedy assassination, as early as November 25, 1963. On that day, Ferrie and two other individuals were arrested and booked for vagrancy by the New Orleans district attorney's office. They were held for investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service but were released the following day. First Assistant District Attorney Frank Klein, who questioned Ferrie along with investigators, declined to comment on the case. In the aftermath of Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, tensions were high. On that very day, New Orleans private investigator Guy Banister and one of his associates, Jack Martin, were involved in a violent altercation. Following this incident, Martin made several claims implicating Ferrie in the assassination. He suggested that Ferrie may have been the getaway pilot and alleged that Ferrie had threatened Kennedy's life in the past. Martin also claimed that Ferrie had connections to Lee Harvey Oswald from their time together in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol. Jim Garrison, 1967 Martin's allegations sparked further investigation, with the FBI interviewing Ferrie twice about the claims. Ferrie denied any involvement in the assassination and stated that he had no recollection of ever meeting Oswald. He attributed Martin's accusations to personal animosity, stating that Martin had harassed him since their falling out earlier in the year. Despite the FBI's inability to develop a substantial case against Ferrie based on Martin's claims, the accusations continued to circulate. Jim Garrison, the district attorney of New Orleans, became interested in the case and conducted his own investigation. Garrison believed that Ferrie, along with other individuals, including Guy Banister and Clay Shaw, were part of a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. He alleged that Ferrie and his associates had ties to the CIA and were motivated by anger over Kennedy's foreign policy decisions. As Garrison continued his investigation, he became convinced that a group of right-wing extremists, including Ferrie, Banister, and Clay Shaw, were involved in a conspiracy with elements of the CIA to kill Kennedy. Garrison later claimed that the motive for the assassination was anger over Kennedy's attempts to obtain a peace settlement in both Cuba and Vietnam. Garrison also believed that Shaw, Banister, and Ferrie had conspired to set up Oswald as a patsy in the JFK assassination Clay Shaw On February 22, 1967, just days after the New Orleans States-Item newspaper broke the story of Garrison's investigation, Ferrie was discovered deceased in his apartment. Among his belongings were two typed letters, both unsigned and undated. One letter, discovered among a pile of papers, contained a despairing reflection on the justice system, expressing a desire to leave life behind, beginning with "To leave this life is, for me, a sweet prospect. I find nothing in it that is desirable and on the other hand, everything that is loathsome." The second letter was addressed to Al Beauboeuf, Ferrie's friend, to whom he left all his possessions. Garrison initially labeled Ferrie's death as a suicide but did not rule out the possibility of murder. Lou Ivon, Garrison's aide, recounted a conversation with Ferrie the day after the news of the investigation broke. Ferrie allegedly expressed a sense of impending doom, declaring himself a dead man. The autopsy on Ferrie was conducted by Orleans Parish coroner Nicholas Chetta and pathologist Ronald A. Welsh. Their findings indicated that Ferrie died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage caused by a congenital intracranial berry aneurysm, which had ruptured at the base of his brain. Despite the coroner's conclusion, Garrison remained skeptical, suggesting that it could be a strange coincidence that Ferrie wrote two suicide notes on the same night he died of natural causes. "I suppose it could just be a weird coincidence that the night Ferrie penned two suicide notes, he died of natural causes." - Jim Garrison Following the coroner's report, Garrison proceeded with his investigation and on March 1, 1967, had Shaw arrested and charged with conspiring to assassinate Kennedy. Journalists Jack Wardlaw and Rosemary James co-authored the book "Plot or Politics" in 1967, which critiqued Garrison's investigation. Wardlaw's reporting on Ferrie's death earned him an Associated Press award. During an initial interview with the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1978, Delphine Roberts, a close associate of Banister, initially denied ever seeing Oswald. However, in a subsequent interview, she contradicted herself, claiming she had indeed seen Oswald in Banister's office multiple times. Roberts recalled seeing Oswald first when he applied for a job in the summer of 1963 and later when he visited with his wife, Marina. According to Roberts, Oswald had interviewed for an "undercover agent" position, and she alleged that both Oswald and Ferrie, whom she identified as a "detective agent" for Banister, attended an anti-Castro training camp for rifle practice. The HSCA investigated Roberts's statements but found inconsistencies and lacked independent corroboration, thus casting doubt on their reliability. In its