10. Saint Solomonia Saburova aka Sofia of Suzdal: Husband gets bored of wife for failing to give him an heir, packs her off to a nunnery. No one can remember him, she becomes a saint.
9. The Nun’s Priest Tale: Ok, so slightly off-tangent, but Chaucer’s Tale has talking animals!
8. Nuns’ Island aka Île des Sœurs: An island that forms part of Montreal. Run by nuns for over 200 years! But not now.
7. Blue Nun: Most popular International wine of the 1950s, must be good?
6. The Vale of Rest by John Everett Millais: Clearly nuns digging a grave is hardly as enigmatic a subject for a painting as Ophelia, but I have to mention the Pre-Raphaelites in this list somewhere.
5. Sister Wendy Beckett: Nun becomes art critic and presents a TV show discussing art. Postmodern.
4. Black Narcissus: 1947 film starring Moira Shearer. Nuns go crazy in remote Himalayan Convent. Jack Cardiff does the cinematography. Last scene is terrifying. Spooky Genius.
3. Flying Nun Records: Gave us David Kilgour and The Chills. Enough said.
2. Marianne Faithfull dressed as a nun performing I Got You, Babe with David Bowie on the 1980 Floor show: Look this up on YouTube.
1. Hildegard von Bingen: 12th century German composer, artist, visionary, prophet, historian, botanist. Her music alone is amazing.
MOUNTAIN STATIC is launching his debut album Research at The Community Church Of St Mark in Clifton Hill this Saturday June 25.
