#biografier

[forislynx]

För en pojke som aldrig ens har träffat sin far är frågan - vilken kris är större: att leva hela livet utan sin far eller att faktiskt träffa honom för första gången efter tjugo år och vara tvungen att lära känna honom?

Daniel Mendelsohn, En odyssé : en far, en son och ett epos

[gregor-samsung]

“ A Roma le notizie non sono buone. Lussu le racconta del tradimento dei capi dell’esercito e del rifiuto di dare le armi al popolo per difendersi. Lui è stato a porta San Paolo, dove, insieme a Longo, Vassalli, Buozzi, Amendola e Pertini, si è tentato di opporsi ai tedeschi radunando civili arrivati spontaneamente e armati alla buona e un manipolo di soldati rimasti allo sbando dopo la fuga del re, del governo e dei capi militari. Sono state fatte barricate con tram rovesciati, si è combattuto ma alla fine i tedeschi, superiori per forze e numeri, hanno avuto la meglio: sono morti molti civili (si conteranno quattrocento caduti tra i civili, di cui quarantatré donne), tra loro Raffaele Persichetti, un professore di storia dell’arte al liceo Visconti, che sarà medaglia d’oro al valor militare per la resistenza. La battaglia di porta San Paolo è considerata il primo atto della resistenza italiana ed è emblematica del momento, con la viltà del re e di Badoglio, le divisioni all’interno dell’esercito, l’eroismo della popolazione che sceglie di battersi contro il nemico, i capi dell’antifascismo politico che si uniscono per costituire un fronte comune di lotta e resistenza. Sulla mancata difesa di Roma da parte dell’esercito e del governo, Emilio scriverà il suo ultimo libro, poi uscito postumo. “

Silvia Ballestra, La Sibilla. Vita di Joyce Lussu, Laterza (collana I Robinson / Letture), 2022¹; p. 116.

[tillthereweretangents]

Paul and Icke (part 7 of N)

There are a couple more bonus moments coming soon, but, as far as the timeline goes, this is the end of the Paul and Icke saga.

As you'll read below, Icke and Paul saw each other one more time. Though, they're both still alive, so maybe that will change at some point in the near future.

It was almost twice, or more, but Icke was self conscious that Paul wouldn't remember him.

I myself had two more opportunities to meet Paul McCartney. The first time was in Scotland in 1988. I had long been married to Uta and she was pregnant with our first child. The car we had brought along was a Renault, a fairly long car, where we were transporting a canoe which wouldn’t fold, so it didn’t look very elegant. We had came to a town called Campbelltown, to meet our friend Mary who we had worked with at Amnesty international in Jagerberg . Mary remembered visiting us and seeing a picture of Paul, and told us that her mother had worked for him, at his estate which was not far from here. I said to Uta; ‘come on, let’s go and drive to see him’. But she did not want to go, so therefore I drove there alone. On the way, I had a rethink about what I was actually doing. The estate was guaranteed to be a tourist attraction for journalists and fans, so Paul would likely always have bodyguards on duty. If I were to arrive in my completely filthy Renault with a monster of a canoe on the roof, I wouldn’t stand a chance to get past the bodyguards. They would think that a lousy jerk was coming, who has no reason to be here. That I was once a friend of the famous Paul McCartney, they simply wouldn’t believe. The estate was quite a way away, but I stopped the car and really thought this through - should I carry on with this adventure, or would it be best to simply turn around and just go home. The humiliation that I could be turned around and sent away… I would never get over . For a while I fought with this, backward and forward, then I turned the car around and drove back at a snails pace. So the last opportunity where I met Paul was in 1991 at the world premiere of Get Back*, directed by Richard Lester. After the press conference, I met him and his wife Linda in a room at the back of the cinema. In the room with me was Astrid Kircherr, Ulf Kruger and Achim Reichel and his wife, who had won a place at this meeting in a competition. During our chat, I mentioned my adventure in Scotland. Even though it was embarrassing to talk about this in front of people, I told Paul that I had planned to visit him, and that I was fearful of the consequences, didn’t trust my courage enough and therefore turned around. He said, “Oh for Gods sake Icke, that’s such a shame. I would have found it amazing if you had actually visited me”. It sounded like he really meant it. I’m still angry at myself over this, sometimes I’m too much of a doofus for this world.