Final Report in 1979, the HSCA stated that Oswald, who resided in New Orleans in the summer of 1963, had established connections with anti-Castro Cubans and allegedly with Ferrie, an American anti-Castro activist. The Committee considered the testimony of six witnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald and Ferrie together in Clinton, Louisiana, in September 1963 as "credible and significant." Among these witnesses was Corrie Collins, the chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), who described Ferrie's distinctive appearance at the trial of Clay Shaw. However, subsequent releases of witness statements taken by Garrison's investigators in 1967 revealed contradictions in their testimonies, undermining their reliability. For instance, Collins initially could not pinpoint Ferrie's whereabouts but later placed him with Shaw and Oswald at the trial. Additionally, the HSCA noted that available records suggested Oswald and David Ferrie might have been part of the same Civil Air Patrol unit during the same period. Committee investigators identified six witnesses who claimed Oswald attended Civil Air Patrol meetings led by Ferrie. In 1993, the PBS television program Frontline acquired a group photograph taken eight years prior to the assassination, revealing Oswald and Ferrie among other Civil Air Patrol cadets at a cookout. Frontline's executive producer, Michael Sullivan, advised caution in interpreting its significance. David Ferrie (second from left) and a teenage Lee Harvey Oswald (far right) in a group photo of the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol in 1955 While the photo lent credence to eyewitness accounts of Ferrie and Oswald's association within the CAP, Sullivan emphasised that it did not conclusively establish their presence together in 1963 or implicate them in a conspiracy to assassinate the president. John Ciravolo, the owner of the photo, remarked to author Patricia Lambert that he himself appeared in the picture and speculated that Ferrie likely wouldn't remember him either. Author John C. McAdams similarly noted that the photo didn't confirm any direct interaction between Ferrie and Oswald, but merely indicated their simultaneous membership in the organisation. Ferrie as he was found Even after his death, David Ferrie's legacy endures within the realm of conspiracy theories and historical speculation. His connection to Lee Harvey Oswald and participation in anti-Castro efforts persist in sparking discussions and theories about the Kennedy assassination. Although numerous questions remain unresolved, Ferrie's life highlights the complexities and ambiguities tied to one of the most significant events in American history. Sources https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10170-10158.pdf https://www.nytimes.com/1967/02/24/archives/death-of-ferrie-called-natural-autopsy-doctor-rules-out-suicide-in.html https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1967/02/25/le-mystere-s-epaissit-autour-de-la-mort-de-david-ferrie_2621653_1819218.html https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP75B00380R000800140028-3.pdf

If you walk through Wimbledon today, with its leafy streets and quiet suburban confidence, it can be difficult to imagine the anxiety that settled over one family in late December 1969. Yet it was there, behind an ordinary front door on Arthur Road, that a tragedy unfolded which remains one of Britain’s most unsettling true crime stories. It is a case marked not by dramatic spectacle but by silence. There was no body, no final sighting, and no clear admission of what happened to a woman who had simply been going about the rhythms of her evening. Muriel Frieda McKay was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and had built with her husband Alick a warm family life after relocating to London. On the evening of 29 December 1969, sometime between 5.30 and 7.45, the most ordinary of domestic intervals became the last time anyone saw her alive. She had driven her housekeeper home. Her husband was still at work. What happened in those unguarded hours would hang over the McKay family for decades. Her disappearance became one of the most complex and publicised cases of its era, not least because it was Britain’s first major million pound ransom demand. Yet at its heart was a quiet and unassuming woman whose absence left only questions. The Evening of the Abduction When Alick McKay returned to the house, the scene was enough to stop him in the doorway. The front door was unlocked even though Muriel was habitually cautious. The telephone had been ripped clean from the wall as though someone had wanted to ensure silence. Personal items were scattered along the stairs. Muriel was nowhere to be found. This was particularly alarming because the McKays had already experienced a recent burglary. The earlier intrusion had shaken Muriel, who had become more alert and more wary about her surroundings. For her family, the scene on that cold December evening was instantly distressing. Something was wrong. Something planned. What began as a suspected burglary quickly shifted into a different category altogether. A Kidnapping Reveals Itself When police arrived, officers almost immediately recognised that the