| During the mid-1960s, a number of European aircraft manufacturers and government representatives met to discuss the possibility of pooling their resources to develop a twin-engined wide-body airliner to fill a niche between the Boeing 707 and Boeing 727. The Airbus Industrie was formed in 1970 and the company’s first aircraft, the A300B, was rolled out on September 28, 1972. It was the world’s first wide-body, twin-engined aircraft, and for eight years, held the market niche to itself. Despite slow initial sales, the A300 gradually made inroads into the airline industry, which allowed Airbus Industrie to become established. Airbus modified the A300B design and began producing the A300-600 series aircraft, with over 500 built by 2001. |
| In 1641, Nicholas Fouquet, a 26-year-old finance minister for King Louis XIV, purchased the estate called Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Fifteen years later, the first stone was laid for what would become a unique masterpiece, the collaboration of three men of genius whom Nicholas Fouquet employed for the task. Three years later the Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte was finished, and a grand celebration was given on August 17, 1661 in the presence of the King. This royal “Fetes” marked the high point of Fouquet’s career, however, the King, who did not appreciate being upstaged and view a home more lavish than his own, became very upset. On September 10. 1661, d’Artagnan, captain of the King’s musketeers, arrested Fouquet, and the King, after a three-year trial, overruled the court’s decision and had Fouquet imprisoned for life. Voltaire was to sum up the famous “Fetes” thus: “On 17 August, at six in the evening Fouquet was the King of France: at two in the morning he was nobody.” King Louis XIV afterwards employed the designers of Vaux-le-Vicomte for his palace at Versailles. |