* Get Back (1991) is a concert film documenting Paul's world tour in 1989/1990

Original german

Ich selbst hatte noch zwei Gelegenheiten, Paul McCartney zu treffen. Das erste Mal in Schottland, im Jahr 1988. Ich war schon lange mit Jutta verheiratet und sie war schwanger mit Lena. Unser Auto war ein Renault R 18, ein ziemlich langes Auto, auf dem wir ein Faltboot transportierten, das sich nicht mehr falten ließ. Das sah nicht sehr elegant aus, aber in der Beziehung waren wir uneitel. Wir kamen in eine Stadt namens Campbelltown, wo wir Mary besuchen wollten. Mit ihr hatten wir in Lütjenburg bei Amnestie International zusammengearbeitet. Mary sagte, wir hatten mal eine Sitzung bei euch in Jägerberg, wo ich ein Foto von Paul McCartney gesehen habe. Meine Mutter arbeitet bei ihm, er wohnt nicht weit von hier auf einer riesigen Gutshof. - Ich sagte zu Jutta, komm, da fahren wir mal hin. - Aber sie hatte keine Lust, und deshalb setzte ich mich allein ins Auto. Unterwegs machte ich mir erst richtig klar, was ich da eigentlich vorhatte. Der Gutshof wurde unter Garantie von vielen Touristen, Journalisten und Fans heimgesucht, deshalb war zu erwarten, dass Paul einige Bodygards aufgestellt hatte. Wenn ich da in meinem total verdreckten Renault mit diesem Monstrum auf dem Dach auftauchen würde, hätte ich doch keine Chance, an den Bodygards vorbeizukommen. Die würden denken, da kommt ein verlauster Penner, der hat hier überhaupt nichts zu suchen. Dass ich mit dem berühmten Paul McCartney mal befreundet war, würden die mir niemals abnehmen. Der Gutshof war noch gar nicht zu sehen, da hielt ich schon an und überlegte, ob ich mich tatsächlich auf die Geschichte einlassen sollte. Oder ob es nicht besser war, einfach umzukehren. Die Demütigung, abgewiesen und wegge. schickt zu werden, würde ich nicht überleben. Eine Weile kämpfte ich noch mit mir, war ich hin- und hergerissen, dann wendete ich den Wagen und fuhr im Schneckentempo wieder zurück. Die letzte Gelegenheit, bei der ich Paul traf, war 1991 die erwähnte Weltpremiere des Films Get back von Richard Leister. Nach der Pressekonferenz traf ich mich mit ihm und seiner Frau Linda in einem Hinterzimmer des Hamburger Passage-Kinos. Mit dabei waren außerdem Astrid Kirchherr, Ulf Krüger, Achim Reichel sowie eine Frau, die das Treffen in einem Preisausschreiben gewonnen hatte. In unserem Gespräch kamen wir irgendwann auch auf das Erlebnis in Schottland zu sprechen. Obwohl es mir vor dieser Gesellschaft etwas peinlich war, erzählte ich Paul, wie ich geplant hatte, ihn auf seinem schottischen Gutshof zu besuchen, und dann aus Angst vor der eigenen Courage wieder umgekehrt war. Er sagte, Mensch Icke, das finde ich richtig schade, ich hätte es doch absolut toll gefunden, wenn du mich besucht hättest. Das klang so, als ob er es ehrlich meinte. Deshalb ärgerte ich mich jetzt nochmal über mich selbst. Manchmal bin ich einfach zu doof für die Welt.

Thanks as always to the wonderful @didwemeetsomewherebefore and her mum for the translation of Icke's autobiography.

[lalalenii]

Seit ich weiß dass niemand (außer seiner Mutter) Andreas Andreas nennt hat meine Realität Risse.

[telefonamitra20anni]

Cinema, da fast food.

