IGOR'S TALES
What BOOKS DID I read as a child?
For someone like me, whose early childhood in Indonesia was one without television or even radio programmes for children, books were my only window to other worlds and adventures. What books did I read as a child? This was one of my favorite Dutch books. The books...
CATS NOW HAVE A CAT UNION
You see cats everywhere, in numerous postings on Instagram, videos on YouTube as well as in countless family photos. Nothing new really – in ancient Egyptian times, cats were revered and countless cat statues were carved at the time. However, despite their...
Sergei Mintslov is on the move again!
Since translating my granduncle’s book “Faraway Days” from Russian into English and publishing it in 2013, it seems its release has put in train a series of unexpectedly wonderful and interesting events. It started with a contact from Richard Kessler who lives in...
Interview with Igor Labzin, author of the book “Russia and Revolution: My Father, The Officer, The Man”
https://youtu.be/7h6cycsjsts Catch up with Igor in his interview on Russia 24, filmed in Vladivostok and aired in June 2019 in Russia. Watch it now or later on Igor Labzin's You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6cycsjsts This television interview was filmed...
Gardens from the sea: How Reclaiming Land Changed Singapore’s Waterfront
Singapore – 50 years later It has been 50 years or so since I walked the streets of this city. A city that I visited many times with my captain father, Boris Labzin when I was somewhere between 10 and 15 years old. It was so different, so sophisticated, so orderly...
Death by Stalin
Who were the most influential characters that changed Russia forever and who met Death by Stalin as a result? A hundred years ago, the Bolshevik government led by Vladimir Lenin was battling for survival. It seemed that the Whites were attacking from all sides...
Who were the Boyars?
Who were the Russian Boyars in the 10th century to the 17th century? Princes by another name? Russian Tsar Peter the Great, greatly influenced by his travels in Europe, daringly changed the antiquated Russian ruling systems one of them being the Boyars,...
Making Meaning: Russia’s Lost Émigrés
White Russian émigrés in the US, in Europe in the UK! Sure, there are plenty of them. But what about in Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela, Brazil? Who are the Russian émigrés and what is their Russian ancestry? (Image:...
Where is the Kakap Fish Now?
Whilst sorting old material that over the years has continued to grow slowly but steadily, I came across an aquarium booklet that was issued by the Laboratory of Marine research in Jakarta, Indonesia, in about 1955. As many of us know, going through old things...