Here in the US, we’re finally, finally reaching the end of a bitterly contested election cycle. During such free-for-all political battles, it can be easy to forget that the folks at the centre of such polarising debate are still human. But one incontrovertible fact that’s emerged during all this is that no matter what they say and do and how they might frustrate, anger, and bewilder us, politicians are indeed still human. And many humans – including some well-known political figures and heads of state – have enjoyed a good swim down the ages.
THE RUSSIAN BODY POLITIC
Recently, Czar Nicholas II’s butt broke the internet when images of him bathing nude during a trip to Finland in 1912 re-surfaced. Though the photos had been initially released in 2018 as part of Russian state news agency RT and the Russian State Archive’s #Romanovs100 project marking the 100th anniversary of the executions of the Romanov family, the images garnered a second, bum-per crop of attention on Twitter when digital photo colorist Marina Amaral posted the saucy snaps to her timeline.