Hollywood lo ha corteggiato, gli imponeva un linguaggio, ma Marcello non voleva snaturarsi. C'era in lui un'integrità, una natura semplice e semplificante di fare il mestiere d'attore, che lo guidava a condurre scelte tutte personali. L'uomo, invece, faticava alla comprensione di quel linguaggio, nella sua imposizione, seppur dotato di estrema sensibilità e riconosciuto come tale, celava in sé una certa diffidenza a prendere parte ad un meccanismo cinematografico da fast food. Lui, detestava sentirsi come un impiegato che necessariamente doveva "timbrare il cartellino", la sua creatività spontanea e delicatezza attoriale, erano soffocate da tutto questo. Ma il suo mestiere, in qualche modo, lo destinava sempre alla caparbia richiesta di prendere una decisione, di capire quanto "giocare" in un sistema cinematografico di cui non sentiva totale appartenenza, potesse essere necessario. Marcello, attore italiano instancabile, non voleva tramutarsi in eremita artistico, votato ad un confine, ma bensì gli era più congeniale vivere liberamente quel confine, come un turista di lusso, con il più autentico gusto della scoperta, alimento vitale e opportuno per chi, come lui, ha voglia di riempirsi gli occhi e la testa. Ma la sua propensione alla curiosità spontanea, lo spinge a sperimentare e a non rimanere mai statico, fermo in un ruolo solo, in un qualunque posto del mondo. Alimenta nella sua testa e nei suoi occhi, mondi appartenenti ai suoi personaggi, e riesce a farlo senza troppa ricerca, solo istinto, raccolto, racchiuso, in appartenenza. Lo fa di tanto in tanto, concedendosi uno sguardo al di fuori da sé, dal suo confine, in prima linea, rendendo esterofilo il suo sguardo attoriale, senza dimenticarne l'integrità. Solo istinto analitico e sensibilità bastante a tirare su un carattere, un personaggio che necessariamente non difendesse il ruolo dell'italiano medio ma che, integrandosi, ne ricordasse le radici, anche fuori dal suo confine natio. Marcello era fruitore del suo linguaggio, opportunamente aderente a lui, familiare, congeniale, caustico di un cinema che potesse comunicare e non consumare.

[klimt7]

"Dearest,

I'm sure I'm going crazy again. I feel we cannot face another of these terrible episodes. And I won't recover this time. I start hearing voices and can't concentrate. So I'm doing what feels like the best thing to do.

You gave me the greatest possible happiness. You've been in every way everything anyone could be. I don't think but two people could have been happier up until this point, before that a terrible disease came. I can't fight anymore. I know I'm ruining your life: without me you could work. And you will See, I can't even write properly. I can not read. What I want to say is that I owe all the happiness in my life to you.

You have been incredibly patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say it: everyone knows it. If anyone could have saved me, he would have and it was you. It all depended on me but certainty is your goodness. I can't go on ruin your life again. I don't think two people could have been more happier than we were."

March 28, 1941 - Virginia Woolf’s suicide letter.

[sherbertilluminated]

Lessing says kissing your friends doesn't count

from "Die Küsse," in Lessing: Biografie einer Emanzipation by Dieter Hildebrandt.

[segudangpikiran]

Hatta: Aku Datang karena Sejarah

Penulis: Sergius Sutanto

https://webadmin-ipusnas.perpusnas.go.id/ipusnas/publications/books/55361

Buku ini lebih menceritakan kisah Mohammad Hatta setelah melepaskan jabatan wakil presiden. Bung Hatta kembali mengenang kisah kehidupannya mulai dari masa kanak-kanak, aktivitas beliau dalam organisasi, kehidupan beliau selama dipenjara di Belanda, diasingkan di beberapa tempat, kemudian beliau juga mengenang perjuangan yang beliau lakukan hingga tercapai kemerdekaan Indonesia. Setelah mengenang kisah masa lalu Beliau, diceritakan juga tentang kehidupan Bung Hatta yang mengalami masa sulit selama pemerintahan demokrasi terpimpin. Buku ini mampu memberikan pesan, kesan dan hal-hal positif kepada pembaca walaupun ada kekurangan seperti masih terdapat beberapa kisah dari Bung Hatta yang tidak tertulis.

