Curated playlist

Knights of the Legion of Honour

Joseph BeaumeA Napoleon painting for Versailles was pulled from the 1836 Salon after a failed coup.
Giuseppe VerdiComposer Giuseppe Verdi liked to claim peasant roots, but his father, an innkeeper, pushed for his schooling.
Orson WellesOrson Welles burned ten reels of his own Don Quixote film. He felt the 1969 Moon landings made its ending obsolete.
Elton JohnElton John sang "Candle in the Wind 1997" live only once, at Princess Diana's funeral. He wrote it days before.
Jim LovellJim Lovell flew to the Moon twice and never set foot on it. His second trip, Apollo 13, nearly ended in disaster.
Pierre-Auguste RenoirPainter Renoir was once mistaken for a spy and nearly thrown into the Seine. A man he had once protected stepped in.
Elizabeth TaylorAfter Rock Hudson said he was dying of AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor helped found a research foundation in 1985.
Édouard ManetÉdouard Manet's judge father planned law or the navy for him, but he became a painter.
Claude DebussyClaude Debussy was nearly 40 before the world knew his name. His opera Pelléas et Mélisande opened in Paris in 1902.
Miles DavisMiles Davis called jazz dead near the end of his life. He had spent five decades helping define it.
Tom HanksTom Hanks lost 35 pounds to play a dying lawyer in Philadelphia. He thinned his hair and learned to walk differently.
BonoBono, the lead singer of U2, took his name from the sign of a hearing aid shop in Dublin. The shop was called Bonavox, and it stood just off O'Connell Street, the city's principal thoroughfare. The word comes from the Latin for good voice.…
Celine DionCeline Dion spent her earliest months sleeping in a dresser drawer, because her family could not afford a crib. She was the youngest of 14 children, born on the 30th of March 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec. Nothing about that crowded, careful…
Walt DisneyIn 1928, Walt Disney lost his hit cartoon rabbit Oswald to Universal. Only Ub Iwerks stayed, and Mickey Mouse followed.
Didier DeschampsDidier Deschamps is one of only three men to win the World Cup as both player and manager.
Tony ParkerTony Parker was nearly sent home from a Spurs camp after 10 minutes. A highlight tape won him a second chance.
Robert RedfordRobert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on the 16th of September 2025. He was 89 years old. After a private funeral, he was buried on his own property there. The man who ended his days in a place that carried his…
Édouard DaladierCheering Parisians greeted Édouard Daladier in 1938, and he privately called them fools.
Allen Lawrence PopeAllen Lawrence Pope was carrying about 30 incriminating documents when Indonesian forces took him prisoner in May 1958. One of them was his own flight log. The papers turned a covert operation into a diplomatic crisis, and they deepened…
Robert StephensonRobert Stephenson twice turned down a knighthood. The railway engineer was offered it by Queen Victoria in 1849.
Kylian MbappéKylian Mbappé's famous arms-folded celebration was invented by his little brother.
Eldar RyazanovEldar Ryazanov first refused to direct a comedy. He wanted to make serious films, but Carnival Night was a hit.
Zinedine ZidaneZinedine Zidane scored two headers from corners in the 1998 World Cup Final. France beat Brazil 3-0 in Paris.
Sean ConnerySir Sean Connery was the first actor to play James Bond in the cinema, and the role followed him for the rest of his life. In 2009, he described a taxi ride during the Edinburgh Film Festival. The driver was amazed that Connery could name…
Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de Tocqueville was sent to America to study prisons. He went far beyond that and wrote a book on democracy.
PeléAt 17, Pelé passed out on the field after scoring twice in the 1958 World Cup final. His teammate Garrincha revived him.
Just FontaineJust Fontaine scored thirteen goals in six matches at the 1958 World Cup.
Edison DenisovEdison Denisov trained as a mathematician before he wrote a note of music. Shostakovich gave him composition lessons.
T. E. LawrenceT. E. Lawrence wrote that he once crossed the Sinai Peninsula, from Aqaba to the Suez Canal, in just 49 hours without any sleep. His own notebooks say otherwise. The famous camel ride took more than 70 hours and included two long breaks…
Jack MaJack Ma rode his bicycle 17 miles every day for nine years to practice English.
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…
Arsène WengerArsène Wenger led Arsenal through a whole league season without a defeat in 2003-04.
Michel PlatiniMichel Platini scored nine goals in five matches at the 1984 European Championship. That record stood for 37 years.
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.
Ivan AivazovskyIvan Aivazovsky threw his Ottoman medals into the sea. He was responding to the massacres of Armenians in the 1890s.