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French recipients of the Legion of Honour

  • Victor HugoVictor Hugo asked for a pauper's funeral and got the largest in French history.
  • Joseph-Louis LagrangeAt seventeen, mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange read a paper by Edmond Halley and was seized by mathematics.
  • Le CorbusierLe Corbusier built a pavilion around a tree poking through its roof. Furious organizers put up a fence to hide it.
  • Auguste RodinSculptor Auguste Rodin was accused of cheating with a cast of a living man. A committee of sculptors cleared him.
  • François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand, who ended France's death penalty, once urged rejecting mercy in 80% of cases.
  • Napoleon IIINapoleon III escaped a life sentence by walking out of prison dressed as a laborer.
  • Tony ParkerTony Parker was nearly sent home from a Spurs camp after 10 minutes. A highlight tape won him a second chance.
  • Édouard DaladierCheering Parisians greeted Édouard Daladier in 1938, and he privately called them fools.
  • Thierry HenryThierry Henry was thirteen years old in 1990 when a Monaco scout named Arnold Catalano went to watch him play. Henry's team won 6-0, and Henry scored every one of the six goals. Catalano did not ask for a trial. He asked the boy to join…
  • Louis PasteurIn 1885, Louis Pasteur treated a boy mauled by a rabid dog despite holding no medical license.
  • Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss died in 2009, and for four days the world did not know.
  • Jean CocteauJean Cocteau recorded his 1929 recovery from opium in a diary of drawings and withdrawal notes.
  • Auguste de MarmontA French marshal's name became a French verb meaning to betray. Marmont's 1814 deal with the Allies led to "raguser."
  • Jérôme BonaparteJérôme Bonaparte married a Baltimore woman despite her father's warnings, then abandoned her for a crown.
  • Jules RimetThe Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen in 1966 and recovered by a dog named Pickles. It was stolen again in 1983.
  • Kylian MbappéKylian Mbappé's famous arms-folded celebration was invented by his little brother.
  • Emmanuel MacronEmmanuel Macron was 39 years old when he took office as President of France on the 14th of May 2017. No French head of state had been younger since Napoleon. He was also the first president born after the founding of the Fifth Republic in…
  • Charles XIV JohnBernadotte threw his epaulettes on the ground to stop his retreating soldiers. They picked them up and counter-attacked.
  • Emmanuel Joseph SieyèsA Catholic priest who scorned religion wrote the French Revolution's rallying cry.
  • Napoleon IINapoleon II was Emperor of the French for only two days. He was three years old and never ruled.
  • Charles-Pierre AugereauAt Castiglione in 1796, Augereau held off the main Austrian army with 11,000 men. It gave Bonaparte time to win.
  • Louis Philippe IBefore he became king of France, Louis Philippe I lived above a Boston oyster house.
  • Pierre-Simon LaplaceJupiter and Saturn seemed to be drifting off course until Laplace solved it. Newton, Euler and Lagrange had all failed.
  • Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville was sent to America to study prisons. He went far beyond that and wrote a book on democracy.
  • Georges DumézilGeorges Dumézil was shut out of French academic jobs after his thesis. His teacher told him to go abroad, to Istanbul.
  • Victor DuruyAt twenty-four, factory worker's son Victor Duruy taught a famous historian's class.
  • Józef PoniatowskiAt Raszyn in 1809, Józef Poniatowski led a bayonet charge against an Austrian force twice his size.
  • Michel NeyMarshal Michel Ney gave the order to fire at his own execution. Napoleon had called him "the bravest of the brave."
  • George SteinerGeorge Steiner was born Francis George Steiner on the 23rd of April 1929. He was a literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator, and he is described as both French and American. Harriet Harvey-Wood, a former literature…
  • Louis de BroglieCould matter behave like a wave, as light can behave like a particle? Louis de Broglie asked this in 1924.
  • George CœdèsGeorge Cœdès brought the forgotten empire of Srivijaya back into history in 1918.
  • Fabien BarthezGoalkeeper Fabien Barthez once refused to defend a penalty until an official forced him back into goal.
  • Paul PogbaManchester United paid a then-record €105 million for footballer Paul Pogba in 2016.

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