The Postcard
A carte postale that was published by Éditions la Cigogne of Rue Grimaldi, Monaco. The card was posted in Nice on Sunday the 29th. July 1951. It was sent to:
Mr. N. M. Smith,
52 Boston Gardens,
Bretford,
Middx.
Angleterre.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Saturday.
We have been for a lovely
coach ride to Grasse. This
town I am told is the most
delightful one as regards
scenery & it was certainly
most enjoyable.
We visited the pottery shop
at Vence and later the
parfumerie at Grasse, where
we were shown the processing
of the flower perfume.
Elsie."
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. Located in the French Riviera, on the south east coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Alps, Nice is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast.
The city is nicknamed Nice la Belle, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912.
The area of today's Nice contains Terra Amata, an archaeological site which displays evidence of a very early use of fire. Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, the goddess of victory.
The natural beauty of the Nice area and its mild Mediterranean climate came to the attention of the English upper classes in the second half of the 18th century, when an increasing number of aristocratic families took to spending their winters there.
The city's main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais owes its name to visitors to the resort.
The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to notable painters, such as Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse. Their work is commemorated in many of the city's museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse and Musée des Beaux-Arts.
Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and is one of its most visited cities, receiving 4 million tourists every year. It also has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones.
The Terrorist Truck Attack
On 14 July 2016, a truck was deliberately driven into a crowd of people by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel on the Promenade des Anglais. The crowd were watching a fireworks display in celebration of Bastille Day.
The attack, which had taken months to plan, resulted in the deaths of eighty-seven people, including ten children. The perpetrator was shot dead by police. Another 202 people were injured, with 52 in critical care and 25 in intensive care.
Christophe Lion was the only survivor from a family group who had travelled to Nice from the French border area near Luxembourg, according to French media.
His wife Veronique Lion, 55, and her 28-year-old son Michael Pellegrini, a professor of economics, were killed along with Veronique's parents Francois and Christiane Locatelli, aged 82 and 78, and Christophe's parents Gisele Lion, 63, and Germain Lion, 68 - a total of six family members.
Paris tobacconist Timothe Fournier, 27, died protecting his heavily pregnant wife, Anais. She described how he pushed her out of the path of the lorry before being struck down himself:
"He was a young dreamer,
but he was always there for
his wife and future child".
The Terrorist Knife Attack
Nice has since suffered a further terrorist attack. On the morning of the 29th. October 2020, a woman and a man were killed by a terrorist with a 12-inch knife inside the Basilica of Notre-Dame. The woman aged 60, who had gone to the Basilica to worship, was found decapitated near the font of the church. The murdered man was the Basilica's church warden, 55 year-old Vincent Loquès, father of two.
The third victim - 44 year old mother of three Simone Silva managed to escape, and staggered to a nearby bar where she succumbed to her injuries. Her final words were:
"Tell my children I love them".
Armed police stormed Notre-Dame and shot the suspected terrorist, wounding him. The suspect was taken to hospital. Nice mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker kept shouting "Allahu Akbar" even after he had been shot.
The terrorist was Brahim Aoussaoui, a 21 year old Tunisian migrant who had arrived in Europe by boat on the Italian island of Lampedusa 39 days earlier on the 20th. September. He arrived in Nice the night before the attack.
The Basilica attack came amid heightened security fears in France due to the ongoing row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
France provoked the ire of Iran and Turkey by taking a tough line in defending the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
On the 28th. October 2020, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani warned the row over the cartoons could lead to violence and bloodshed. He said:
"It's a surprise that this would come
from those claiming culture and
democracy, that they would somehow,
even if unintentionally, encourage
violence and bloodshed.
Westerners must understand the great
Prophet of Islam is loved by all Muslims
and freedom-lovers of the world.
Insulting the Prophet is insulting all
Muslims.
Insulting the Prophet is insulting all
prophets, human values, and amounts
to undermining ethic".
Samuel Paty
Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded by 18-year-old freedom-lover Abdullah Anzorov on the 17th. October 2020 after using the cartoons to teach his students about the importance of free speech. An image he showed to students was the same one published by Charlie Hebdo that sparked the attack on the magazine's offices that killed 12.
Anzorov followed Paty as he left the school, having paid two students, aged 14 and 15, around €300 to identify him. Using a knife 30 centimetres (12 in) long, Anzorov killed Paty and beheaded him in the Rue du Buisson Moineau in Éragny-sur-Oise near the school where Paty taught, at approximately 5:00 p.m.
In addition to decapitating Paty, Anzorov inflicted a number of wounds to his head, abdomen, and upper limbs. Witnesses told police they heard the killer shout "Allahu Akbar" during the attack.