intruders had not behaved like typical burglars. Among the items discovered were Elastoplast, lengths of twine, a newspaper, and a billhook that did not belong to the McKays. These were objects with intent, the materials of a plan rather than an opportunistic break in. At 1 in the morning, once engineers had repaired the torn out telephone, the house finally rang. The caller identified himself as M3, a name deliberately chosen to sound imposing. He demanded one million pounds. It was an enormous sum for the era, signalling both ambition and a striking confidence in their scheme. Over the following weeks, eighteen more calls were made. Each one was controlled, menacing in tone, and always insistent on speaking directly to Alick or the children, Ian and Diane. Three letters arrived as well, all postmarked from Tottenham or Wood Green. The letters claimed that Muriel was alive and included handwritten lines from her pleading for cooperation. To prove she was still living, the kidnappers enclosed pieces of her clothing cut from larger garments. Whether she was alive at that point remains one of the unresolved questions. The Hertfordshire farm where Muriel McKay was kept prisoner by the Hosein brothers Two Failed Ransom Drops The police attempted to follow the demands without exposing the family to greater danger. M3 instructed them to deliver two halves of the ransom. The first attempt took place on 1 February 1970 along the A10, but it collapsed because police activity in the area was too visible. The kidnappers sensed a trap and cancelled. A second attempt took place on 6 February. This time, M3 demanded that Muriel’s daughter Diane make the drop. She had been the most vocal family member in communication and the kidnappers seemed to want emotional leverage. Instead, two disguised police officers carried out the instructions, using suitcases filled mostly with forged banknotes. Police divers search the surrounding areas for any signs of Muriel. At a telephone box in Church Street, Tottenham, they left the cases and waited for further instructions. At 4 in the afternoon M3 called again, ordering them to travel to Bethnal Green, then to Epping by underground, and finally by taxi to a used car yard known as Gate’s Garage in Bishop’s Stortford. The instructions were detailed and reflected a level of caution that suggested the kidnappers were watching from a distance. Yet even the best laid schemes can unravel in unexpected ways. A local couple walking past Gate’s Garage noticed the unattended suitcases and, unaware of the covert operation, reported them to police. The local officers, not informed of the kidnap case, dutifully took the cases to the nearest station. It was an unfortunate accident that effectively ended the ransom operation altogether. The Blue Volvo and the Trail to Hertfordshire The breakthrough came not from the ransom but from a vehicle. During surveillance, detectives had noticed a dark blue Volvo with a broken tail light, registration XGO 994G, circling the drop off site multiple times. It appeared once with one man and later with two. It matched earlier witness statements from the night of Muriel’s disappearance, including sightings near Arthur Road and even parked in the McKay driveway. When police traced the registration, it led them to Rooks Farm, later known as Stocking Farm, a neglected eleven acre property near Stocking Pelham in Hertfordshire. It belonged to Trinidad born Arthur Hosein, who lived there with his German wife and his younger brother, Nizamodeen. The farm was run down, the outbuildings were weathered, and the business had been struggling. Arthur Hosein, left, worked at a tailor's shop in Bethnal Green and the tailor had also visited Rooks Farm The police raid took place on the morning of 7 February. Inside, officers found a notebook with pages torn out that matched the fragments enclosed with the ransom letters. They found twine identical to the material left in the McKay house. They found a roll of tape consistent with the bindings. The billhook, it turned out, belonged to a neighbour who had loaned it to Arthur. Fingerprints matched. Voice recordings matched. And yet, even with all the evidence in place, there was no trace of Muriel herself. The farm was searched exhaustively for weeks. Outbuildings were examined, fields were dug and sifted, bogs were drained, wells were inspected. Nothing emerged except more silence. The Hosein Brothers and their Misguided Scheme The story that emerged at trial was one of mistaken identity and flawed imagination. Arthur Hosein, a tailor from Hackney who had taken on the farm in the hope of a better life, was in financial difficulty. He and his brother devised a plan they believed might bring the means to revive their fortunes. Their target was Rupert Murdoch’s wife, Anna. They had watched Murdoch appear on television discussing his acquisition of the News of the World and The Sun. From this, they concluded that his wife would be a valuable kidnap target. They followed a chauffeured Rolls Royce that they assumed belonged to the Murdoch family. In reality, Murdoch had loaned the car to his deputy, Alick McKay, while he and Muriel stayed in Australia temporarily. The house on Arthur Road belonged to the McKays, not the