Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938), Russian operatic bass. Born into a peasant family, he joined a church choir and studied singing. He later became a member of a Moscow opera company and appeared in Milan, New York, and London, leaving Russia after the Revolution. He was most famous for his interpretations of roles in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Rossini’s Barber of Seville.
“Well, he seemed such a nice old gentleman; I thought I would give him my autograph. Attributed to Adolf Hitler, on Neville Chamberlain’s visit to Germany in September 1938
Chamberlain saw foreign policy through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe. Attributed to both Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George”
