Depuis que l’homme a perdu son importante pilosité, les poils ont toujours été un signe politique, social, éthique et religieux. C’est ce que rappellent deux historiens, Marie-France Auzépy et Joël Cornette, dans un livre très illustré qui retrace l’histoire du poil à travers les âges. Une histoire moins simple qu’on pourrait le croire, et qui étonnera les curieux de tous poils.
Histoire du poil © Belin
Histoire du Poil, de Marie-France Auzépy et Joël Cornette est publié aux éditions Belin (352 p., 100 illustrations, 29,50E) – Note : ****
Since man has lost his hairy appearance the Poli has been used as an expression of honour in French society throughout the ages.
Se déploie ainsi au fil des pages le kaléidoscope des traces multiples d’une histoire aussi singulière que méconnue : de Sumer à Babylone ; dans la France de Louis XIV, quand le sexe mâle s’enticha de la perruque ; dans la Chine mandchoue, où tous les sujets chinois devaient porter la natte ; lors de la Première Guerre mondiale avec la glorification des Poilus ; sans oublier la Turquie contemporaine, où les positions politiques ont de fortes incidences sur la forme des moustaches…
Mentioned as the tough soldiers of the WWI the Poilus have ranged through out the ages from Babylon through to the reign of Louis XIV, in Manchurian China, contempory Turkey and typified by the heavy moustaches still worn by men in France.
About bill
Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer.
The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013.
Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI.
Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug
2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website.
But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien.
The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50.
Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea.
Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