[rwpohl]

karel čapek, biografie eckard thiele, reclam leipzig 1988 (excerpt)

[anfang-zwanzig]

Tagebuch - ANFANG ZWANZIG

Tja. Ich könnte natürlich den Tag romantisieren, indem ich nur auf die „schönen“ Dinge eingehe die mir heute widerfahren sind. Das wäre dann zum Beispiel das lächelnde Kind neben mir an der Kasse, oder die friedlichen Begegnungen mit meinen Mitbewohnern. Ich habe auch die Dame wieder getroffen die sonst in der Bäckerei gleich in der Nähe unseres Hauses gearbeitet hat. Sie arbeitet nun in einer anderen Filiale und wir haben uns beide wieder erkannt und gefreut.

Außerdem habe ich ein wenig gemalt und viel in mein Notizbuch geschrieben. Alles schöne Dinge. Auch die Blumen am Wegesrand sind mir aufgefallen.

Der nicht-so-schöne-Teil des Tages war die Begegnung mit meiner Mutter. Ich vergesse immer wie krank sie ist. Und wie armselig es ist, zu ihr zu gehen um sie nach Geld zu fragen. Obwohl ich so wütend auf sie bin. Aber es blieb mir keine andere Wahl. Ich nehme das nicht selbstverständlich. Es ist nett, dass sie mir dreißig Euro gegeben hat. Aber davor hat sie mich terrorisiert. Sie hat erst zugestimmt, ja ich darf kommen und dann an die Zwanzig mal angerufen und mir Stress gemacht. Ich meinte ich bin gleich da. Trotzdem hat sie alle zwei Minuten angerufen. Und das innerhalb von fünfundzwanzig Minuten. Sie hat mir Vorwürfe gemacht und meinte ich darf nicht in die Wohnung rein. Sie hätte Angst vor mir.

Angst vor mir? Ich bin unter Tränen vor ihrer Haustüre zusammen gebrochen. Ich habe sie nie bedroht oder erpresst. Ich habe schlimme Dinge zu ihr gesagt und das tut mir leid. Aber sie unterstellt mir tatsächlich, ich würde sie nicht lieben. Das finde ich ziemlich absurd. Wie kann ein Kind seine Mutter nicht lieben?

Sie vergisst wie sehr sie mir weh tut. Wie oft sie mir schon wehgetan hat. Narzissmus und Manipulation, Erpressung, Psycho-Terror und Schuldzuweisungen. Sie hat keine Ahnung, dass sie mich emotional missbraucht hat.

Aber nun gut. Ich habe noch öfter auf dem Rückweg geweint. Aber ich schlucke es runter. Denn ich will mich loslösen. Ja wirklich.

Mein Leben kennt so viel schönes. Das muss ich mir nicht von ihr kaputt machen lassen.

[forislynx]

Ynglingens namn betyder "fjärran krigare": sonen som definierar sig själv utifrån faderns frånvaro har ett namn som anspelar både på frånvaron och dess orsak.

Daniel Mendelsohn, En odyssé : en far, en son och ett epos

[gregor-samsung]

“ Churchill, dopo un’iniziale sbandata per Mussolini (da lui ammirato anche per aver saputo tenere a bada il bolscevismo), disprezza gli italiani, li considera opportunisti e inaffidabili. L’autrice inglese Caroline Moorehead nel suo La casa in montagna. Storia di quattro partigiane scrive: «Churchill non nutriva grande considerazione neanche per i capi dei movimenti liberali che stavano facendo ritorno dopo anni di esilio, da lui liquidati come ‘storpi politici’, e metteva in guardia contro qualunque accordo avesse costretto i britannici a reggere sulle proprie spalle chi invece avrebbe dovuto reggersi da solo: gli italiani avrebbero dovuto lavorare sodo prima di poter sedere al banco delle nazioni con potere decisionale. Quello che i britannici volevano davvero era il controllo indiscusso del Mediterraneo e, alla fine, un trattato che privasse l’Italia delle sue colonie. A questo proposito venne anche coniato un acronimo: KID, ossia Keep the Italians Down (‘teniamo a bada gli italiani’)».

