2nd December 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of France (yes, he put the crown on his own head because he didn't believe anyone else had the right to crown, or un-crown, him), ending the 1st French Republic.
2nd December 1852, Louis Napoleon (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) became emperor Napoleon III of France. He had run for presidency of France in elections in 1848 after the king was overthrown in the 1848 revolution and won, then in 1851 he overthrew the Assembly (parliament) and a year later, on a day chosen to highlight links with his uncle, the first Napoleon, he was crowned and the 2nd French Rupublic officially ended.
So to mark the day, has anyone got any Napoleonic anecdotes? Have you visited the tomb of Napoleon I in Paris or the site of the battle of Waterloo?
I visited the site of Waterloo on a rainy June afternoon three years ago whilst on holiday with my wife, son and parents in Belgium and Holland (planned so my father and I could see the WW2 Market Garden bridges - Arnhem and the film "A Bridge Too Far" - but we decided we all wanted to see Waterloo).
It's an old dig at the Belgians, but there is a joke that nobody could name ten famous Belgians (Poirot and Tin Tin aren't real!)
Apart from the following, could you do it?
Eddie Mercx (cyclist, tour de france and specialist manufacturer) Jean Claude van Damme (the muscles from Brussels - he hates that) Adolphe Saxe (Invented the tuba - not really, saxaphone) Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt (guitarist) Jacques Brel (Yes, he's a Belgian) Jean Marc Bosman (Bosman rules, football transfers) Jackie Ickx (F1 driver) Georges Simenon (writer, Maigret) Peter Paul Rubens (painter) Hieronymus Bosch (painter)
I think one or two of them wouldbe classed as Flemish, but they are still actually Belgian. What do you reckon, any more?
