COME FACE TO FACE WITH THE FAMOUS

When I was packing my things, the day before I've to leave Singapore, I had a glimpse of this tiny brochure which I collected a couple of days back at Sentosa. Left all the baggage down - called my aunty - Destination : Madame Tussaud's Singapore - a complete one-and-a-half-hours passed just like that.

Madame Tussaud's wax portraits look very much like they were made of flesh and blood. They are splitting replicas of great politicians, world leaders, movie stars, religious heads and world famous novelists and royalty; and some even put the original to shame!

Madam Tussaud is said to have inherited two collections of wax figures in 1794, from her uncle under whose guidance she was taught the art of moulding wax. During the French Revolution she was imprisoned as punishment for being a supporter of the bourgeois and was forced to make wax moulds from the heads cut off from the guillotine! When she was freed she toured the country for 33 years and met great leaders who were willing to pose for her and finally settled and set up her museum on Baker Street, London. The originals that she had carved herself are still displayed in the museum.

It's as close as you'll get to the real thing!

�

Special Thanks to my aunty, Mrs. Farida Alaudeen, Singapore

November 1999