Ricorda il disprezzo di Churchill verso gli italiani anche lo storico inglese Paul Ginsborg, autore della Storia d’Italia dal dopoguerra a oggi: «Churchill dava poca importanza all’antifascismo italiano. Di Croce aveva detto che era ‘un professore nano’ e nel febbraio 1944 fece un discorso famoso e offensivo, schierandosi a favore della monarchia e contro il CLN». Diverso è l’atteggiamento degli alleati americani, che, al contrario, tengono in una certa considerazione il CLN e sono meno prevenuti e preoccupati degli inglesi rispetto alla rapida crescita dei comunisti italiani. Ancora Ginsborg: «In questo momento la differenza tra i due alleati può forse venire espressa confrontando i differenti slogan politici da essi coniati per l’Italia. Gli inglesi proclamavano la loro intenzione di ‘prevenire epidemie e disordini’, gli americani di ‘creare stabilità e prosperità’. Non vi è dubbio su chi fosse più lungimirante». I rapporti sono complicati, dunque. “

Silvia Ballestra, La Sibilla. Vita di Joyce Lussu, Laterza (collana I Robinson / Letture), 2022¹, p. 149.

[tillthereweretangents]

Paul and Icke (part 1 of N)

This is part 1 of a multi-part post about Paul’s relationship with Icke Braun, as portrayed in Icke’s autobiography. The book is in German, and we’ve included the original German text at the bottom of the post. Translations provided by the wonderful @paulsrighthand and her Mum! (Thanks!)

In Icke's autobiography, he's explicit that he was closer to Paul than the other Beatles

The best contact I had was with Paul, not only because he was the only one who spoke German, but to me he was the most likeable. I went with him a few times to the Raa-Wiese.

Raa-Wiese is where Icke was living. This wording and other moments we'll discuss later seem to suggest that Paul stayed with Icke on a handful of occasions. It's very possible that by saying "a few times" Icke is minimizing something that was very important. We know of two instances at least that Paul stayed the night, and there's a moment later in the book that suggests it was more often (we'll get to that later.)

The meet-cute:

On the way from Ahrensburg, we came past a great strawberry plantation. Because there were no people around, Kathia said, let’s steal a few strawberries. The strawberries were small, red and sweet and after we had eaten enough, we said, let’s take some for The Beatles. Kathia went into a barn and came out with a big basket. We picked so many strawberries that the basket overflowed, and on the way to the car, most fell into the road. We put the basket behind my seat and drove off.  At 10pm at the Top Ten, The Beatles were already in full swing, and the dance floor was thick with people. Between two sets, we took the strawberries to the stage. The other guests joked and called us the young strawberries. We could have invited them for a round of beer or schnapps, like the sailors or rockers did, but the strawberries were something else. The Beatles were overjoyed like children, and Paul said ‘what a wonderful idea, you can do this again!’ (He said this in bad German, which he had learnt in school).  The four boys started to eat and couldn’t stop. The interval became longer and longer because the basket was so full and took a long time to empty. The public began to protest, so John decided to start throwing strawberries at people, and then Paul and the others copied him. The public then threw back the squashed strawberries and it became a food fight…Luckily most of the strawberries had been eaten.  Paul then came down from the stage and asked Kathia and myself if we had a musical wish. There was a song which we liked called ‘Till There Was You’ and Kathia whispered to me that we should choose this song. It was a love song and didn’t actually fit into the whole rock n’ roll genre that they normally played. Unfortunately Paul didn’t understand that this was Kathia’s music choice and thought for years that this was my favourite song. Every time that I went to the Top Ten or The Star and he saw me, he would play ‘Till There Was You’, which was quite embarrassing for me because it wasn’t my taste of music at all, and also because the rockers bombarded me with rude gestures and remarks.  Years later, when the boys were already famous, and I was allowed backstage, we were sitting in the Ernst Merck hall and George Harrison mentioned ‘Till There Was You'. I told him that it was actually Kathia’s music taste and not mine. So he understood, but there is still footage from The Star Club where one can hear ‘And now we will play ‘Till There Was You’ for Icke’.

The moment Icke is referring to:

There's a lot to unpack here. For starters, this isn't the story we've been told in the past.

Typically, Kathia takes credit for this entire interaction

He looked like an angel with big eyes. He found it hard to say my name so he would play a request for “the girl with red hair” and sing “Till There Was You.” I wished that he loved me but I was not his type: he liked small, tender blondes. But he did like me and we talked. I could speak English, which not many could do; I told him the Beatles would be famous and he laughed. The Beatles were sexy. Very. You couldn’t decide who was sexiest. They didn’t try to be sexy, they just were, and they were natural.

