THE MADAME TUSSAUD'S: How It All Began

The origins and history of Madame Tussaud's are as fascinating as the wax portrait figures. Marie Grosholtz (later to become Madame Tussaud) was born in Strasbourg in 1761, two months after her father, a soldier, was killed in the Seven Years' War. Marie's mother took a job as a housekeeper for Philippe Curtius, a doctor who was skilled at modelling wax to create anatomical figures.

In 1767, Marie and her mother moved with Dr Curtius to Paris where he opened his first public exhibition of wax figures. He taught Marie the techniques of wax sculpting from an early age, and she became so proficient in it that she was soon making figures of many of the prominent people of the era such as the writer Francois Voltaire and the U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin (both on display today). It wasn't long before Marie's skills came to the attention of Louis XVI's sister, Madame Elizabeth, and Marie was invited to live at the splendid palace at Versailles to help in Madame Elizabeth's artistic education. Marie spent nine years at court and whilst there she created figures of Louis XVI and his family.

However, in 1789 Dr Curtius asked Marie to return to Paris. At that time the French Revolution erupted and Marie was soon asked to make death masks of some of the prominent figures who were executed. She herself was imprisoned in 1794 by the revolutionaries. It must have been a terrible time for Marie, who at one stage had her hair cropped in preparation for the guillotine. Fortunately, she escaped the terrible fate and was eventually released. Marie had the terrifying task of searching through piles of bodies to recover heads of people she knew well. She even made a death mask of one of the leading revolutionaries, Robespierre. In 1794, near the end of the revolutionary period, Curtius died and Marie inherited the exhibition.

She married a French engineer called Francois Tussaud and by 1800 had given birth to three children - a daughter, who died, and two sons, Joseph and Francis. Since the exhibition was struggling in the economic decline following the revolution, Marie decided to take her show to England in 1802, leaving behind her husband and youngest son. Marie and Joseph made a great success of their travelling show. They showed British characters such as King George IV as well as the death mask of Emperor Napoleon.

Then, in 1835 at the age of 74, Marie decided to settle the exhibition permanently at the Baker Street Bazaar, not far from the present site. Initially the Chamber of Horrors was called "The Separate Room" as it was thought too alarming for ladies of disposition. People had to pay extra to be allowed to visit it. No doubt it added to its mystery. It was only in 1846 that it got the fitting title of "The Chamber of Horrors".

Marie continued to work at her exhibition until her death in 1850, at the age of 89. Yet the spirit of Marie continues to live on, not least in the form of the last figure she made of herself, eight years before her death.

Over the years there have been several disasters which the exhibition has managed to survive. The first was a fire in 1925 caused by an electrical fault in which many of the wax portrait figures were lost as well as important relics. Disaster fell a second time during the bombing in World War II. In 1940, on the first night of the Blitz, 352 head moulds were damaged beyond repair and the adjoining cinema was destroyed. Ironically, Hitler's figure remained undamaged!

Since then The Madame Tussaud's has continued to develop its attractions. Today the most recently developed attractions are "The Spirit of London" time travel ride, spanning the history of the country's capital city from the Elizabethan age to the present day, and the new Chamber of Horrors, more spine-chilling than ever.

I.    Explain the meaning of the words in italics (in English!).

II.  In the text find English equivalents to the given Russian expressions.

истоки, начало чего-то;

восковая фигура;

лепка из воска (2);

искусный, умелый;

выдающиеся люди;

роскошный дворец;

заключать в тюрьму;

судьба, доля;

унаследовать;

переживать экономический упадок;

достичь успеха;

платить дополнительные деньги;

несчастье, бедствие.