The social backdrop, vividly described, to one of the greatest battles in European history, Waterloo 1815
The summer of 1815 saw the final and desperate efforts of European powers to usurp Napoleon's reign over France.
The pivotal moment was unfolding in an age where war was a social occasion; the military urgency was matched only by the soldiers and their wives' frantic efforts to keep apace of the lavish balls which were being thrown. The intention to deny war with frivolity persevered until 15 June, when the tension broke, and troops exchanged dance partners for weapons and...

As the first of the so-called Fabulous Five (Francoise Sagan, Roger Vadim, Brigitte Bardot and Yves Saint Laurent) Bernard Buffet was a leader of the cultural revolution that seemed to forge a new France from the shattered remains of a demoralized country. While still in his twenties he had a Rolls Royce, a chateau, an island, high society at his feet and a glittering future ahead. Yet his extraordinary fall from grace was engineered by the very establishment that created him. Once hailed as a genius he was later shunned as a joke. Today, almost 70 years after he first shot to fame as a 20...

Guides you through the myths, legends, nuances and delicious realities of the smoke-savouring universe, serving as an introduction for the neophyte and a reference for the connoisseur.

The story of mankind's struggle to measure time - and the stunning timepieces that have changed the way we do so.