Parquet, Jean-phillipe 1638-?1680. French carpenter, born in Versailles. His work was patronized by Cardinal Mazarin and he was employed to lay the floors of the new palace of Louis X1V who admired his method of laying short planks in the manner of Flemish brickwork. Unfortunately for him he was discovered eavesdropping on a conversation between the king and Madame de Montespan, he was imprisoned under lettres de cashet and never heared of again. It has been suggested, unconvincingly, that he was the famous 'Man in the Iron Mask'.
Pilchard, Matthew c.1780-1842. English fisherman born in St Ives, Cornwall. This unfortunate man, though constantly in pursuit of larger game, found himself unable to catch anything in quantity except the small sardine-like fish which his fellow fishermen so despised that they threw them back into the sea and never gave them a name. In desparation Pilchard was reduced to offering them for sale to the poorest people and thus eked a precarious living until the virtues of the small fish became more widely recognized.
Pillory, Sir Matthew c.1560-1632. English magistrate born on his family estate near Devizes in Wiltshire. A compassionate man, on becoming a magistrate he began the practice of commuting the death sentence for crimes involving goods of value less than ten pence. So that offenders should not go unpunished, nor the town gaol be overcrowded, he devised and built the structure which bears his name. Felons were confined in it for a number of hours or days according to the severity of the offence and subjected to public ridicule and pelting with objects, depending on their popularity with the mob, The device was adopted throughout the country and remained in use until 1837.
Pocket, Henry 1589-1645. English gentleman born in Richmond, Surrey, who was the first to have the idea of having his breeches made with a small internal purse or pouch accessed through a slit in the sides. His contemporaries who carried their money and other possessions in a purse slung from the belt treated this innovation with derision at first, accusing him of keeping coins in his codpiece and other jests at his expense. However, the practice gradually caught on .
Poltroon, Sir Walter 1538-1611. Anglo-Flemish knight, born ln Ghent, noted for his craven cowardice. Though he devoted a large fortune, derived from the wool trade, to the accoutrements of knighthood, he went to great pains to avoid dangerous service in the wars, and did most of his fighting in tournaments, in which it was said no trick was too low for him to stoop to.
Ransack, Goetz von 1598-1649. Soldier of fortune of mixed German and Danish ancestry, born in Lubeck. He fought for several masters in the Thirty Years War, having no particular religious convictions and was notorious for his rapacity. It was said that when a city fell to troops under his command not even the rats were safe, everything of value being removed in his baggage train.
Richochet, Marc-Antoine 1779-1846. French marksman born in Rennes noted for his abilty to hit a target indirectly by causing the shot to rebound from a hard surface nearby. This skill, which called for an instinctive geometric calculation, was of great value in house-to-house fighting during Napoleons's early campaings in which Ricochet served as a voltigeur. He is known to heve been present as a marine sharpshooter at the battle of Trafalgar, but it is unlikely that, as is sometimes suggested, he fired the shot which struck down Nelson.
Rink, Jan-Willem van der 1689-1763. Born in Nijmegen, he is honoured in the Netherlands for his invention of the purposely frozen skating pond, which allowed more elaborate manoeuvres than the narrow canals of Holland.
Salon, Henriette-Marie Destours, Marquise de 1680-1743. Born to a noble but impoverished family in Grenoble, she married the elderly and immensely rich Marquis de Salon in 1697. The marriage was one of convenience only. Having given the Marquis an heir in 1698, she led an independant life at her houses in Versailles and Paris, where the large apartments she had made for her entertainments were greatly admired and widely imitated. A woman of great wit and beauty she was wooed by Louis X1V and was for a time the mistress of Louis XV.
Sandal, Auguste 1840-1921. French physician, born in Narbonne. Professor of Medicine at the Univerity of Toulouse 1879-1908. In his early thiries he developed the conviction that constricting boots and shoes were damaging to health and devoted the rest of his life to the design and promotion of comfortable and hygienic footware.
Satchel, Emily 1834-1905. American poetess and early feminist, born in Boston. She is remembered chiefly for her contributions to the subject of what was then known as 'rational' dress, in particular the simple and capacious handbag that bears her name.
Scaffold, Sit Henry 1561-1634. English judge, born in Durham. Noticing one day the temporary wooden platform that workmen had erected while renovating the higher parts of the cathederal there he had the idea that a similar erection would make public hangings more efficient and more visible to spectators, thus improving their moral effectiveness. He put the innovation into immediate use in his own jurisdiction and published a pamphlet arguing that the Scaffold execution platform was 'merciful to the offender and edifying to the populace'.
