My favorite Italo Calvino story, relating to Lady Godiva of course, is Mr. Palomar (1983), including this moment in an encounter on a nudist beach. "Returning from his stroll, Palomar again passes that bather, and this time he keeps his eyes fixed straight ahead, so that his gaze touches

Bruno Bettelheim was a brilliant man but, faults or not, he has been the victim of some extraordinary character assassinations, enough to make one wonder about the sanity of his inquisitors. Consider the evaluation below and wonder what was really on their minds... Executive summary: Fraudulent child psychologist Many of

Coventry is the city of Lady Godiva and the ruins of Coventry Cathedral of Saint Michael. The ruins commemorate the bombing of the city in World War II; this is the same view in 1941 during a Churchill visit. But, Lady Godiva and her husband were associated with a different

Who knew? And why seven? Dr. Seuss's The Seven Lady Godivas (1939)...but you won't see this one at the local bookshop. It was one of his earliest books and it didn't sell well. Its full title is The Seven Lady Godivas: The True

The Forest of Arden today is near Coventry - or at least a surviving piece of it is to the south of the city. Historically, it was much larger. Its wood pasture and ancient grasslands occupied the area between Birmingham and Coventry, creating a natural buffer between the two cities.

A classic movie, full of visually striking images, great songs, hilarious dialogue and even pathos. This photo above is from one of those songs - "Pettin' in the Park." The cast are caught in a rainstorm and they go backstage to change out of their wet clothes.

Rear Window (1954) is the story of news photographer L.B. Jeffries (Jimmy Stewart) who is confined to his Greenwich Village apartment with a broken leg. To keep himself occupied “Jeff” looks out of his window at the adjacent apartments and one day thinks he sees indications that a woman

Film poster for Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955), which stars Maureen O'Hara. Other film versions include a Hollywood silent film Lady Godiva, (1911) shown immediately below, and a German film Lady Godiva (1921), which was released in the U.S., shown below that. Updated versions include Lady Godiva

This bronze statue by Sir William Reid Dick, installed in 1949, is the main Lady Godiva shrine in downtown Coventry. Technically, it's name is Self Sacrifice. The pastoral setting in the photo above is now long gone. These days the square is paved over (boring in my opinion)

Norman Rockwell was America's greatest painter. Below are four of his iconic images, which I chose because they appear to spy on private moments. They are Rorschach tests that invite different interpretations - optimistic, pessimistic, cynical and agnostic. Under Fair Use I have included thumbnails but to really

Peeping Tom is a Michael Powell film about a serial killer and voyeurism that was released in 1960 right before Hitchcock's Psycho. Peeping Tom was a box office failure; Psycho was a smash hit. Why? I haven't seen Peeping Tom, but Wikipedia says "The film

In the caricature above by James Gillray (1796), that's Peeping Tom enjoying the view. The picture is called Lady Godina's Rout--or--Peeping Tom spying out Pope Joan. Lady Godina (note the spelling) is in the center; Pope Joan is the card game these fashionable types are playing.

Sexting, webcam porn, AI and the whole TikTok phenomena are just the latest instance of reality outstripping the censors. Literally one might say. It's unstoppable of course as kids take their clothes off all over the world and it has been wonderful to see parents defend them against

Although Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele are by the far best known Viennese painters of erotic subjects, there were many others. Peter Fendi (1796–1842) was an accomplished painter and lithographer from earlier in the 19th century, but he is much better known for his erotic art, although there is

Is Voyeurism just the Evil Eye updated for the scientific age? Perhaps Hitchcock and Salvador Dalí thought so. They collaborated on Spellbound (1945) - below - which presages the modern age when security cameras spy on us constantly, for our own protection of course. Also see this page for that

Historians are a cynical bunch who argue that there is little or no historical evidence to support the idea that the famous ride ever occurred, although they have conceded its myth-making potential. Godiva herself did exist of course. John of Worcester (died circa 1140) praised her Christian virtue as follows:

Lady Godiva fits comfortably into the folk traditions of old England, which persist today as local communities revive them. Dating back to Celtic and pre-Christian times, May Day was associated with the end of the winter, the coming of the sun and springtime sexual urges. Some would say the Maypole

Islamic art and architecture are consistently under-appreciated in the West, not least of all because of the misunderstanding over why people or God are not to be shown in art, because that's considered idolatry. Is seeing believing? Does believing require seeing? Do we see everything we believe in?

This is what you get for being a Peeping Tom. Titian's painting is as appalling as Ovid's story, based on a Greek myth. When Diana thinks the hunter Actaeon has been a Peeping Tom, and he may have been in the wrong place at the wrong