Murdochs, yet the brothers did not realise this. It was an extraordinary and tragic case of mistaken identity. The Hoseins targeted the wrong family, abducted the wrong woman, and set in motion a chain of events from which there would be no return. When Alick rand Muriel married, Anna and Rupert Murdoch attended his wedding. The Trial and the Verdict The trial began on 14 September 1970 at the Old Bailey, led by prosecutor Peter Rawlinson. It was a detailed and often grim examination of the evidence. Both brothers attempted to deflect blame onto the other, yet it became clear that Arthur was the dominant figure in the planning. They were charged with murder, kidnap, and blackmail. On 6 October they were convicted. Justice Shaw, passing sentence, described their actions as cold blooded and abominable. Arthur received a life sentence plus twenty five years. Nizamodeen received life plus fifteen. But the central question, the fate of Muriel, remained unanswered. Without a body, there was no physical closure. Speculation grew that her remains might have been disposed of on the farm, possibly fed to pigs or guard dogs. These theories were never proved. Public Fascination and Media Intrusion As the case closed in court, another one opened in public. Interest became intense. Hoax letters arrived. Prank calls were made. Psychics, including the well known Dutch medium Gerard Croiset, claimed involvement. Although Croiset’s predictions were widely publicised, none led to meaningful discoveries. The Hosein brothers were eventually included in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds, placed alongside other notorious figures. Their wax figures became part of the visual memory of a case that had unsettled the public imagination. New Revelations and the Search for Closure More than fifty years after the disappearance, the story returned to prominence. In 2021, Nizamodeen Hosein, speaking from Trinidad, claimed that Muriel had died soon after the kidnapping from a heart attack. He said her death was unplanned. He said the burial site was on the Rooks Farm property. These were claims he had not made during the trial. In 2023 he expressed willingness to return to the United Kingdom to guide investigators to the location. Muriel’s daughter, Dianne, appealed for cooperation from the Metropolitan Police, stating that even after half a century, the family deserved the dignity of knowing where her mother lay. It remains an open question whether the final answers will ever be found. A Lasting Absence The name of Muriel Frieda McKay is often overshadowed by the dramatic contours of the case. Yet behind the police files and court transcripts was a real woman, a mother of three, a wife, and a family member deeply loved. Her life was lived quietly and without spectacle. Her disappearance, however, became one of the most enduring mysteries in British criminal history. What remains today is a sense of unresolved sorrow. A family still waiting. A daughter still searching. And a case that reminds us that the most haunting true crime stories are not always the most violent, but sometimes the ones defined by silence. Sources • The Guardian Muriel McKay Kidnap Suspect Says He Will Help Police Find Body https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/24/muriel-mckay-kidnap-suspect-says-he-will-help-police-find-body • BBC News Muriel McKay Family Asks Police to Allow Suspect to Return to UK https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-64214467 • BBC News Muriel McKay Kidnap Wrong Target of Murdoch Plot https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-50823827 • The Independent Brother of Man Convicted of 1969 Kidnap Says He Will Show Police Where Body Is Buried https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/muriel-mckay-kidnap-case-hertfordshire-b1780885.html • The Times The True Story of the Muriel McKay Kidnap https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-true-story-of-the-muriel-mckay-kidnap-6tctxtmwj • Hertfordshire Mercury Inside the Farm Linked to the Muriel McKay Kidnap Case https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/muriel-mckay-kidnap-farm-search-6429122 • National Archives Police Files Reference on the McKay Investigation https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1338403 • Sky News Muriel McKay Case Suspect Claims Victim Died of Heart Attack https://news.sky.com/story/muriel-mckay-case-suspect-claims-victim-died-of-heart-attack-12194217 • Sydney Morning Herald Old Case Resurfaces After Suspect Offers Burial Location https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/old-case-resurfaces-after-suspect-offers-burial-location-20210124-p56wpp.html • Daily Telegraph Australia Kidnap Suspect Offers to Return to UK to Help Police https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/kidnap-suspect-offers-to-return-to-uk-to-help-police/news-story/a7b2b6046fd8f1882ad3e2e3f3f67b15

