Six degrees of separation from Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov, the Russian playwright and master of the short story, has been brought to life in the film Anton Chekhov - 1890, which was screened on Thursday as part of the Hong Kong French Film Festival. Born in 1860, Chekhov was the grandson of a serf who bought his freedom and the son of a struggling grocer. In his short lifetime - he died of tuberculosis at the age of 44 - Chekov wrote about 600 stories, some of which provided inspiration for Blood on the Tracks, the 1975 album by …

Pacquiao grew up in poverty in a small town in the Philippines. He ran away from home when he was 12 after his father allegedly ate his pet dog. He started boxing professionally four years later and has since become the only fighter to win world titles in eight weight divisions. His boxing style, inspired by Bruce Lee, is distinctive, with movement that is "unorthodox, scattered and perpetual, as if designed by a jazz musician", as The New York Times put it. Last month, Pacquiao visited the Garden Tomb, in Jerusalem, considered by some to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ …