The Emperor of the French, just in case anyone had forgotten. I suppose there’s a frying pan-fire unionist argument to be made against secession, and who better to put it than a Frenchman: Well, one of the participants was a Frenchman. Here’s another load of Bellocs of which I’m also rather fond:
A double reflection makes up the man who was born on the thirteenth day of the moon, lost his throne on the thirteenth day of the moon, and fought the battle of Waterloo on the thirteenth day of the moon: I wonder if Josephine’s astrological babblings didn’t cause Napoleon’s natural military interest in the moon…
PP senator Carlos Benet has said that Pavía entered Congress on a horse (during the 1874 coup), Tejero with a pistol (this is the 1981 coup that failed), while Zapatero arrived by suburban train (the reference is to the Al Qaeda train bombs before the elections two years ago). I don’t think Pavía actually went…
The last time I was in Caracas a general parked his tank outside the national assembly building and the chamber maid died of cholera. Things haven’t improved since, and Hugo Chávez’s infant daughter has just thrown a spanner in the works of the historic Bonaire invasion project by telling him to drop everything else until…
Even if you stay clear of the Russian gun smugglers in the port, it’s still often very difficult to follow Antwerp dialect, with its Anglicisms (makkadam, “asphalt”), Gallicisms (memmaure, “memory”), games (‘t Chingchangsplein for Sint Jansplein, “St John’s Square”) and surreal inventions (I get halfway through melkkaarenoungdenaar, “lousy haircut”, and then lose track of what…
Many Americans think that the 100 days business began with FDR, while the French think that Villepin stole it off Napoleon (and many wish him a similar fate). I don’t know who was first, but (useless information starts here): A certain cardinal Miçer Napoleón was granted 100 days (and one year: damn) partial indulgence in…
