Historic figures

If I had to mention prominent and celebrated names from throughout history off the top of my head, it would be: Hitler, John F Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Oscar Wilde, Caesar, Napoleon, Louis Pasteur, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Florence Nightingale, The Medici Family, Otto Frank, Anne Otto Frank, Grigori Rasputin, Sultan Mehmet Fateh, Gerry Adams.

Hitler: First historical figure to fascinate me.

John F Kennedy: I watched a documentary about the search for his killer Lee Harvey Oswald and how the evidence was derived and my 13-year-old self was such a loudmouth and just had to boast between her peers about all the smart stuff she knew.

Lee Harvey Oswald: Again the documentary.

Oscar Wilde: Love him for his straightforward quote: The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

Caesar: His face on a coin I think, well he's famous enough.

Napoleon: Remember that famous portrait of him on a white horse in a raised position? Shorty did so much and he was popular with the ladies.

Louis Pasteur: If it weren't for him, we'd all still be dirty and suffer from diarrhea.

Marilyn Monroe: The female vixen in that white dress fanned up, looking like she's twirling in it. The woman who sang Happy Birthday Mr. President and 'apparently' had an affair with him.

and so on.

you got the point.

What started this fascination with WWII? Well, the first book I ever bought with my own pocket money was The Diary of Anne Frank. I was 10 years old and my family was summering in London. I was given a daily allowance of 3 pounds to buy confectionery. It was at that age that I decided to save part of this allowance until I had the 6.99 quid needed to buy this book. I bought it from the Harrods bookstore and it was my pride and joy, annotated with the handwriting of a 10 yr old.

I remember one night after I've read the book so many times, I heard dad ask mom about the nature of the book to justify my engrossment in it. Dad's exact words were: Do we even know what she's reading about? How do we know it's nothing X-rated? Mom, bless her, answered: I know, I sat with her and asked her all about it. It seems harmless.

And I thought to myself: if only they knew. Because at that age, at that moment in time, I knew from the bottom pit of my heart that this was the beginning of a life-long neurotic obsession.

This book was also my first taste of erotic reads, you know, the intimacies between Anne and Petel.

At school, I once wrote a composition about how much I admired Anne's bravery and how I considered her an idol even though she was a Jew. My Palestinian teacher asked me to re-write the composition for the next day otherwise I was gonna get a low mark. Oh well, who cares now. It's been over a decade and surprisingly enough I still admire Anne Frank, so my ideas haven't changed much.

Till we meet again,

Sedeso