Jean Raphael (Georges Lafaix) in Dormans (51), Marne (51)

Georges Lafaix (better known as Jean Raphael) (1916-2006) was born in Orléans and died in Dormans, where he is buried. He was brought up in poverty by his grandparents and began his working life at thirteen as a house painter, although his main interest was in music: he used to frequent the dances and cafés in Rue de Lappe, Montmartre. He changed his name and became a noted 'chanteur de charme', initially adopting the style of Tino Rossi and Reda Caire, specialising in the tango. He wrote the words of some of his own songs, such as 'Le Chanteur de nos souvenirs', 'Viva, viva Napoli', and 'Paris sans toi'. 

Jules Crochet in Mareuil-le-Port (51), Marne (51)

Jules Crochet (1902-72*) was born in Dormans, died in Tinqueux near Reims, and was a pioneer of medical aviation. In the 1930s he carried out medical missions in Africa for the French government. A roundabout in Reims was named after him in 1997.

*Wikipédia at the time of writing gives the date of his death as 1974, which clashes with the date of the plaque on his family vault.

Phare in Verzenay (51), Marne (51)

In order to advertise his brand of champagne, in 1909 Joseph Goulet built a lighthouse on a hill in Verzenay, right in the centre of champagne vineyards. There was a restaurant and theatre in adjacent buildings, and the place became a meeting spot for Rémois (people from Reims) and Sparnaciens (people from Épernay): then, access was facilitated by the CBR (Compagnie des Chemins de Fer within the Reims community), a railway company which no longer exists. The lighthouse was used as an observation post during World War II, but for many years after was left to go to ruin. It was bought by the commune in 1987, and in 1994 steps were taken to create an écomusée which was opened in 1999. This is advertised on their website as open every day, although we saw no signs of life at the time of our visit. But the view! Who needs to climb the lighthouse?

Château d’eau in Matougues (51), Marne (51)

The château d’eau (water tower) in Matougues (Marne) is ordinary enough, or at least it was until it received a decoration. The painter, engraver and sculptor Roland Irolla, born in 1935, painted this representation of the village's church and its bridge over the River Marne.

Pierre Dac in Châlons-en-Champagne (51), Marne (51)

Pierre Dac (1893-1975) was born here, 70 Rue de la Marne, and occupied rooms on the first floor (where the plaque is). In a leaflet on Châlons-en-Champagne, the office de tourisme gives this (number one on its list) as the birthplace of Dac. But they don't say anything about him, and how many people today remember (apart from seeing clips on the internet) the vital importance, vital absurdity, for instance, of the Biglotron? (Not to mention the Schmilblik.)

Étienne Œhmichen in Châlons-en-Champagne (51), Marne (51)

'ICI EST NÉ

ETIENNE ŒMICHEN

CRÉATEUR DE L'HÉLICOPTÈRE

LE 15 OCTOBRE 1884'

Œhmichen invented an early version of the helicopter. He's obviously an important international figure, although the Châlons-en-Champagne tourist office doesn't seem to make much of this. They should be exploiting the interest.

Épernay street names (4): Léon Bourgeois, Épernay (51), Marne (51)

Léon Bourgeois, sénateur of Marne, was a radical and a sculptor who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1920. Rodin dedicated a sculpture to him.

Épernay street names (3): Marcel Paul, Épernay (51), Marne (51)

Marcel Paul was one of the five communist members of the post-war government, and as Ministre de la production industrielle is most noted for nationalising power industries, creating EDF (Électricité de France) and GDF (Gaz de France). The street named after him was originally called 'Rue de l'électricité'.

Épernay street names (2): Vincent Ballu, Épernay (51), Marne (51)

'RUE

Vincent BALLU

(2.8.1920-9.7.1980)

Fondateur de la Maison

TECNOMA'

Yes, Vincent Ballu established the agricultural machines business Tecnoma. He is also the inventor of the 'tracteur enjambeur' for vineyards, which was used in post-war France.

Épernay street names (1): La Saule Verdelette, Épernay (51), Marne (51)

On an 1831 map of Épernay there appears a small area to the south of a loop in the River Marne, named 'Le Saule Verdelette', which obviously refers to this area being named after the native willow trees. But I'm at a loss as to how this area could have slightly changed its name, making the street below it 'La Saule Verdelette'. Why the change of gender? Even the McDo restaurant, when Googled, comes up as 'McDonald's La Saule Verdelette'. Have I missed something?

Champagne in Mardeuil, Marne (51), Épernay (51)

At a roundabout at the entrance to Mardeuil, one of a number of Champagne-producing villages near Épernay, this attractive representation of a Champagne cork and cage.

Nicolas Appert in Châlons-en-Champagne, Marne (51)

Nicolas Appert was born in Châlons-en-Champagne in 1749 and became a confectioner in Paris in 1784. From 1794 he became involved in the process of conserving foods for a long period by heating them in hermetically sealed containers to eradicate bacteria from them. The process bacame known as appertisation.

Continuing his experiments he from 1815 became the initiator of techniques for conserving wines and milk, later perfected by fermentation by Louis Pasteur. Several times Appert was acknowledged by the Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie nationale, although his techniques were advanced by English developers of his technique without any compensation/recognition for Appert and he was buried in an ossuary in 1841.