Known as "the wickedest city on earth," Port Royal, Jamaica evokes images of pirates, naval battles, plunder, wealth, and destruction. Its history is marked by rapid growth, establishing itself as a key trading hub in the New World. However, its prosperity came to a sudden end on June 7, 1692, when an earthquake struck, causing two-thirds of the town to sink into the sea. Subsequent fires and hurricanes further devastated the town, leading to its decline. Port Royal eventually served as a British naval base and today exists as a quiet fishing village. It was a city so overrun with liquor, slavers, and prostitution that one in every four buildings was either a bar or a brothel. However, on that significant June day, the ground beneath the sinful city started trembling. The brothels crumbled, and a massive tidal wave surged over the city walls. Numerous lives perished, and their bodies polluted the waters. Yet, to many people worldwide, the catastrophe that struck Port Royal was not seen as a calamity. Rather, it was interpreted as a form of divine punishment — an act of God coming down to condemn what they perceived as a contemporary version of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Pirates Come To Port Royal Port Royal, a peninsula on the very tip of an 18-mile long sandbar known as the Palisadoes, 15 miles from the center of Kingston, Jamaica, hadn’t always been a refuge for revelry and rebellion. From 1494 to 1655, it was nothing more than a minor Spanish port, largely undeveloped because the Spanish didn’t see much gain in keeping hold of it. The English took control of the city in 1655 and realising the port was surrounded by a Spanish fleet, invited a coalition of pirates and privateers to protect the port. In the name of the King of England, the Buccaneers harrassed and stole from the Spanish ships to their liking, and the port became a refuge for those making their living by the sword on the high seas. Port Royal had transformed into a popular destination that offered refuge to renowned figures from the era of piracy, such as Captain Morgan, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Calico Jack, and Blackbeard. Indeed, from then on, Port Royal belonged to the British in name alone: in truth, the land belonged to the pirates. The Birth Of The Pirates Of The Caribbean In its heyday as a pirate stronghold, Port Royal had grown to be the second most populous English city worldwide, following only Boston. Nonetheless, by 1692, Port Royal had gained notoriety as the most corrupt city. It had transformed into a hub of brothels, taverns, and drinking spots, drawing a diverse crowd of slavers and pirates. It was a common sight, in Port Royal’s heyday, to see a drunken pirate stumbling through the city streets supported by a girl at each arm. His pockets would be overflowing with plundered gold. It’s said that, in a single night, some pirates would spend more money on drinks and women than a plantation worker earned in a year. After assuming the role of Lieutenant Governor in the city, pirate captain Henry Morgan, like others, was dissatisfied with the widespread lawlessness of the port. Despite his efforts to crack down on pirate activities, he was unsuccessful in his endeavors. Morgan passed away approximately four years before the catastrophic tidal wave. The city's signature drink, known as Kill Devil Rum, was famous. Pirates would march through the streets, offering flagons to anyone they met. However, this act was a double-edged sword, as the beverage was extremely strong and had caused the deaths of thousands due to alcohol poisoning. With a drink burning in their bellies, the pirates became deadly. Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin, an expert on piracy in the Americas, wrote of one Port Royal pirate Roche Brasiliano: “When he was drunk, he would roam the town like a madman. The first person he came across, he would chop off his arm or leg, without anyone daring to intervene. … Some of them he tied or spitted on wooden stakes and roasted them alive between two fires, like killing a pig.” Divine Intervention: The Earthquake When Port Royal experienced a calamity of unimaginable proportions, those who were unfortunate witnesses could only attribute it to divine retribution. On June 7, 1692, just before noon, a powerful earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale struck the city. It was a fateful Sabbath day, and a timepiece discovered in 1969 had stopped precisely at 11:43 a.m. The houses of Port Royal, in a tragic twist reminiscent of biblical tales, had been constructed on unstable ground. When the earthquake struck, it liquefied the meager support beneath them, causing entire buildings, streets, and people to be swallowed by the earth. Amidst the panic, a colossal tidal wave surged through the docks, breached the city walls, and ultimately toppled what remained. Even Captain Morgan, who had been interred on the peninsula, was unearthed from his grave and carried away into the sea. “THE EARTH OPENED AND SWALLOWED many people, before my face, and the sea I saw came mounting in over the wall, upon which I concluded it impossible to escape.” Edmund Heath, survivor and eyewitness to the 1692 earthquake wrote these words in a letter from the safety of a ship moored in the city’s harbour 33 acres of the city disappeared in a few hours. Four of the five forts the British built had been crushed. 