This is from Tune In, cause, of course, it is. What we've learned over the course of our research is that Lewisohn has created a narrative that fits what he wants it to. We have half a mind to think that Lewisohn asked leading questions of his interviewees to get the exact narrative he wanted to portray.

Another interesting thing to note in this conversation is this web page. This is the only source we can find to Paul calling Kathia "strawberry." We'll talk more in depth about Kathia in a later posts, but these stories both seem in direct contraction to Icke's own recollection, and we trust Icke way more than we trust Lewisohn.

So now that we know what we've heard about this encounter before, let's break down the info Icke provides.

Before knowing this info it was very easy to assume that "Till There Was You" came out of Paul's love for musicals, which he tried to pretend didn't exist for most of the existence of the Beatles. After reading this it seems clear he really didn't know the song because of The Music Man. And it wasn't a song he liked because of the Peggy Lee version either. Icke asked for it, and Paul then played it literally every time he was in the room, going as far as to dedicate it to him.

It's crazy that it was based on a misunderstanding, but this is frankly one of the reasons we think Icke is so trustworthy. Throughout the book, or at least this chapter, he shares his insecurities. From this story to literally turning around outside Paul's gate in the 80s, cause he was scared Paul wouldn't remember him (from everything we can gather and the 3 pages on the subject, PiD scared him a lot and since he and Paul weren't in touch he internalized it a bit.) You can't fake that, or, I guess you can, but you have to be a really good writer to do so, and he enlisted a second author to help him write this. Not to mention, we are probably two of less than 100 people who have even read this book. So what would be the purpose in lying?

Anyway.

Based on what he said about George, it sounds like George assumed it was a romantic thing and then confronted him about it in 66. We wonder how George reacted, cause Icke doesn't share that, and if George told Paul or if to this day Paul thinks it was Icke's favorite song.

The song first appeared on their setlists in 1961 (the year they met Icke). It was one of the songs they played at their Decca audition (1 Jan 1962) and made it onto With The Beatles (recorded July 1963 – 7 months after their last stint in Hamburg).

As for the strawberries, we have a few theories about that as well.

For starters, we know from Paul and John that they both had this strong belief in telepathy. We all have always assumed it was just an assumption between them, but what if it wasn't?

Here's the theory. Strawberry Fields started as John's safe space when he was growing up, but then he invited Paul into that safe space and it became Paul's safe space too.

So given Paul's assumptions about telepathy and all that jazz, when Icke and Kathia go to literal strawberry fields and bring back strawberries cause they just felt like the Beatles would appreciate that, it's very possible he thought that was a sign of some sort. Maybe that Icke knew him in a really deep personal way. It's very easy to see Paul take that and start falling for Icke as a result.

Also, there aren't many mentions of "strawberries" in Paul's songs. But there are two:

In "Venus and Mars" which is all about psychic horoscope things:

Red lights, green lights, strawberry wine A good friend of mine, follow the stars Venus and Mars Are alright tonight

And in the early 90s, two years after he saw Icke for the last time, he released an instrumental album called "Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest" which was also the title of the 7th track.

We have a theory that all the tracks on this album correspond to a lost or current love (but more on that later).

We could write a full essay on this section, but we'll leave it here.

Original German:

Den besten Kontakt hatte ich zu Paul. Nicht nur dass er der einzige von ihnen war, der in bisschen Deutsch konnte, er war mir auch am sympathischsten. Mit ihm war ich auch ein paarmal auf der Raa-Wiese.

—

Auf dem Weg von Ahrensburg nach Hamburg über die B 75 kamen wir an einer großen Erdbeerplantage vorbei. Es waren weit und breit keine Menschen zu sehen und Kathia sagte, lass uns ein paar Erdbeeren klauen, ich habe da mal gejobbt, ich weiß, wie man da reinkommt. Die Erdbeeren waren klein, rot und süß. Als wir satt waren, sagte ich, lass uns für die Beatles welche mitnehmen. Kathia ging in einen Schuppen und kam mit einem großen Korb zurück. Wir sammelten den Korb zu voll, auf dem Weg zu meinem Auto purzelten die Erdbeeren reihenweise in den Dreck. Wir aßen soviel wir noch konnten von oben weg, obwohl wir pappsatt waren, und verstauten den Korb hinter meinem Sitz.

