A pre-WW1 high-definition image of the portals of Amiens Cathedral on a card published by Neurdein et Cie of Paris.
The card was sent via the British Army Postal Service on Friday the 20th. November 1914 by a soldier named Bert to his mother and brother Kenneth. He has tried to censor the location of the card using a purple pencil with which British soldiers on the Western Front were issued.
The British Army Postal Service
During the Great War, the British Army Postal Service despatched over two billion letters and cards. Assuming an average length of 6 inches, if they were laid end to end they would stretch for 189,394 miles (304,800km) - that's over seven and a half times round the Earth's equator.
The Great War lasted for 1,567 days, therefore the Postal Service were kept busy handling an average of over 1¼ million pieces of mail every day of the war's duration.
Amiens Cathedral
You get some idea of the huge size of the pointed arches when you realise that entry into the cathedral is gained not by the tall doors, but by the much smaller doors inset into them. The curved central arch is over 50 feet (15.24m) high.
The Gothic Cathedral of our Lady of Amiens is the tallest complete cathedral in France, with the greatest interior volume (estimated at 200,000 cubic metres).
According to this estimate, the cathedral could comfortably accommodate well over sixty billion marbles. (Yes, billion, not million!) This number of marbles, laid end to end, would produce a line 900,000 km long - it would encircle the earth 22 times, or stretch to the moon and back nearly two and a half times. It's a big building!
The vaults of the nave are 42.3 metres high.
Amiens is the chief city of Picardy, in the valley of the River Somme, and is just over 100 km north of Paris.
Work on the cathedral started in 1220 and was mostly finished by 1266. The floors include a number of designs, including a swastika. The labyrinth was installed in 1288.
-- St. John the Baptist
The cathedral contains what is alleged to be the head of St. John the Baptist, a relic brought back from Constantinople. You can find out what happened to one of his fingers by searching for the tag 65SJD88. The Great Mosque in Damascus also claims to hold the head of John the Baptist. There are bits of him all over the place!
-- The West Front
The west front of the cathedral, which is shown in the photograph, was built between 1220 and 1236. It shows an unusual degree of artistic unity. Its lower tier with 3 vast deep porches is capped with a gallery of larger than lifesize kings which stretches across the entire façade beneath the rose window.
-- The Rose Window
The immense rose window has a diameter of 43 feet (13m).
Above the rose window is an open arcade - the Galerie des Sonneurs. A sonneur is a player of traditional music, primarily in Brittany, typically playing a clarinet or the Breton bagpipe.
-- John Buchan
In the 1919 book Mr. Standfast by John Buchan (1875-1940), the character Richard Hannay describes the cathedral as being:
"The noblest church that the hand of man ever built for God".
Freddie Wiles
So what else happened on the day that Bert posted the card?
Well, the 20th. November 1914 marked the birth in London of Robert Frederick Wiles. Known as Freddie Wiles, he was a British actor best known for playing Goddard in 'Are You Being Served'? He also appeared in one episode as Mr Clampton, the porter.
Freddie also appeared in other shows such as 'Dad's Army', 'Doctor in Charge', 'Doomwatch', 'The Benny Hill Show' and 'Oh Brother!'
Death of Freddie Wiles
Freddie died in June 1983 at the age of 68 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.
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