2,000 people – one-fifth of the population of Port Royal – was wiped out in a single day. Even before the earth stopped shaking, locals reported that the looting began, one writing: “Immediately upon the cessation of the extremity of the earthquake, your heart would abhorr to hear of the depredations, robberies and violences that were in an instant committed upon the place by the vilest and basest of the people; no man could call any thing his own, for they that were the strongest and most wicked seized what they pleased....” In the ensuing days, as the deceased lay exposed to the sun, their bodies succumbed to decay, serving as sustenance for scavenging animals and insects. This macabre scene unfolded on the city's streets, facilitating the rapid spread of disease throughout Port Royal. Within a matter of weeks, an additional 3,000 lives were claimed. In an abrupt turn of events, the population of what was once one of the largest and most boisterous cities on Earth had been reduced by fifty percent. Aftermath And Legacy Of The Sunken Pirate City The annihilation of Port Royal was, in the eyes of much of the world, unequivocally regarded as a manifestation of divine retribution. The submergence of a city so steeped in wickedness and malevolence appeared to many like a scene plucked from the pages of the Old Testament. The ensuing chaos of looting and violence served as grim evidence in the minds of most that the inhabitants had received a just punishment from God. One survivor recounted the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, describing a town that had descended into madness: "Immediately upon the cessation of the extremity of the earthquake, your heart would abhor to hear of the depredations, robberies, and violences that were in an instant committed upon the place by the vilest and basest of the people; no man could call anything his own, for they that were the strongest and most wicked seized what they pleased..." The retribution against Port Royal did not conclude with the earthquake, tidal wave, and rampant looting. A few years later, in 1703, the city was engulfed in flames. Subsequent hurricanes in 1712, 1722, 1726, and 1744 further ravaged the city. By that time, the English had made the decision to relocate their Caribbean port of commerce to Kingston, leaving Port Royal virtually deserted. The final blow arrived in 1951 when Hurricane Charlie obliterated what little remained of old Port Royal. Today, Port Royal stands as a humble coastal village, bearing no resemblance to its former reputation as a city of sin. However, the 17th-century "Sodom" has experienced a renaissance through archaeological endeavours led by the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This excavation yielded the most extensive collection of in situ artifacts, with much of the city's remnants still submerged beneath the sea—an underwater Atlantis of sorts. In 1999, it earned the distinction of being designated a UNESCO Heritage Site and is often likened to the Pompeii of the sea. Locals harbour hopes that the revitalization of these ruins will stimulate eco-tourism and bolster the city's modest revenue, potentially restoring it to the opulent glory it once enjoyed in the 17th century.

One of the finest achievements of European furniture making, this cabinet is the most important product from Abraham (1711--1793) and David Roentgen's (1743--1807) workshop. A writing cabinet crowned with a chiming clock, it features finely designed marquetry panels and elaborate mechanisms that allow for doors and drawers to be opened automatically at the touch of a button. Owned by King Frederick William II, the Berlin cabinet is uniquely remarkable for its ornate decoration, mechanical complexity, and sheer size. This cabinet is from Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The My Lai massacre will always be a disturbing memory in the American conscience and will often resurface in any discussion or evaluation of this pointless conflict. Amidst the brutal and grim Vietnam War, in the early hours of March 16, 1968, three platoons of US soldiers from “Charlie Company” were deployed by helicopters to the Son My region. They were tasked with a search-and-destroy operation, instructed to eliminate National Liberation Front (North Vietnamese) fighters – referred to as Viet Cong or VC by American troops – who were believed to be active in the area. According to US Army commanders, anyone discovered in the area was deemed to be Viet Cong or active sympathisers, leading to the troops being instructed to demolish their village. Lieutenant William Calley led 1 Platoon, which was dispatched to My Lai, a village with approximately 700 inhabitants. Calley was informed that he might encounter NLF members in the vicinity. Initially, the soldiers were merely keeping the villagers captive. They gathered the people in the heart of the small village known as My Lai, holding them at gunpoint and demanding that they reveal the hidden Viet Cong forces that the Americans suspected they were sheltering. The massacre commenced when an unidentified soldier abruptly stabbed a Vietnamese man with his bayonet. After fatally injuring one individual, he forcibly removed another from his location, threw the civilian into a well, and then threw a grenade in after him. This action did not explicitly violate any orders. Prior to entering the town, a soldier had inquired about whether they were supposed