Monday, May 07, 2007

Little Known Historical Facts

Napoleon crowned himself Emperor on 2 December 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris. Claims that he seized the crown out of the hands of Pope Pius VII during the ceremony in order to avoid subjecting himself to the authority of the pontiff are apocryphal; in fact, the coronation procedure had been agreed upon in advance.

At the ceremony, a little-known English Duke, Lovington Handles, trying to break into the "in" crowd at the ceremony, met his death by firing squad for a practical Joke he played on Napoleon, thinking it would win buddy-buddy points. Fancying himself a Jester, the young Duke Lovington went home a wrote Napoleon the following letter:

"Dear Emperor Nappy Bona,

A letter arrived this morning via pigeon from the queen of England and she said she wants her wardrobe back SHORTSTACK. leHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

It has also been rumored that Steve Perry from Journey is a descendant of Napoleon though it has never been substantiated.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey I was reading the Beckwith blog about leaving the ETS and I saw your post.

Interesting development isn't it?

Unity is truly a beautiful thing.

Stephen

Mz Jackson said...

Oh, you crack me up! (Picture Mz. Jackson wiping tears of mirth from her eyes...)

MMajor Fan said...

Hi. I likewise found your blog via Dr. Beckwith's blog.

Funny that you mention Nappy. I had an odd event at the Place de la Invalides around 15 years ago. It was my first business trip there. After work me and a colleague went for a walk. As I stepped on the curb to the plaza I felt a slam on my head and blood poured down my eyes and my big brave strong friend started to scream looking at me. With a mirror I found I had just missed having my eye put out. I looked on the road and there's a bloody boomerang, the real, kangaroo killing strength. Eventually some Paris children show up to reclaim their boomerang and gawk. No one offers to help and my jelly fish 6 foot tall friend is blubbering about "I can't take blood, this is why I could never be a doctor like my mother wanted!" I finally get a cab and use my hand to hold my brains together. I go to a pharma and get antibio and clean it up myself (yeah it hurt). I nap even with concussion. I fly back to London, then NYC as planned. Yep, with concussion. At work my head hurts so real friends convince me to see doctor. I fill out OSHA forms as they giggle over how funny it all was and each thinks they are the first to call me "boomerang lady." I get some anti inflammatory that does help the pain. Using positive thinking I reheal so that a scar people thought I'd need plastic surgery for was totally gone in 6 or 7 weeks. My French boss who had his moments thought it was so bizarre and figures the Aussies were trying to frame the French. People I know who are reincarnation believers (and oddly enough, drunks and drug users because of the pain of all those "past lives" you know) suggest that the universe was trying to remind me of something. Yeppers, I'm reminded how stupid many of the people that I know are LOL. Anyway, my Brit friends figure that it's just lingering ill will between France and Britain and I got caught in the middle. As a sword and armor collector, I liked to talk to folks at the Tower, and one of the guards was telling me about a really great sword they have in storage, and said, "If you saw it, it would put your eye out!" And then he covers his mouth and says, "Oops, sorry!" I remind myself what odd people I know and am glad that I wear a mask when I fence.