Somersault, Ralph c.1500-1542. English jester noted for his acrobastic tumbling and leaping. Nothing is known of his early life, and he is first heard of performing for Cardinal Wolsey at Hampton Court in 1522. He was taken up by Henry VIII in 1529 and enjoyed the king's favours for a few years. He made the error of befriending Anne Boleyn, and after her execution in 1536 took to drink. Ejected by the king he spent his last years performing for pennies at country fairs.
Stipple, Henry George 1846-1923. American painter who in his twenties developed the technique of painting with small dots of colour that became better known as Pointillisme in the hands of Georges Seurat. Stipple devoted his undoubted technical skill to fashionable portrait painting at which he made a very good living.
Strangle, Walter c.1420-1451. Thief and murderer, born probably in Hamburg. About 1445 he came to Greenwich where he was employed as a sail maker. In the years 1448-50 there was a series of murders with theft in Greenwich and neighbouring parishes, in which the victims were killed by pressure of the hands on the thoat. Strangle was arrested in 1450 mainly it seems because of his foreignness and his immese physical strength, and because he had in his possession a purse for which he could not account. He confessed under examination and was executed in January 1451.
Swivel, Jonathan c.1670-1728. English soldier born in Basingstoke. He joined the army in 1687 and fought in many of the campaigns of the Duke of Marlborough in Ireland and Flanders. In 1696 he joined a company of musketeers, but being slight of build, he found it difficult to hold the heavy weapon steady. Being a practical man he had a blacksmith make an iron stand which supported the musket firmly but allowed it to traverse freely in a horizontal plane. His contrivance was taken up by the Navy but not widely used by the military until much later.
Toupée, Maurice 1801-1878. French hairdresser, born in Beauvais. It was there, in 1843, that, concerned about his own increasing baldness, he designed the male postiche that bears his name. Pleased but also embarrassed by the sudden improvement in his appearance, he moved to Paris and provided a discreet service to wealthy clients.
Trigger, Eli ?1739-1812. American inventor born in New Hampshire. A Green Mountain Boy in his youth, and a remarkable shot he is remembered for the mechanism which revolutionized firearms towards the end of the eighteenth century.
Trolley, Samuel 1834-1911. The inventor of the once familiar form of transport was born in Seattle. His system, introduced there in 1860, was imitated in San Francisco and then throughout the world. The fact that this took place without the payment of royalties to himself left him in a constant state of irascibility for the rest of his life. The spectacle of women drivers in particular tended to drive him into a fury. He was committed to an institution in 1901.
Trowser, Jacob 1779-1848. English tailor born in Clerkenwell. His tubular garments for the legs, based on cavalrymen's overalls, were regarded as a sign of insanity when he offered them for sale in the early 1880s, advertising them as "Trowser's Patent Leggings: Hygenic and Economical'. He was facing bancruptcy and his wife was threatening to leave him when the Duke of Wellingon wore a pair for a wager and started a fashion. Trowser made a fortune, divorced his wife and took early retirement to Brighton.
Truncheon, Gabriel c.1545-1609. English peace officer employed as a constable in the City of London from 1573 until shortly before his death. A stout, jovial man he was the first to set aside the stave or halberd normally carried by officers of the peace, and to adopt a short heavy staff. He was instrumental in bringing many offenders to justice.
Vertigo, Giovanni c.1390-1469. Acrobat, probably of Spanish descent who first appeared as a public performer in Italy in c.1410. Among the many other tumblers and mountebanks of the time he distinguished himself by performing at great heights. He walked on a sloping tightrope from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the roof of the Baptistry there, until it was grought to an end by the ecclesiasical authorities after learned doctors pronounced that the feelings of giddiness brought on by watching his performance was injurious to health and probably sinful.
Walkman, Otis P. 1823-1887. American inventor born in Greenwich, Connecticut. A prolific inventor from his youth, he is best known for his development of a portable wire-recording playback device. Unfortunately the technology available at the time was such that the wearer had to pull the device behind him on a small wheeled cart.
Wink, Friedrich von 1755-1811. German nobleman born in Streltzau, Bavaria. As Bavarian ambassador to the court of King George III he introduced to London society his native custom of closing one eye to indicate that a witty or ironic remark was being made. This enjoyed a considerable vogue among younger members of the nobility for several months. Condemned by Beau Brumell as ill-bred, it nevertheless passed into common currency.