Dorothy Parker lost her job as the theatre critic of Vanity Fair on 11 January 1920 after her sharp reviews offended powerful people in the theatre world, including the producer Florenz Ziegfeld's wife, the actress Billie Burke. Her colleagues Robert Benchley and Robert Sherwood resigned in protest. The three were lunch companions in the Algonquin Hotel's group, the Algonquin Round Table, a circle of New York writers and wits. Parker's willingness to speak her mind, even when it angered powerful men, became part of her reputation as the most quotable woman of her age.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.