Top 10 facts about Napoleon
TWO hundred years ago today, on February 26, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba to march on Paris and resume his reign.
1. Napoleon has often been portrayed as having been very short. In facts he was about 5ft 7in, which was taller than average for the time.
2. The myth about his height may have stemmed from the fact that he was always seen with the very tall members of his Imperial guard.
3. A ‘Napoleon’ can be a French coin, a type of boot, a variety of cherry or a gun.
4. When he was a child, Napoleon was known to his family by the nickname ‘Nabulio’ .
5. Napoleon was afraid of cats.
6. Despite around 3,000 Internet pages saying that it is illegal in France to name a pig ‘Napoleon’, there is not and never has been such a law.
7. In 1996, a lock of Napoleon’s hair was sold for £3,680 at an auction in London. A lock of the Duke of Wellington’s hair fetched only £598.
8. Napoleon’s surgeon, Baron Dominique Larrey, could reputedly amputate a man’s leg in only 14 seconds.
9. His first wife was Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, but Napoleon called her Josephine.
10. In 1795, Napoleon wrote a romantic novel, Clisson et Eugenie. It was unpublished until 1920.
