Showing posts with the label France

The Ball of The Burning Men

Nov 11, 2025

On a freezing January night in 1393, music and laughter filled the Hôtel Saint-Pol, a sprawling palace on the right bank of Paris. The Frenc...

Petrarch’s Ascent of Mont Ventoux And The Birth of Renaissance

Oct 30, 2025

In March 1923, when British mountaineer George Leigh Mallory was touring the United States to raise money for an expedition to Mount Everest...

The Church of Sainte-Mère-Église

Sep 24, 2025

The town of Sainte-Mère-Église in Normandy, northwestern France, was the first in Europe to be liberated by the Allies from German occupatio...

The Knife Makers of Thiers

Jul 31, 2025

In the Puy-de-Dôme department of Auvergne, in the heart of France, lies Thiers—a city renowned throughout the country as the historic capita...

Étienne Léopold Trouvelot: Ecological Villain And Astronomy Artist

Mar 1, 2025

Étienne Léopold Trouvelot left behind two legacies. One deserves admiration and respect, while the other earns him contempt and criticism. ...

Le Pétomane: The Man Who Could Fart Melodies

Oct 1, 2024

In the vibrant world of Parisian cabaret, where extravagant performances captivated audiences every night, few acts were as peculiar or as u...

Ernest Duchesne: The Forgotten Discoverer of Penicillin

Sep 19, 2024

In 1897, a young French medical student named Ernest Duchesne submitted a ground-breaking doctoral thesis titled Contribution to the Study o...

Paris Gun: World War One’s Greatest Weapon

Sep 11, 2024

At quarter past seven on the morning of March 23, 1918, the people of Paris were jolted by a powerful explosion near the Quai de la Seine. F...

José Meiffret’s 200km/h Bike Ride

Sep 6, 2024

This strange looking bike with an enormous chain wheel was designed for speed, and speed it did achieve. On July 19, 1962, French cyclist ...

Narcisse Pelletier: The French Boy Who Lived 17 Years With The Aboriginals

Jul 9, 2024

On April 11, 1875, a pearling schooner named John Bell anchored off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The captain, Joseph Frazer, sent so...