Minutes after the murder, an account named @Tchetchene_270 (French: Chechen 270), identified by prosecutor Jean-François Ricard as belonging to Abdullah Anzorov, posted on Twitter an image of Paty's severed head.
The image was seen by many of Paty's students.
The photo was accompanied by the message:
"In the name of Allah, the most gracious,
the most merciful, .. to Macron, leader of
the infidels, I executed one of your
hellhounds who dared to belittle Muhammad,
calm his fellow human beings before a harsh
punishment is inflicted on you."
Minutes later, Anzorov was confronted by police about 600 metres (660 yd) from the scene in Éragny. Anzorov shot at the police with an air rifle and tried to stab them with a knife. In response, the police shot him nine times, killing him. On Anzorov's phone, they found a text claiming responsibility and a photograph of Paty's body.
French police announced that there were more than 80 messages on social media from French people supporting the attacker, with Anzorov being described by some individuals as a 'martyr.'
Paty, a history and geography teacher, is being seen as a champion of free speech by many in France after his brutal death. He was posthumously given the Legion d'Honneur - France’s highest award - and French president Emmanuel Macron insisted:
"We will not give up our cartoons".
The mayor of Nice said after the Notre-Dame attack:
"Enough is enough. It's time now
for France to exonerate itself from
the laws of peace in order to
definitively wipe out Islamo-fascism
from our territory."
Miss World 1951
So what else happened on the day that Elsie posted the card?
Well, on the 29th. July 1951, the first Miss World pageant was held at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, United Kingdom. The contest was originally intended to be a one-off event connected with the Festival of Britain.
At the end of the event, Kiki Håkansson of Sweden was crowned Miss World 1951. Håkansson is also the only winner of Miss World to be crowned wearing a bikini.
27 contestants from seven countries participated in the 1951 pageant, which was hosted by Eric Morley.
Background to Miss World
The decade of the 1950's had just began and Europe was beginning to rise after World War II. Herbert Morrison, a member of the British parliament, began planning the centennial celebration of the 1851 Great Exhibition.
In the summer of 1951, the “Festival of Great Britain” was finally born, and it was located in Central London, on the banks of the River Thames.
The Lyceum Ballroom, located half a mile from the South Bank where the Festival of Britain was being held, belonged to Mecca Dancing. Being so close to the headquarters of the Festival of Great Britain, Mecca Dancing was asked by the event's organizers if they could contribute in any way to the Festival.
Eric Morley was the Publicity Sales Manager of Mecca Dancing, responsible for finding innovative ideas for the Festival. He wanted to create an event that would attract attention, not only to young people but to people of all ages.
This is how he suggested creating an international beauty pageant and proposed it to the organizers. Morley’s suggestion was accepted, and the planning of the first Miss World pageant was put in place.
Morley saw how Bikini fashion was popular, and decided that the contest would show beautiful women wearing that tiny garment. Initially, the event was to be called “Girl Bikini Contest of the Festival of Great Britain” but due to its international character, Morley decided to call it “Miss World.”
The first Miss World was held in the summer of 1951, being one of the last events of the Festival of Britain.
When an American rival Miss Universe contest was launched, Morley turned Miss World into an annual event held every November, initially at the Mecca owned Lyceum Theatre and later in the Royal Albert Hall.
It was first televised in 1959, and became a popular fixture with Morley's announcement of: "I shall announce the results in reverse order".
The pageant was watched by over 20 million in Great Britain at its peak in the 1970's and 1980's.
In 1970, flour bombs were thrown at the compere, Bob Hope, by protestors. Morley answered his critics saying:
"If it is shameful to women, then the
best thing they can do is turn it off".
The competition raised more than £30 million for charity. In 1983 Eric floated Miss World Group on the Unlisted Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange, keeping a 51 per cent stake.
To counter feminist critics of the show, he tried to reduce the emphasis on the bathing-costume round, and to emphasise the women's other attributes.
Although terrestrial TV channels no longer broadcast the show in Great Britain, it remains popular worldwide, and in 1997 was capable of attracting a TV audience of 2.5 billion across 155 countries.
The competition—and its related events such as Miss United Kingdom, Miss England and Miss Scotland—could generate great earnings, and Morley controversially acted as agent to the winners, keeping them under tight supervision.
On one occasion (Miss World 1973), he dethroned the winner, whom he thought had acted improperly. At the Miss World 1979, Venezuelan contestant Tatiana Capote popped out of her swimsuit during a preview of the final judging. Morley hastily adjusted her swimsuit.
