It’s the birthday of Russian mystic and self-proclaimed healer Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, often credited for contributing to the downfall of the Romanov dynasty. Born in 1869 in Siberia, Rasputin was a peasant-turned-religious pilgrim, though he never received any official training in the church, and his enthralling personal magnetism dovetailed nicely with St. Petersburg’s fascination with hypnotism and the occult, etc.

Rasputin began to exert influence over Nicholas II and Alexandra, though according to historian Douglas Smith, this influence has probably been exaggerated (see the book review “‘Rasputin’ Unravels the Myths of the Mad Monk” by Steven Lee Myers, NY Times, Dec. 29, 2016). At any rate, Rasputin supposedly had a healing effect on the young heir, Alexei (who was a hemophiliac), which calmed Alexandra, which pleased Nicholas. Nicholas refused to get rid of Rasputin even after Rasputin’s licentious reputation and general infamy began to reflect badly on the Romanovs. Supporters of Nicholas finally had enough and assassinated Rasputin most unpleasantly on Dec. 30th, 1916, just a couple months before the Bolsheviks finally had enough of the Romanovs. Very little is known for sure about Rasputin. What we do know, based on any web search for images of the man, is that he was desperately in need of a bottle of Biolage Normalizing Shampoo.

It’s also the birthday of George Gordon, Lord Byron, who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1788, died in 1824, and during that short lifespan became one of the greatest Romantic poets. Frankly I don’t know where to begin. It’s late and the man wrote a ton of brilliant poetry and had even more affairs with men, women, and most probably his older half-sister (thus one-upping all the folks who’ve married their first cousins). My apologies to Lord Byron but I think he’s going to have to wait until next year.

Have you unctuously precipitated the downfall of a major dynasty? Have you had any incestuous affairs with siblings, half or otherwise? If not, I invite you to have a delightful Monday from the vantage point of the moral high ground, and to stay scrupulously honest to the data.