Miscellany and Trivia

Leonardo was “persecuted.”

When da Vinci was 24 years old, he was arrested along with several male companions on charges of sodomy. When no witnesses came forward to testify against the artist and his friends, the charges were dropped. But da Vinci's journals suggest that the allegations were somewhat devastating to a man who liked to keep his private life private.

Da Vinci may also have been scared for his life. In 15th century Florence, sodomy was a crime punishable by death. Not long after his case was dismissed, the artist left Florence for Milan.

Leonardo was “combative.”

After abandoning his patrons in Florence to start afresh in Milan, da Vinci needed to drum up new business. His strategy was to ingratiate himself to Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. Under Sforza, da Vinci was commissioned to create what would have been the crowning achievement of his artistic career: a giant bronze statue of a horse. The project was abandoned when France invaded Italy at the turn of the 15th century.

But a giant warhorse wasn't all that da Vinci had planned for the Duke of Milan. Upon offering himself to the House of Sforza, he set forth his plans to build numerous “war devices.” Included in da Vinci's sketchbooks are plans for cannons, smoke machines, portable bridges and even armored vehicles.

Like his flying machine, however, there is no evidence that any of these war machines were ever constructed.

Stephen as a boy

Born in Oxford on January 8 1942 - 300 years after the death of astronomer Galileo Galilei -Professor Hawking grew up in St Albans, Hertfordshire. After being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neuron disease - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - at the age of 22, Hawking was given just a few years to live.

Stephen as a young man

Hawking is as much a celebrity as he is a scientist, having appeared on The Simpsons, Star Trek and having provided narration for a British Telecom commercial that was later sampled on a Pink Floyd album.

… with Barack Obama

At a meeting of the Royal Society meeting, Hawking interrupted a lecture by renowned astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle to let him know that he had made a mistake. When asked how he knew there had been an error, Hawking replied: “Because I've worked them out in my head.”

… with legendary Queen guitarist Brian May

Among some of his more unconventional theories, Professor Hawking has predicted the end of humanity – due to global warming, a new killer virus, or the impact of a large comet.

… with Bill Gates

He had a difficult time at the local public school and was persecuted as a “swot” who was more interested in jazz, classical music and debating than sport and pop. Although not top of the class, he was good at maths and “chaotically enthusiastic in chemistry.” Hawking has said of his workload as an undergraduate at Oxford “amounted to an average of just an hour a day.” He also said: “I'm not proud of this lack of work; I'm just describing my attitude at the time, which I shared with most of my fellow students. You were supposed to be brilliant without effort, or to accept your limitations and get a fourth class degree.” Despite his workload confession, Hawking got a first and went to Cambridge to begin work on his PhD – but he was already beginning to experience the first symptoms of his illness, having fallen over twice for no reason during the last year of his undergraduate degree.

In 1935 the Museum of Modern Art (MOM) sponsored America's first exhibition of the work of Vincent van Gogh. The American artist Hugh Troy – cynically assuming that many of those who flocked to the show were more interested in the lurid details of van Gogh's life than in his art – fabricated an “ear” from chipped beef and surreptitiously mounted it in a small blue velvet display case above a card reading: “This was the ear that Vincent van Gogh cut off and sent to his mistress, a French prostitute, 24 December 1888.” 

Troy's case was duly found by gallery staff and, prominently displayed, soon became a prime draw for the bustling crowds. we