The butterfly effect

30th December 1916

Russian prince Felix Yusupov invites mystic Grigori Rasputin to his home, where he murders him. First he feeds Rasputin poisoned cakes and then, when that doesn’t work, shoots him before throwing him into the Neva River, where he drowns.

March 1917

Following the revolution against the Russian monarchy, Yusupov flees the country with his wife, Princess Irina Alexandrovna. Leaving most of their fortune behind, they travel via Corsica before settling in London and Paris, selling heirlooms to get by.

24th March 1933

MGM releases biopic Rasputin and the Empress. The Yusupovs sue the studio, not for depicting Felix as a murderer, but for implying that Rasputin had sex with Irina. They are awarded a record £25,000 (the equivalent of £2.2m today).

1935

Rich again, the couple invest money so that Felix’s friend Tao Kerefoff can open the first nightclub in Calvi, Corsica. Chez Tao’s subsequent success helps transform Calvi from a remote, poverty-stricken island town to the holiday destination of choice for Russian émigrés.

August 1949

London-based translator Vladimir Gavrilovich Raitz joins fellow Russian exile Baron Nicholas Steinheil on a holiday to Calvi. He stays in a basic resort made of army surplus tents, but is so impressed with the food and wine included in the package that he senses an opportunity.

20th May 1950

Raitz flies 11 tourists from Gatwick to Calvi on the UK’s first all-inclusive foreign package holiday. Those booking with his Horizon Holiday company pay £32 10s (£1,100 today) for a week’s break. Horizon goes on to be a huge business success as package holidays boom.

1965

Horizon launches Club 18-30, a new package holiday brand targeted at young single travellers. The brand grows in popularity over the following three decades aided by controversial advertising campaigns that promote promiscuity and overindulgence.

1996

Dee Walsh, a 23-year-old arcade worker from Girvan, Ayrshire, sees a poster at Glasgow’s Ingram Hotel advertising for Club 18-30 holiday reps. She applies on a whim and, after a successful interview, is employed to work on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Her hectic life on the island is documented by a camera crew working on a reality TV series.

6 July 1997

Ibiza Uncovered, which follows the exploits of Walsh and other Club 18-30 reps, debuts on Sky. The show is a huge success and cements the reputation of its first-time producer, 32-year-old Natalka Znak, who goes on to be lauded as the ‘queen of reality TV’.

25th August 2002

Now LWT’s head of reality TV, Znak’s latest series premieres on ITV. I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here sees household names endure challenges while living together in the Australian jungle. It attracts an initial audience of over nine million viewers.

11th November 2022

As part of I’m a Celebrity’s 22nd series, former health secretary Matt Hancock and pop star Boy George take part in an eating challenge. During the segment, the Culture Club singer dines on fermented duck egg while the Right Honourable MP for West Suffolk tucks into sheep’s vagina, cow anus and a portion of camel penis.

Posted on Friday, June 28th, 2024 - Categories: #49 - Oct-Dec 2022, App Issues.