100 years ago this week: Week 35Looking 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 circus and the music hall. If France had grown more morose as the twentieth century progressed, so had Footit the (English ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 34Sport was an amateur affair in France at the beginning of the 1920s, but those who participated still desired serious equipment. With more and more people taking part, players wanted to look the part and use the same gear as their semi-professional idols. On the football field, one Franco-British brand was starting to corner the market, with success stemming from ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 33The 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 diseases broke out. Was the plague about to make a comeback in 1921? Scratch your itch here.The Plague in ParisA few cases have ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 32A 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 had returned to normal, but nothing would ever be totally normal for those that had lived through the conflict.Hop on the bus ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 31World War One didn't have many direct impacts on Paris, but the indirect effects were deep and long-lasting. Beyond the terrible human suffering and financial shock, many more unexpected parts of city life were interrupted. This was the case with Paris's passenger boats, which in the summer of 2021 were finally getting back on the water.Take a trip down the Seine ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 30Looking 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 doors to a different world here.Daring robbery, rue Chauveau-LagardeYesterday evening, as they were closing their coal and wine ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 29Although 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 Luxembourg was the place to be.Come through the entrance gates here.(Comoedia, July 21, 1921)In 1921, the Bal Bullier had already ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 28What did Parisians do on July 14, 1921? Like every year on this national holiday, they danced in the streets and drank a little too much. With temperatures soaring though, many were also tempted to head down to the banks of the Seine and take a splash in the water!Dive in here for more details.Paris beachesThe high temperatures have given rise to a spontaneous ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 27In the early 1920s, Parisians were becoming used to seeing strange flying machines in the sky above the city, but the passage over Paris of a gigantic air balloon one sunny July evening was still a remarkable event, As well as being physically impressive, it was also a sign of victory, and the pointer towards a future that would never really happen.Pull out your ..read more

100 years ago this week: Week 26One 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 Parisians still found ways to follow the fight almost blow by blow. How did they manage to stay up-to-date in a pre-radio era, and how ..read more