to harm the women and children."They're all VC," his commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina , had replied. They were to kill, he told them , anything "walking, crawling or growing." The Murdered Children Subsequently, the rest of the soldiers imitated the actions of the initial man. In a matter of seconds, they began shooting a gathering of 15 to 20 women who were praying with their children. They proceeded to traverse the village, forcing the residents into ditches and shooting them in the head as they lay on the ground in blood and dirt. "A lot of women had thrown themselves on top of the children to protect them," a witness, Private Dennis Knoti , said afterward, testifying against William Calley, the only soldier who was ever convicted for the My Lai Massacre. "Then, the children who were old enough to walk got up and Calley began to shoot the children." 1st Platoon in Xom Lang gathered a large group of around 70–80 villagers and escorted them to an irrigation ditch east of the settlement. Despite pleas from women declaring they were not Viet Cong and attempting to protect their children, the soldiers, including Calley, ordered the villagers into the ditch and shot them dead. Private First Class Paul Meadlo testified that he used multiple M16 rifle magazines during the incident. He recalled shooting at elderly men and women, as well as teenagers and mothers with babies, believing they were all potentially armed with grenades and a threat. Meadlo also admitted to firing at civilians alongside Lieutenant Calley during another security sweep in My Lai. When PFC Michael Bernhardt entered the subhamlet of Xom Lang, the massacre was underway: I walked up and saw these guys doing strange things ... Setting fire to the hootches and huts and waiting for people to come out and then shooting them ... going into the hootches and shooting them up ... gathering people in groups and shooting them ... As I walked in you could see piles of people all through the village ... all over. They were gathered up into large groups. I saw them shoot an M79 grenade launcher into a group of people who were still alive. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else. We met no resistance and I only saw three captured weapons. We had no casualties. It was just like any other Vietnamese village – old papa-sans, women and kids. As a matter of fact, I don't remember seeing one military-age male in the entire place, dead or alive. Calley was not the sole individual responsible for killing children. Multiple witnesses disclosed the identities of other soldiers who, as per their accounts, had slaughtered women and infants. Ultimately, a large number of innocent civilians lost their lives — 347 as per the U.S. Army, and 504 as per the Vietnamese government. Conversely, only a single American soldier sustained injuries: Private Herbert Carter, who, amidst the chaos, inadvertently shot himself in the foot. Not a single Viet Cong combatant was found in the village. "As a matter of fact," Private First Class Michael Bernhardt, one of the men who revealed the massacre to the world, would later testify, "I don't remember seeing one military-age male in the entire place, dead or alive." According to the Peers Commission Investigation, the U.S. government allocated commission for inquiry into the incident, concluded at least 20 Vietnamese women and girls were raped during the Mỹ Lai massacre. Since there had been little research over the case other than that of the Peers Commission, which solely accounts the cases with explicit rape signs like torn cloth and nudity, the actual number of rapes are not easy to estimate. According to the reports, the rape victims ranged between the ages of 10 and 45, with nine being under 18. The sexual assaults included gang rapes and sexual torture. No U.S. serviceman was charged with rape. According to an eyewitness, as reported by Seymour Hersh in his book on the massacre, a woman was raped after her children were killed by the U.S. soldiers. Another Vietnamese villager also noticed soldiers rape a 13-year-old girl. The End Of The My Lai Massacre In the end, the killings were stopped by Hugh Thompson Jr., a U.S. Army helicopter pilot. He witnessed the violence from above, tried to save the injured, and then bravely landed his helicopter in the midst of danger, challenging his fellow soldiers to shoot him if they wanted to continue the massacre. Once the killings were over, he informed his superior about what had happened. In return, his superior gave him a medal and a citation that twisted the truth of the massacre, offering a reserved and polite commendation. It was expected that Thompson would accept the falsified citation, but instead, he chose to reject it. It wasn't until a year later that the truth was revealed. Initially, news outlets claimed that 128 Viet Cong had been located and eliminated in My Lai. However, after infantryman Tom Glen informed his superiors and aviator Ronald Ridenhour reached out to around 30 members of Congress urging them to expose the real events, the story started to gain national attention by the autumn of 1969. The Trial of William Calley Despite the revelation of the truth, hardly anyone faced consequences, with platoon leader