When the writer H.G. Wells met Russian leader Vladimir Lenin in 1920, one of the things that surprised Wells was listening to Lenin speak English. It wasn't that Lenin had trouble with the language, it was that he spoke with a distinctively Irish accent.
That story remained something of a legend until relatively recently, when the Russian embassy offered some evidence. "Lenin said that his tutor in English was an Irishman and that was why he was speaking with an Irish accent," a spokesman said. The Bolshevik revolutionary visited London several times, and according to the embassy spokesman, he probably hired an Irish tutor because he would have charged less than an English one. Although recordings of Lenin speaking Russian are readily available, none has so far surfaced of him speaking English, with or without an Irish accent.
Lenin lore and legacy:
- In 1887, Lenin was kicked out of Kazan University only a few months after enrolling for engaging in a student protest; he eventually earned his degree at the University of St. Petersburg.
- Lenin's embalmed remains can be viewed in a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square, nearly a century after his death in 1924.
- Lenin was reportedly so fastidious that he would become angry if anyone spoke while he was in his office or if his pencils weren't sharpened.
