Problem: Background: Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski (Russian: Grigorii Aleksandrovich Potiomkin-Tavricheskii; 'Potyomkin', r Grigoriy Aleksandrovich Potyomkin-Tavricheskiy; October 11 [O.S. September 30] 1739 - October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners.
Context: Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers and very changeable in his moods but also fascinating, warm and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Segur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Segur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to having portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury.  Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history and generally knowledgeable. Potemkin loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine; particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes, and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). Potemkin's habits included biting his nails, to the point where he developed hangnail. One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests:  Everything I have ever wanted, I have... I wanted high rank, I have it; I wanted medals, I have them; I loved gambling, I have lost vast sums; I liked giving parties, I've given magnificent ones; I enjoy building houses, I've raised palaces; I liked buying estates, I have many; I adore diamonds and beautiful things - no individual in Europe owns rarer or more exquisite stones. In a word, all my passions have been sated. I am entirely happy!  Ultimately Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence and disinformation on a vast scale" but supporters hold that only "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Though not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Segur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit" but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue".
Question: Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
Answer: One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests:

Problem: Background: Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir ( or ; French pronunciation: [simon d@ bovwaR] ( listen); 9 January 1908 - 14 April 1986) was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. De Beauvoir wrote novels, essays, biographies, autobiography and monographs on philosophy, politics and social issues. She was known for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism; and for her novels, including She Came to Stay and The Mandarins.
Context: Beginning in 1929, de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre were partners for fifty-one years until his death in 1980. De Beauvoir chose never to marry or set up a joint household and she never had children. This gave her the time to advance her education and engage in political causes, to write and teach, and to have lovers.  Perhaps her most famous lover was American author Nelson Algren whom she met in Chicago in 1947, and to whom she wrote across the Atlantic as "my beloved husband." Algren won the National Book Award for The Man with the Golden Arm. In 1950, and in 1954, de Beauvoir won France's most prestigious literary prize for The Mandarins in which Algren is the character Lewis Brogan. Algren vociferously objected to their intimacy becoming public. Years after they separated, she was buried wearing his gift of a silver ring. However, she lived with Claude Lanzmann from 1952 to 1959.  De Beauvoir was bisexual and her relationships with young women were controversial. Former student Bianca Lamblin (originally Bianca Bienenfeld) wrote in her book Memoires d'une jeune fille derangee (English: Memoirs of a Disturbed Young Lady), that, while she was a student at Lycee Moliere, she had been sexually exploited by her teacher de Beauvoir, who was in her 30s at the time. In 1943, de Beauvoir was suspended from her teaching job, due to an accusation that she had seduced her 17-year-old lycee pupil Natalie Sorokine in 1939. Sorokine's parents laid formal charges against de Beauvoir for debauching a minor and as a result she had her license to teach in France permanently revoked.  In 1977, de Beauvoir, Sartre, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and much of the era's intelligensia signed a petition seeking to abrogate the age of consent in France.
Question: did she ever have interest in men?
Answer:
was bisexual and her relationships with young women were controversial.