10 June

Carlo Ancelotti - football manager

Five-times winner of the Champions League

Carlo Ancelotti, a former top-level player who has become one of football’s most accomplished managers, was born on this day in 1959 in Reggiolo, a small town in Emilia-Romagna.  With Real Madrid's defeat of Liverpool in the 2022 final, he became the only manager to have won the UEFA Champions League four times - twice with AC Milan and twice with Real Madrid. He went on to win the competition for a sixth time in 2024, again with Real Madrid.  Ancelotti, who has managed title-winning teams in five countries, is also one of only seven to have won the European Cup or Champions League as a player and gone on to do so as a manager too. He became an international team manager for the first time in 2025, taking over as head coach of Brazil on a deal that came with a €5 million bonus promised if he could turn the South American side into World Cup winners for the first time since 2002.  Read more…

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Italy enters the Second World War

Mussolini sides with Germany against Britain and France

One of the darkest periods of Italian history began on this day in 1940 when the country's Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, declared war on Great Britain and France, ending the possibility that Italy would avoid being drawn into the Second World War.  Mussolini made the declaration from the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, where he had his office. The balcony enabled him to address a large crowd in the Piazza Venezia and he ordered his Blackshirts to ensure that the square was full of enthusiastic supporters.  Italy had already signed a Pact of Steel with Germany but had been reluctant to enter the conflict. Mussolini had a strong navy but a relatively weak army and a lack of resources across the board.  By June 1940, however, Germany was on the point of conquering France and it was thought that Britain would soon follow. Read more...

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Mercurino Arborio di Gattinara – politician and cardinal

Lawyer and strategist dreamt of a united Europe ruled by the Emperor

Influential statesman and political adviser Mercurino Arborio di Gattinara was born on this day in 1465 in Gattinara in Piedmont.  Gattinara became Grand Chancellor to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and, despite being a layman who had never been ordained as a priest, he was created a cardinal. He was one of the most important men active in politics of his time and he set out to centralise power in Germany and make the Holy Roman Empire a moral and political arbiter for all the kingdoms and principalities in Europe.  Born in his family’s home in Gattinara, he was the eldest son of Paolo Arborio di Gattinara and Felicità Ranzo, who was from an important family in Vercelli.  After his father’s death, Gattinara had to interrupt his studies for financial reasons and went to Vercelli to practise with his father’s cousin, who was a notary.  Read more…

Bruno Bartoletti – operatic conductor

Florentine maestro conquered hearts in Chicago

Internationally acclaimed operatic conductor Bruno Bartoletti, who was an artistic director, as well as conducting, at Lyric Opera Chicago for more than 50 years, was born on this day in 1926 in Sesto Fiorentino in Tuscany.  Bartoletti is recognised as having shaped the excellent reputation of Lyric Opera Chicago for staging great productions of Italian opera masterpieces, as well as modern works. He also directed Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and was principal conductor at the Danish Royal Opera.  His father, Umberto, was a blacksmith who played the clarinet in a band, and as a young boy Bruno Bartoletti played the piccolo. One of his teachers recognised his musical talent, and her husband, who was the sculptor Antonio Berti, recommended him to the Cherubini conservatory, where he studied the flute and the piano.  Read more…

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Arrigo Boito – writer and composer

Death of a patriot who fought for Venice

Arrigo Boito, who wrote both the music and libretto for his opera, Mefistofele, died on this day in 1918 in Milan.  Of all the operas based on Goethe’s Faust, Boito’s Mefistofele is considered the most faithful to the play and his libretto is regarded as being of particularly high quality.  Boito was born in Padua in 1842, the son of an Italian painter of miniatures and a Polish countess. He attended the Milan Conservatory and travelled to Paris on a scholarship.  It was there he met Giuseppe Verdi, for whom he wrote the text of the Hymn of the Nations in 1862.  He fought under the direction of Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1866 in the seven weeks of the Third Italian War of Independence, against Austria, after which Venice was ceded to Italy.  While working on Mefistofele, Boito published articles, influenced by the composer Richard Wagner, in which he vigorously attacked Italian music and musicians.  Read more…

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Book of the Day:  Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches, by Carlo Ancelotti, with Chris Brady and Mike Ford

One of the greatest football managers of our time tells the story of his illustrious career through his record-breaking seven Champions League wins - five as a coach, twice as a player. Carlo Ancelotti has won domestic titles in all of Europe's top five leagues, with teams including AC Milan, Juventus, Paris St Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Real Madrid. Yet his approach could not be further from the aggressive theatricals favoured by many of his rivals. His understated style has earned him the fierce loyalty of players such as David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo.  In Quiet Leadership, Ancelotti reveals the full, riveting story of his managerial career - his methods, mentors, mistakes and triumphs - and takes us inside the dressing room to trace the characters, challenges and decisions that have shaped him. The result is both a scintillating memoir and a rare insight into the business of leadership.

As well as being the most successful head coach in the history of the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti has managed a star-studded roll call of players including Andrea Pirlo, Rui Costa, Filippo Inzaghi, Andrey Shevchenko, John Terry, Frank Lampard, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.  Chris Brady is professor of management studies and Director of the Centre for Sports Business at Salford University. Mike Forde is former director of football operations and executive board member at Chelsea FC.

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