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Henri Pépin
Henri Pépin (18 November 1864 – 31 December 1915) was an affluent French racing cyclist who once hired two riders to escort him leisurely through the Tour de France, in which they ate at good restaurants and spent the night in expensive hotels. When he had had enough, he paid his assistants – the first ''Cycling domestique, domestiques'' in cycle racing – what they would have earned had they won the Tour and went home by train.Procycling, UK, 2000 Tour de France The Tour which made Pépin celebrated started at the Porte Bineau in Paris on 8 July 1907. Pépin, whom reporters quickly turned into a count or a baron (see below) was rider number 59 in a peloton of 112. He had hired two riders, Jean Dargassies and Henri Gauban to ride with him. Far from competing with the favourites, Gustave Garrigou, Émile Georget and Lucien Petit-Breton, Pépin planned to treat the race as a pleasure ride, stopping for lunch when they chose and spending the night in the best hotels th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gontaud-de-Nogaret
Gontaud-de-Nogaret (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Lot-et-Garonne Departments of France, department in south-western France. People The village was the home of Henri Pépin, a prosperous houseowner and cycling enthusiast who employed two helpers to pace him around the Tour de France in 1906. Pépin—sometimes wrongly described as a baron—had no interest in winning the race. Instead, he paid his helpers to lead him to the best restaurants and hotels they could find. Some days they finished more than 12 hours behind the winner. See also * Communes of the Lot-et-Garonne department References Communes of Lot-et-Garonne, Gontauddenogaret {{LotGaronne-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, but lower than a viscount or count. Often, barons hold their fief – their lands and income – directly from the monarch. Barons are less often the vassals of other nobles. In many kingdoms, they were entitled to wear a smaller form of a crown called a ''coronet''. The term originates from the Late Latin, Latin term , via Old French. The use of the title ''baron'' came to England via the Norman Conquest of 1066, then the Normans brought the title to Scotland and Southern Italy. It later spread to Scandinavian and Slavic lands. Etymology The word '':wikt:baron, baron'' comes from the Old French , from a Late Latin "man; servant, soldier, mercenary" (so used in Salic law; Alemannic law has in the same sense). The sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement curve. History The first velodromes were constructed during the late 1870s, the oldest of which is the Preston Park Velodrome, Brighton, United Kingdom, built in 1877 by the British Army. Some were purpose-built just for cycling, and others were built as part of facilities for other sports; many were built around athletics tracks or other grounds and any banking was shallow. Reflecting the then-lack of international standards, sizes varied and not all were built as ovals: for example, Preston Park is long and features four straights linked by banked curves, while the Portsmouth velodrome, in Portsmouth, has a single straight linked by one long curve. The oldest surviving regular velodrome two-straight oval tracks is from 1889, locate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Versailles (city)
Versailles ( , ) is a commune in the department of the Yvelines, Île-de-France, known worldwide for the Château de Versailles and the gardens of Versailles, which is designated an UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Located in the western suburbs of the French capital, from the centre of Paris, Versailles is a wealthy suburb of Paris with a service-based economy and is a major tourist destination. According to the 2017 census, the population of the city is 85,862, down from a peak of 94,145 in 1975.Population en historique depuis 1968 , INSEE A new town founded by order of King , Ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bois De Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Emperor Napoleon III to be turned into a public park in 1852. It is the second-largest park in Paris, slightly smaller than the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern side of the city. It covers an area of 845 hectares (2088 acres), which is about two and a half times the area of Central Park in New York, slightly larger than Phoenix Park in Dublin, and slightly smaller than Richmond Park in London. Within the boundaries of the Bois de Boulogne are an English landscape garden with several lakes and a cascade; two smaller botanical and landscape gardens, the Château de Bagatelle and the Pré-Catelan; a zoo and amusement park in the Jardin d'Acclimatation; GoodPlanet Foundation's Domaine de Longchamp dedicated to ecology and humanism, the J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agen
Agen (, , ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne, southeast of Bordeaux. In 2021, the commune had a population of 32,485. Geography The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department of Lot-et-Garonne in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The city centre lies on the east bank of the river Garonne, the Canal de Garonne flows through the city, approximately halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse . Climate Agen features an oceanic climate (''Cfb'') in the Köppen climate classification and according to the latest temperature numbers borders a humid subtropical climate (''Cfa''). According to the Trewartha climate classification the climate is now humid subtropical (''Cf''). Winters are mild and feature cool to cold temperatures while summers are mild and warm. Rainfall is spread equally throughout the year; however, most sunshine hours are from March–September. Toponymy From Occitan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the List of cities proper by population density, 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, Fashion capital, fashion, and gastronomy. Because of its leading role in the French art, arts and Science and technology in France, sciences and its early adoption of extensive street lighting, Paris became known as the City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Christopher
Saint Christopher (, , ; ) is venerated by several Christian denominations. According to these traditions, he was a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (), or alternatively under the emperor Maximinus Daia (). Churches and monasteries were named after him by the 7th century. There is no evidence for the historicity of the saint.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Saint Christopher" Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 July 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Christopher. Accessed 25 October 2024. The most famous legend connected to the saint recounts that after converting to Christianity, he devoted his life to carrying travelers across a river. One day he carried an unknown young boy across a river after which the boy revealed himself ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plus-fours
Plus fours are breeches or trousers that extend four inches (10 cm) below the knee (and thus four inches longer than traditional knickerbockers, hence the name). Knickerbockers have been traditionally associated with sporting attire since the 1860s. Plus fours were introduced in the 1920s and became popular among sportsmen—particularly golfers and game shooters—because they allowed more freedom of movement than knickerbockers.''Fashion Encyclopedia''Plus fours An "extravagant, careless style that fit right in with the looser fashions and lifestyles of the 1920s", plus fours were introduced to the United States by Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), during a trip in 1924. They were later brought back to prominence by the professional golfer Payne Stewart, who wore them on the PGA Tour (active years 1982–1999). In 2008, plus fours were featured in André Benjamin's Benjamin Bixby clothing line, which was based on clothing worn by Ivy League The Ivy L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwrights in London in the early 1890s. Regarded by most commentators as the greatest playwright of the Victorian era, Wilde is best known for his 1890 Gothic fiction, Gothic philosophical fiction ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', as well as his numerous epigrams and plays, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts. Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Literae Humaniores#Greats, Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1905 Tour De France
The 1905 Tour de France was the third edition of the Tour de France, held from 9 to 30 July, organised by the newspaper ''L'Auto''. Following the disqualifications after the 1904 Tour de France, there were changes in the rules, the most important one being the general classification not made by time but by points. The race saw the introduction of mountains in the Tour de France, and René Pottier excelled in the first mountain, although he could not finish the race. Due in part to some of the rule changes, the 1905 Tour de France had less cheating and sabotage than in previous years, though they were not eliminated. It was won by Louis Trousselier, who also won four of the eleven stages. Innovations and changes After the 1904 Tour de France, some cyclists were disqualified, most notably the top four cyclists of the original overall classification, Maurice Garin, Lucien Pothier, César Garin and Hippolyte Aucouturier. Maurice Garin was originally banned for two years and Pothier f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