William Calley bearing the full responsibility for the My Lai Massacre. Calley, the only one held accountable for the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians, received a lenient sentence of house arrest after President Richard Nixon intervened to change his prison sentence. Following just three years of house arrest, a federal judge granted his release. The remaining soldiers accused in the massacre were either acquitted or had their charges dismissed, leaving justice elusive in the aftermath of the My Lai Massacre. US soldier Varnado Simpson testified in December 1969: “Everyone who went into the village had in mind to kill. We had lost a lot of buddies and it was a VC stronghold. We considered them either VC or helping the VC.” However, not a single Viet Cong combatant was found there. "As a matter of fact," Private Michael Bernhardt would testify, "I don't remember seeing one military-age male in the entire place, dead or alive.” It was not until November 1969 that the outside world learned about any of this, when a US soldier named Paul Meadlo confessed on television to killing "ten or fifteen men, women, and children" at My Lai. The true extent of the tragedy started to come to light, revealing that many hundreds of villagers had been slaughtered. Paul Meadlo Several US soldiers faced charges for the killings, but only Lieutenant William Calley was convicted as the rest were either acquitted or had the charges dropped. Calley, who had spoken earlier of “my troops getting massacred and mauled by an enemy I couldn’t see, an enemy I couldn’t feel, I couldn’t touch. . .” put forward the defence that he was in My Lai to hunt out communists and to destroy communism and that he was “only carrying out my orders, which were to hunt out the NLF.” It was true that “Charlie Company,” to which Calley belonged, had earlier lost five men killed by booby traps and others had been wounded by these unseen weapons. But Calley was found guilty of killing 109 civilians and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, after an intervention by President Richard Nixon this prison sentence was changed to house arrest. Three years later, Calley was granted his release by a federal judge. The number of casualties at My Lai is still a matter of debate. A memorial at the location honors 504 people, ranging in age from one to eighty-two years. Nevertheless, a U.S. Army investigation concluded that the official count of casualties was 347. On 16 March 2008, over a thousand individuals gathered, marking forty years since the massacre took place. The event brought together survivors, families of victims, and returning U.S. veterans. A woman, who was 8 years old during the incident, shared her experience, "Everyone in my family was killed in the Mỹ Lai massacre—my mother, my father, my brother and three sisters. They threw me into a ditch full of dead bodies. I was covered with blood and brains."

Joseph Ducreux, a painter hailing from Nancy, France, emerged onto the canvas of history during the waning years of the Ancien Régime. Born in 1735 into a milieu of minor aristocracy, Ducreux embarked upon his artistic journey amidst the tumultuous backdrop of pre-revolutionary France. His brushstrokes brushed against the contours of monarchy, as evidenced by his poignant depiction of Louis XVI in what would be the monarch's final portrait before the guillotine claimed his fate. Portrait of Louis XVI (1754-1793), King of France Drawing with chalk and charcoal by Joseph Ducreux (1735-1802) The winds of change swept Ducreux across the English Channel, where he sought refuge in London alongside numerous fellow aristocrats in the throes of the French Revolution. Yet, the allure of Paris proved irresistible, and Ducreux returned to his homeland in 1793, poised to navigate the tempestuous currents of revolution and reinvention. In the twilight years of his life, Ducreux's artistic endeavours found solace under the tutelage of Jacques-Louis David, a luminary of the Parisian art scene and a confidant amidst the chaos of revolution. It was during this period that Ducreux's home blossomed into a sanctuary for creatives, a convivial salon where artists and musicians converged in a symphony of creativity and camaraderie. Ducreux's oeuvre bore the hallmark of portraiture, with luminaries such as Choderlos de Laclos and Maria Theresa of Austria immortalised upon his canvases. Yet, it is his self-portraits that transcend the boundaries of time and convention, capturing the essence of the artist in a kaleidoscope of unconventional poses and expressions. His self-portraits, characterised by exaggerated, mime-like postures, defy the norms of classical portraiture, offering glimpses into the depths of human emotion and expression. From the evocative "surprise in terror" to the enigmatic "silence", Ducreux's visage leaps from the canvas, captivating viewers with its theatricality and dynamism. However, it is his unconventional "Self-portrait of the Artist in the Guise of a Mocker" that has garnered enduring fascination in the digital age. Since 2009, this anachronistic masterpiece has found new life as a meme, its archaic expression lending itself to whimsical reinterpretations and witty captions in the realm of social media.