Looking back a century can sometimes take you even further into the past. The death of one of the best known clowns in France sparked nostalgia in journalists for the belle époque, a simpler time of joy, prosperity and family trips to the c…
The 1920s was an era of modernism and progress, but in certain respects, Paris was still a medieval city. The archaic nature of the sanitary conditions in some districts - overlooked most of the time - only became an issue when infectious d…
A rapid interaction on a bus observed by a journalist - recreated in words in the form of a scene from an imaginary film - tells us more about the invisible effects of World War One that were still hanging heavily in the air in 1921. Life h…
Looking back 100 years into the past reveals how much some parts of Paris have changed in a century. An incident that took place near the Place de la Madeleine one warm July evening in 1921 is one such portal into the past. Push open the do…
Although many people left Paris for summer residences in July and August, those who remained in the city could still find plenty of places to cool down. For evening entertainment, the shaded garden of the Bal Bullier near the Jardin du Luxe…
One of the biggest and longest running stories of 1921 came to a dramatic conclusion in the first weekend of July. 5700km from Paris, boxer and local favourite Georges Carpentier took on American heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey, but Parisian…
In the night of June 2, 1921, the International Olympic Committee voted 16 to 4 to select Paris as the organising city for the next Olympic Games, to be held in 1924. The news was not greeted with much interest in the press, with journalist…
When I take my trips back into 1921 I feel like an invisible observer of another world. What I didn't expect was to find somebody heading the other way to look into my world! And I certainly didn't expect them to have predicted Netflix, per…
The death of Jim Morrison is not the only mystery in the Rue Beautreillis. On this street where the leader of The Doors spent the last few months of his life and where he (probably) died, another door stands curiously alone. But what is it?…
The death of Jim Morrison is not the only mystery in the Rue Beautreillis. On this street where the leader of The Doors spent the last few months of his life and where he (probably) died, another door stands curiously alone. But what is it?…
The death of Jim Morrison is not the only mystery in the Rue Beautreillis. On this street where the leader of The Doors spent the last few months of his life and where he (probably) died, another door stands curiously alone. But what is it?…
The death of Jim Morrison is not the only mystery in the Rue Beautreillis. On this street where the leader of The Doors spent the last few months of his life and where he (probably) died, another door stands curiously alone. But what is it?…