Showing posts with the label France

Who Was The Man in The Iron Mask?

Jun 17, 2022

The man in the iron mask has been a historical enigma since the 18th century. Born circa 1658, he became a prisoner that hopped across the t...

The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower—Twice!

Jun 6, 2022

Even if you think you know who Victor Lustig is, you don’t. Beyond the charming salutations, the livid scar on his left cheekbone and the ma...

Pont Ambroix

May 25, 2022

Pont Ambroix, also called the Ambrussum Bridge, was a major Roman bridge across the Vidourle River connecting the end of Villetelle to Galla...

History’s Strangest Duel Was Fought in Blimps

May 21, 2022

They say that every action arises from either love or hate. Imagine then, what a creative catastrophe would unfold if a man was inspired by ...

The Sculpted Rocks of Rothéneuf

Mar 10, 2022

In 1879 in a small town in the south-east of France called Châteauneuf-de-Galaure, a postman began the construction of a fantastic palace, w...

The Field of Cloth of Gold

Mar 4, 2022

Situated just ten miles south of Calais, Balinghem is an unremarkable little village, but five hundred years ago this quiet countryside play...

Tarrare: The Man Who Ate Too Much

Mar 1, 2022

If gluttony is a sin, then perhaps the worst offender was a man named Tarrare who lived in 18th century France. He had such an insatiable ap...

Giuseppe Fieschi’s Infernal Machine

Feb 24, 2022

On July 28, 1835, Giuseppe Marco Fieschi positioned himself in front of an open window on the third floor of N. 50 Boulevard du Temple in Pa...

The First Airmail Was Delivered During The Siege of Paris

Feb 22, 2022

When Prussian forces had Paris under siege during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the beleaguered Parisians had only one hope to get messag...

The Pneumatic Clocks of Paris

Feb 15, 2022

When French-born but London-based civil and electrical engineer, Jules Albert Berly, traveled to Paris for the 1881 International Exposition...