From the Library, 1923: The Mystery of Lot 212 and a Tour de France Obsession
Two minutes thirty seconds worth of old black and white film. What do you do with a piece of old nitrate film only two and a half minutes in length, barely a heartbeats length of a typical Tour de France. Well, if you're Ned Boulting, you turn it into a book. When Boulting won this small bit of film at auction, the only thing he knew of it was from the very brief description: Lot 212. A rare film reel from the Tour de France in the 1930s? Condition unknown . Winning this bit of unknown cycling history would send Boulting on a journey across decades, leading him to not only discover the exact date of the race, but to the weaving of a tale of the times in which that race took place, a weaving that includes national resentments at the conclusion of the Great War, murder, the bombing of a bridge, theaters and actors, politicians and scientists, rival newspapers, and of course, the racers and race organizers themselves. There is Henri Desgrange and his right-hand man, Robert Desmarets,...
