Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Doctor Zhivago was originally published in Italian because the Soviet government wouldn't allow Pasternak to publish it in Russian. The poor guy had to smuggle the book out of the country before anyone could ever read it (source).
Boris Pasternak might have got some of his talent from good genes. His father was a famous painter and his mother a famous pianist (source).
Kind of like Zhivago, Pasternak was initially a supporter of the left-wing Bolsheviks when they first took control of Russia in 1917. But his support for them soon disappeared when he became aware of their ruthless behavior (source).