Um 10 Uhr im Top Ten, eigentlich war das viel zu früh, die Minderjährigen wurden gerade nach Hause geschickt, aber die Beatles waren schon wieder voll in Action und die Tanzfläche war dicht. Zwischen zwei Sets brachte ich den Jungens den Korb Erdbeeren auf die Bühne. Die anderen Gäste machten sich zum Teil darüber lustig und nannten mich den Erdbeerjungen. Aber mir war das egal. Wir hätten sie auch zu einer Runde Bier oder Schnaps einladen können, wie die Matrosen oder die Rocker, aber Erdbeeren waren doch mal was anderes. Die Beatles haben sich jedenfalls gefreut wie Kinder. Paul sagte,

„What a wonderful idea, Icke, du kann immer widder macken."

Er hatte etwas deutsch auf der Schule gelernt. Die vier fingen an zu essen und konnten gar nicht mehr aufhören. Die Pause zog sich immer mehr hin, weil der Korb so voll war und nicht leer werden wollte. Das Publikum fing an zu johlen und zu protestieren. Da ging John dazu über, die Erdbeeren auf die Leute zu schmei-Ben, und Paul und die anderen machten es ihm nach. Die Leute aus dem Publikum schmissen die matschigen Beeren natürlich zurück und es gab eine regelrechte Erdbeerschlacht. Zum Glück waren die meisten Erdbeeren schon aufgegessen, sonst wäre die Schweinerei wohl noch größer geworden. Paul kam danach von der Bühne runter und fragte Kathia und mich, ob wir einen Musikwunsch hätten. Es gab ein Lied, das hieß Till there was you. Kathia flüsterte mir zu, ich sollte mir dieses Lied wünschen. Das war ein Liebeslied, passte eigentlich also gar nicht zu dem Rock 'n' Roll, den sie sonst spielten. Leider hatte Paul nicht mitgekriegt, dass ich nur Kathias Musikwunsch weitergegeben hatte, und jahrelang gedacht, dass das mein Lieblingslied sei. Jedes Mal wenn ich ins Top Ten oder später in den Starclub kam und er mich sah, spielte er Till there was you. Mir war das ziemlich peinlich, einmal, weil es gar nicht meinem eigenen Geschmack entsprach, und zum ande-ren, weil die Rocker mich mit schwulen Gesten und Andeutungen ärgerten. Viel später, als die Jungs schon berühmt waren und ich mal in den Backstage durfte, wir saßen da in der Ernst-Merck-Halle, hat mich George Harrison auf Till there was you angesprochen. Da habe ich ihm das dann erzählt, dass der Musikwunsch eigentlich auf Katja zurückging. Das hat er auch verstanden. Aber es gibt Auf-nahmen, die irgendwann im Starclub mitgeschnitten wurden, auf denen man hören kann: „Und nun spielen wir für Icke Till there was you."

[windschiefe-worte]

Ich fühle mich gerade so, wie ich mir die in Biografien häufig erwähnten Kuraufenthalte vorstelle. Lebendige Luft: windig genug, daß ich schnell fröstele, im Halbschatten aber auch wenn die Wolken länger vor der Sonne verweilen. Frische Luft, die ich wegen der Erkrankung gerade anders wahrnehme - anders frisch, anders komplex. Und in meinem ganzen Körper hat sich schon dieses Urlaubsgefühl verbreitet. Dieses tiefe Seelenseufzen, nur unterbrochen durch mein kaltes Husten und Räuspern. Wenn wir über die Schwelle unseres Alltags hin zu "was will ich jetzt?" getreten sind und im Moment leben. Von Vogelzwitschern zu Vogelzwitschern, von Tee zu Tee, von Interesse zu Neugier zu Abenteuerlust. So eine Reise - von Zeit zu Ort zu Beschäftigung - auf einem kleinen Balkon in einer großen Stadt.