This monument was erected in 2009.

Marie-Angélique le Blanc in Songy, Marne (51)

Marie-Angélique Memmie le Blanc (c. 1712-75) was born in what is now Wisconsin (USA), an American Indian famous for being an 'enfant sauvage' like Victor (made famous by Truffaut in the film L'Enfant sauvage) and Kaspar Hauser (also made famous by Hertzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. There's a difference though: the Marie-Angélique story seems to have been based on truth, but the others probably not. In L'énigme des enfants-loups : une certitude biologique mais un déni des archives, 1304-1954 (2007), Serges Aroles (an expert on feral children) argues strongly in favour of the truth of the story.

Marie-Angélique (sent to France in 1720) escaped from the plague in Provence and survived for ten years on leaves and roots before being captured in the woods in Songy in 1731. Following her capture she learned to read and write, was welcomed by royalty, and oh the story is too long to go into here but she died far from being penniless.

The plaque by the statue in Songy states that it was erected in 2009, and that Marie-Angélique was baptised in 1732 at L'Église Saint-Sulpice in Châlons-en-Champagne.

Le Ballon captif, Épernay, Marne (41)

'Le Ballon captif', Épernay, Marne. For a tourist attraction, and an advert for the Champagne produced here, I suppose it's not too bad: they could have thought up much worse things! The AC stands for Avenue de Champagne, where the much photographed Moët & Chandon building is, incidentally diagonally opposite L'hôtel de ville, in the park of which is a very fruitful boîte à lire.

Dom Pérignon in Épernay, Marne (51)

Odd that I've been to Épernay a number of times, but somehow not noticed the statue of Dom Pérignon outside the Moët et Chandon building, although I've been to Hautillers and seen his tomb in the abbey, but anyway here it is. Interesting too are the corkscrew-shaped plants strewn around outside:

Boîte à lire in Épernay, Marne (51)

We stumbled across this boîte à lire in the grounds of the park in the Hôtel de Ville in Épernay, and as we always carry a few read French books around with us we exchanged them for a few on offer here, including Henri Vincenot's La Billebaude, which I was planning to read anyway.

Boîtes à lire:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Boîte à Lire, Dicy, Nièvre
Boîte à lire, Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines
Boîte à lire, Sorigny, Indre-et-Loire
Boîte à Lire, Jonzac, Charente-Maritime
Boîte à lire, La Roque-d'Anthéron, Bouches-du-Rhône
Boîte à Lire, Épineuil-le-Fleuriel, Cher
Boîte à lire, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône
Boîte à lire, East Markham, UK
Boîte à lire, La Folie Couvrechef, Caen, Calvados
Boîte à lire, Bergues, Nord
Boîte à lire, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime
Boîte à lire, Villerville, Calvados
Boîte à lire, Saint-Servan, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine
Boîte à lire in Caen, Calvados
Boîte à Lire, Noyant d'Allier, Allier
Boîte à lire, Dampierre-en-Burly, Loiret
Boîte à lire, Illiers-Combray, Eure-et-Loir
Boîte à lire, Chartres, Eure-et-Loir
Boîte à lire, Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, Rhône

René Lalique in Aÿ, Marne (51)

Outside the mairie in the small town of Aÿ, near Épernay, Marne (51).

The son of Auguste Jules Lalique and Olympe Berthellemy, René Lalique (1860–1945) is a famous glass artist/designer and designer of jewels. He was born of Aÿ on 68 rue Jules Blondeau, now a street named after him. He died in Paris and is buried in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

A sort of family tree, in which René Lalique is called an 'eclectic visionary', which is in the square Olympe Berthellemy, named after Lalique's mother.

This bench informs us that every first of May René Lalique gave his employees a bunch of lilies of the valley and a box of Boissier chocolate: it adds that he liked to remember walking on lilies of the valley in the undergrowth above Aÿ where 'there were so many [...] flowering that you could have imagined yourself walking on pearls'. His symbol the libellule, or dragonfly, is represented here, along with a femme ailée (winged woman) of his originally in bronze.

Large street signs in Aÿ display information about Lalique. This one is about Lalique and women. Women were a great source of inspiration, from Olympe his mother (a muse) to his grand-daughter Nicole Marich-Haviland (who said he spoke of women as things to be treasured), his wife Alice Ledru (another muse), and his daughter Suzanne Lalique-Haliland, etc.

René Lalique and Alice.

Just follow the trail.

Street signs and Dom Pérignon in Hautvilliers, Marne (51)

Pierre Pérignon, or Dom Pérignon, was born in Sainte-Menehould in 1638 or 1639 and died in the Abbaye Saint-Pierre in Hautvillers in 1715. He was a Benedictine monk best known for (legends about his) involvement in the Champagne wine process. His tomb is in the Abbaye, which now belongs to the Champagne house Moët & Chandon. There is a statue of him in Sainte-Ménehould, and one in front of the Moët & Chandon building in Épernay.

Hautvilliers is a staunch tourist stronghold, in season littered with Brits, Americans, Belgians, etc. But it was the street signs concerning the making of wine that most attracted me, not the obvious tourist traps. Below I show the signs that I considered most attractive, concluding with Dom Pérignon's tomb in front of the altar.