Perhaps it's belittling Beatrix Potter to say she had an interest in farming and land preservation - really, I suppose, that was her life's work, more than the stories which she is more famous for and which are still beloved by many children and adults.

As it might also be belittling to describe her interest in mycology as a hobby - she is now retrospectively regarded as a leading authority in the field of her day, a status not afforded her by her peers.

She also has a well deserved reputation as a painter of flowers.

I'm not really surprised by this ... but Hitler, and especially Himmler, were both passionate collectors of German porcelain figurines.



But rather than spend their Saturdays scouring bric-a-brac shops and car-boot sales they established their own factory at Dachau using slave labour under Himmler's direct personal control. Himmler said that porcelain, "is one of the few things that give me pleasure", and Hitler admired it as the embodiment of German culture and for its "purity". Throughout the war, while all German industry was directed to the war effort, the porcelain factory at Dachau maintained a prodigious output. The finest pieces were reserved for the the top Nazi elite, but other commemorative figures where intended to be presented as gifts on occasions like birthdays and weddings of SS members, while millions of porcelain soldiers, rustic german maidens, eagles, stags, plates and badges were sold to raise party funds.

He insisted on having garden gnomes installed around the Hotel zum Türken's grounds which stood alongside his private residence The Berghof and was part of a complex of buildings that he owned (and to a large extent designed). That alone denotes evil in my book.

Albert Einstein with his boat "Tinef" ( Yiddish for worthless ) in 1937;

John Wayne was an avid doll collector. To be fair to Marion Morrison's more famous macho persona however it is only fair to point out that his 64 Hopi Indian kachina dolls, assembled over several decades, are now regarded as a priceless cultural treasure from a heritage all but ignored by his contemporaries. His collection is currently stored and curated with pride at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

It seems that Rod Stewart - famed for singing like a nutmeg grater- has a toy room for a huge train set. I have  several friends who have rooms dedicated to the same. They long for you to stand and gaze in wonder - fun for about 5 mins and then you find there's nowhere in the room to rest your G and T and it all gets samey. A young friend - who gave up his chemistry degree to do one in 11th Cent Thai poetry -(don't ask me why) and who eventually set up a similar  room in Bangkok, wondered at my disinterest. There was so much more interesting stuff to ask and talk about - including info about the cobra that lived in a hole in their drive that kept the rats down and his year in a Buddhist  monastery that had a vow of silence. So what is it about train sets?

Frank Sinatra was another model rail enthusiast;




Roger Daltrey and Neil Young also have this hobby.


Someone, possibly a dinosaur,  has this set + extensions;

Would this be a dinosaur known to us?

Priscilla wrote:

Would this be a dinosaur known to us?

In a W C Fields voice, " I couldn't possibly comment"

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il was a massive film fan, with over 20,000 dvd's in his collection. His favourite stars were Sean Connery and Elizabeth Taylor.

When he was still a senator-in-exile (due to having fallen asleep during one of Nero's recitals), the future Emperor Vespasian kept bees. I don't suppose he had time once he was elevated to the purple.

I'm not sure if it counts as a pastime, but Oliver Cromwell was fond of practical jokes (and on at least one occasion is known to have indulged in a pillow fight with some of his fellow senior officers). Although sticking strictly to psalms when it came to religion, he was also very fond of secular music, including organ music (he had the double-organ removed from the Chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford, and installed in the Great Hall at Hampton Court). He admired the musically gifted, but I don't think there's any evidence he played an instrument himself.

The Emperor Diocletian enjoyed growing cabbages.

I think, though, it was only after he retired from his imperial duties.

Don't we all.

Gilgamesh of Uruk wrote:

Would have been an interesting event at the Lumberjack Games - W.E.Gladstone v Abe Lincoln in the Cherry Tree Chop!

There would have been plenty of chippings for generals Ulysses S Grant and Charles F Smith to choose from in the supporting wood whittling contest:



Ulysses Simpson Grant



Charles Ferguson Smith

Grant was famous for whittling away at a piece of wood seemingly as a way of relieving stress. He was, however, notably out-whittled by Smith during the Battle of Fort Donaldson in 1862 when at a crucial point of the battle Grant found Smith sitting under a tree seemingly entranced by a piece of wood he was whittling away at and had to roar at him to rejoin the fight. Smith calmly replied "I will do it" as he had formed up the brigades in his division such that they were then able to take and hold the fort. Although the Union army won that battle, Smith didn't survive the war dying only 2 months later and so it's Grant who is known to history as the cool whittler under fire.