(Zitiert den Text zu meiner Biographie dann ruhig)

[archduchessofnowhere]

The only son of King Max I with his second wife Karoline, Max Joseph Karl Friedrich (1800-1803), did not survive infancy. Therefore, all hopes were placed in the further pregnancies of the wife. The twins in 1801 (Amalie and Elise) were still accepted with some joy. But the birth in 1805 - again female twins - caused consternation. King Max did not take it too tragically; he wrote to his brother-in-law after the birth: "After all, admit that it is praiseworthy to have a brother-in-law who produces twins twice in a row. It is the necessary consequence of having steadfastly led a well-behaved, regulated life."

But Auguste, a daughter from Max's first marriage, saw the situation quite differently: "Yesterday dear Mama came down with two girls. We are all saddened, although dear Mama is in as good a condition as one could wish for. We wanted two sons or one... I have just seen her. She looks well, but she is also sorry that she does not have a son".

Haslinger, Ingrid (2016). Erzherzogin Sophie: Eine Biografie nach den persönlichen Aufzeichnungen der Mutter Kaiser Franz Josephs (Translation done by DeepL. Please keep in mind that in a machine translation a lot of nuance may/will be lost)

ON THIS DAY, IN 1805, PRINCESSES SOPHIE AND MARIA ANNA OF BAVARIA, LATER ARCHDUCHESS OF AUSTRIA AND QUEEN OF SAXONY RESPECTIVELY, WERE BORN. The twin girls were the third and fourth daughter of King Maximilian I of Bavaria and his second wife Caroline of Baden. Sophie married Archduke Franz Karl of Austria in 1824, and they had six children, among them Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. Maria Anna, known as Marie, married the Crown Prince of Saxony, later King Friedrich August II, in 1833; they had no children. Sophie and Marie remained close for the rest of their lives, writing and visiting each other often.

[telefonamitra20anni]

Te lo racconto (al telefono) io.

A Roma, dopo la guerra, facevo il contabile in una casa cinematografica: la Rank Film. Non ero riuscito a inserirmi nell’industria edilizia e una cugina m’aveva trovato quel posto alla Rank. Qui lavoravo, o fingevo di lavorare, con cinque donne: in una stanza tappezzata con i ritratti di attori come James Mason, Patricia Neal, Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert. Forse influenzato da ciò, lasciavo che le cinque donne sgobbassero per me e passavo le giornate leggendo ad alta voce libri di poesie. Leggevo bene. Un giorno, la signora della stanza accanto mi disse:

«Ho un cognato che recita all’università, vuole che gli parli di lei?». «Magari, risposi». Guadagnavo 28mila lire al mese che se ne andavano in medicine per mio padre ammalato. Mai un cinematografo, mai uno svago, tutt’al più un po’ di biliardo. Mi iscrissi all’università, facoltà di Economia e commercio, per frequentare l’Accademia d’arte drammatica. Mi piacque. Recitai due anni mentre gli amici del quartiere mi prendevano in giro: «Ecché, se’ diventato frocio?». Poi Luchino Visconti mi vide, per caso, e mi mandò a chiamare: gli serviva un giovane e pensava di scritturarmi. Dissi: «Quanto?». Rispose: «2.500 al giorno». «75mila al mese, Gesù!». Lasciai subito la Rank e per mesi non confessai nulla a mia madre: ogni mattina continuavo a uscire alle otto e a dire che andavo in ufficio. Mi ci volle coraggio per confessare la verità. Lei la prese bene ma sussurrò: «Figlio mio, durerà?». Lo ripete ancora: «Figlio mio, stacci attento. Con tutti i camerieri che hai, con quel che costa la vita. Un buon impiego sarebbe stato meglio». È convinta che, se fossi entrato alle Ferrovie dello Stato, ora sarei capostazione e avrei i biglietti gratis per la famiglia.

Io ho avuto tanta fortuna, solo fortuna. La fortuna che a Visconti servisse un giovanotto rozzo come me. La fortuna che la sua compagnia fosse la più importante e allineasse attori come Ruggero Ruggeri, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli, Vittorio Gassman. La fortuna che Gassman se ne andasse e io prendessi il suo posto. La fortuna che mi offrissero il cinema, infine, grazie a questo nasino che detesto. Ma il successo di un attore non è quasi mai legato a ragioni nobili e serie. A me si addice la battuta che c’è in un film di Federico Fellini: «Ho troppe qualità per essere un dilettante e non ne ho abbastanza per essere un professionista».