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Fort Boyard (fortification)
Fort Boyard () is a fort located between the Île-d'Aix and the Île d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits, on the west coast of France and is the filming location for the eponymous TV game show (1990 – present). Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began. Building started in 1801 and was completed in 1857. In 1967, the final scene of the French film '' Les aventuriers'' was filmed at the remains of the fort. Layout Fort Boyard is stadium-shaped, long and wide. The walls were built high. At the centre is a yard, and the ground floor provided stores and quarters for the men and officers. The floor above contained casemates for the emplacements of guns and further quarters. Above that were facilities for barbette guns and mortars. History The construction of the fort was first considered during a build-up of the French armed forces undertaken by Louis XIV b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pertuis D'Antioche
The Pertuis d'Antioche (, ''Passage of Antioch'') is a strait on the Atlantic coast of Western France, between two islands, Île de Ré and Oléron, on the one side, and on the other side the continental coast between the cities of La Rochelle and the naval arsenal of Rochefort. The link with Antioch is tenuous: the Pertuis is a north-eastern corner of coastline, as is the coast between Cyprus, Syria and Turkey around the ancient city. History The Pertuis d'Antioche was already active during Roman times, when it saw trade in salt and wine centred on Saintes. Much later, the military rivalry between England and France resulted in the Pertuis being the site of frequent naval engagements. In the middle-ages, the area sought its independence from the English crown under Richard the Lionheart. Louis XIV made the city of Rochefort one of the great naval bases of his kingdom. He then had fortresses constructed to protect the Rochefort roads. During the Napoleonic wars, the French fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forts In France
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanna Shimkus
Joanna Marie Poitier ( Shimkus; born 30 October 1943) is a Canadian film actress. She is the widow of actor Sidney Poitier and mother of actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier. Early life Joanna Marie Shimkus was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Joseph Shimkus,Marriage Register - Nova Scotia Archives archives.novascotia.ca a Jewish father of Lithuanian descent and Marie Petrie, a Roman Catholic of Irish descent. Her father worked for the . She attended a convent school and was brought up in |
Lino Ventura
Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura (14 July 1919 – 22 October 1987), known as Lino Ventura, was an Italian actor who grew up in France and starred in many French films. Born in Italy, he was raised in Paris by his mother. After a first career as a professional wrestler was ended by injury, he was offered a part as a gang boss in the Jacques Becker film ''Touchez pas au grisbi'' (1954) and rapidly became one of France's favourite film actors, playing opposite many other great stars and working with such leading directors as Louis Malle, Claude Sautet, and Claude Miller. Usually portraying a tough man, either a criminal or a cop, he also featured as a leader of the Resistance in the Jean-Pierre Melville directed ''Army of Shadows'' (''L'armée des ombres'', 1969). After one of his four children, a daughter, was born handicapped, he and his wife founded a charity Perce-Neige (Snowdrop) which aids disabled children and their parents. He was voted 23rd in a poll for the 100 gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Notre histoire'' (1984). In 1991, he received France's Legion of Honour. At the 45th Berlin International Film Festival, he won the Honorary Golden Bear. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, he received the Honorary Palme d'Or. Delon achieved critical acclaim for roles in films ''Purple Noon'' (1960), ''Rocco and His Brothers'' (1960), ''L'Eclisse'' (1962), ''The Leopard'' (1963), ''Le Samouraï'' (1967), '' La Piscine'' (1969), ''Le Cercle Rouge'' (1970), ''Un flic'' (1972), and ''Monsieur Klein'' (1976). Over the course of his career Delon worked with many directors, including Luchino Visconti, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Louis Malle. As a singer, Delon recorded the popular duet "P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Adventure (1967 Film)
''The Last Adventure'' (french: Les Aventuriers) is a 1967 French-Italian adventure drama film directed by Robert Enrico and based on a novel by José Giovanni. A tale of adventure, two handsome men, Alain Delon and Lino Ventura, with a good-looking girl, Joanna Shimkus, escape setbacks in France to go in search of sunken treasure off the coast of Africa. But finding the loot only brings them new and more deadly challenges. Synopsis Outside Paris, three people are pursuing their separate dreams. Roland is building his own racing car, but it blows up under test. His friend Manu is a stunt pilot, who loses his licence. They are befriended by Laetitia, an artist mounting her first exhibition, at which not a single work sells. Their dreams in ruins, and virtually broke, the three pool what's left of their resources and head for a place on the African coast where an aircraft full of loot came down in the sea. As they are searching for the wreck, a man climbs aboard their boat and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guano
Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a lesser extent, sought for the production of gunpowder and other explosive materials. The 19th-century seabird guano trade played a pivotal role in the development of modern input-intensive farming. The demand for guano spurred the human colonization of remote bird islands in many parts of the world. Unsustainable seabird guano mining processes can result in permanent habitat destruction and the loss of millions of seabirds. Bat guano is found in caves throughout the world. Many cave ecosystems are wholly dependent on bats to provide nutrients via their guano which supports bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, and vertebrates. The loss of bats from a cave can result in the extinction of species that rely on their guano. U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charente Maritime
Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kilometres (2,650 sq mi). History Previously a part of the provinces of Saintonge and Aunis, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. On 4 September 1941, during World War II, it was renamed as Charente-Maritime. When the department was first organised, the commune of Saintes was designated as the prefecture of the department (Saintes had previously been the capital of Saintonge). This changed in 1810 when Napoleon passed an imperial decree to move the prefecture to La Rochelle. During World War II, the department was invaded by the German Army and became part of occupied France. To provide defence against a possible beach landing by the Allies, the Organisation Todt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis-Philippe Of France
Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wars and was promoted to lieutenant general by the age of nineteen, but he broke with the Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI. He fled to Switzerland in 1793 after being connected with a plot to restore France's monarchy. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Égalité) fell under suspicion and was executed during the Reign of Terror. Louis Philippe remained in exile for 21 years until the Bourbon Restoration. He was proclaimed king in 1830 after his cousin Charles X was forced to abdicate by the July Revolution (and because of the Spanish renounciation). The reign of Louis Philippe is known as the July Monarchy and was dominated by wealthy industrialists and bankers. He followed conservative policies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boyardville
Boyardville () is a district in the city of Saint-Georges-d'Oléron on the eastern part of Oléron Island (''Île d'Oléron'') in Charente-Maritime, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The community has a small beach resort, fishing port, and marina, and its shore is a popular spot for surfing. , history (French) The name of the district derives from Fort Boyard, a famous Napoleonic ocean fortress located a few kilometres offshore. Materials were stored in Boyardville for construction of the fort, and hundreds of labourers who built it resided in barracks located there. Less known is Fort Galissonière (formerly Fort Napoleon), located in the Saumonards forest. Designed to protect the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
François Étienne De Rosily-Mesros
François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros (13 January 1748, Brest – 12 November 1832, Paris) was a French naval commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He is notable as being chosen by Napoleon to succeed Villeneuve as commander of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Cádiz, arriving to take up his appointment just after its defeat at Trafalgar. His name is inscribed on the east side of the Arc de Triomphe. Life Early service His father the comte de Rosily was a chef d'escadre and was commanding the Brest fleet in 1762 when he admitted François as a garde de marine. From 1762 to 1769 François completed his apprenticeship at sea in several varied campaigns, visiting Rio de Janeiro, Newfoundland, Hispaniola and the Antilles. He became an enseigne de vaisseau in 1770, on a ship commanded by Kerguelen. Under Kerguelen he then went on a surveying trip along the French coast before setting out on a circumnavigation of the globe whose aim was to research the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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