Curated playlist
Knights of Malta
- Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra was dropped by his record label in 1952. A movie role then brought him back to the top.
- Miles DavisMiles Davis called jazz dead near the end of his life. He had spent five decades helping define it.
- Benito MussoliniBenito Mussolini was named after a Mexican president. His socialist father chose the name to honor Benito Juárez.
- François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand, who ended France's death penalty, once urged rejecting mercy in 80% of cases.
- Maximilian I of MexicoFacing a firing squad in 1867, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico handed each executioner a gold coin.
- Konrad AdenauerObservers said Konrad Adenauer became West Germany's first chancellor by one vote, his own. He was 73.
- Paul I of RussiaPaul I of Russia's first act as emperor was a search for his mother's will. He wanted to destroy it.
- Franz Joseph IOn the evening of the 21st of November 1916, inside Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Emperor Franz Joseph I gave his valet a final instruction. "Tomorrow morning, at half past three." Those were his last words. He was 86 years old. Franz…
- Jimmy SavileJimmy Savile ended the last weekly edition of Top of the Pops on the 30th of July 2006 with the words 'It's number one, it's still Top of the Pops.' After the closing credits, he turned off the studio lights. Savile had been a fixture of…
- CaravaggioCaravaggio's Grooms' Madonna hung in Saint Peter's Basilica for exactly two days.
- Sovereign Military Order of MaltaThe Sovereign Military Order of Malta has no country of its own, yet it strikes its own coins, prints its own postage stamps and issues its own passports. Its full name is a mouthful: the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John…
- Ferdinand von Hompesch zu BolheimFerdinand von Hompesch surrendered Malta to Napoleon in June 1798 after a single day of French landings.
- Alexandre Colonna-WalewskiAt four, Alexandre Colonna-Walewski visited exiled Napoleon on Elba. Islanders mistook him for Napoleon's heir.
- Vince LombardiVince Lombardi, the football coach, once dreamed of becoming a priest. He attended Mass every day of his adult life.