Fact #20
A Ukrainian saved the life of Winston Churchill.
Ukrainian Yuriy Burdyak saved Winston Churchill’s life. During the Anglo-Boer War (South Africa) in 1899-1902, the commander of one of the Boer units, Ukrainian Yuriy Budyak, saved a young English journalist from being shot. Later, the latter helped Budyak enter Oxford University.
In 1917, Yurii worked in the government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. In 1943, Yurii Budyak died in a Soviet concentration camp. The name of the English journalist was Winston Churchill.
Fact #21
Honoré de Balzac married in Ukraine.
Honoré de Balzac married in Ukraine. In 1850, the outstanding writer led his lover, Evelina Hanska, to the altar in the city of Berdychiv.
The wedding is not the only event that connected the French writer with Ukraine. In a letter to Laura de Surville, Balzac shared his impressions of Kyiv: “…So I saw this Northern Rome, this Tatar city with three-masted churches, with the riches of the Lavra and Saint Sophia of the Ukrainian steppes. It’s good to look at it again…”.
Fact #22
Pablo Picasso was delighted with the works of the Ukrainian artist.
Pablo Picasso was delighted with the works of the Ukrainian artist Kateryna Bilokur (1900-1961).
When he saw her works at an exhibition in 1954, he said that they were brilliant and compared Kateryna with the most famous artist in the world, Serafin Luis. Pablo Picasso said about Kateryna Bilokur: “If we had an artist of this level of skill, we would make the whole world talk about her!”