Avengers in Time: February 2026

Saturday, 28 February 2026

1969, Car Spotting: Vredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands

Left to right

First row, front to back
Renault R4, Hino Contessa 1300, BMW 700, Fiat 125, Citroën 2CV, Opel Rekord C, Volkswagen 1200/1300 (Type 1, Beetle).

Second row, front to back
Ford 17M (P7a), DAF Daffodil, Opel Kadett B, Ford Thames 5cwt / 7cwt (308E / 310E) or Ford Anglia Van, DAF 44 or 55 Estate, Ford Anglia (105E), Ford Consul , Capri (110E / 117E), Ford Taunus 17M / 20M (P5), Simca 1000.

Third row (driving)
DAF 750.

Fourth row, front to back
Volkswagen 1200/1300 (Type 1, Beetle), Peugeot 403, Opel Rekord A or B Caravan, Opel Rekord P2 Caravan, Renault R4, Plymouth Valiant (1968).

Parked in front of the buildings, front to back

First row, left to right
Fiat 850, Opel Rekord A, Volkswagen 1500/1600 (Type 3), Citroën 2CV, unidentified car probably BMC Farina (Austin, Morris, MG, Riley or Wolseley), Opel Rekord A Caravan, Ford Taunus 12M (P4, Cardinal Taunus), Alfa Romeo (Sprint) GT, Fiat 600, Fiat 500, Volkswagen 1200/1300 (Type 1, Beetle), DAF 750, Fiat 600, Opel Kadett B.

Second row (driving)
Ford (Consul) Cortina MkI.

Third row, left to right
Citroën 2CV, Ford Taunus 17M (P3, Bathtub Taunus), unidentified car, Volkswagen 1200/1300 (Type 1, Beetle).

Thursday, 26 February 2026

1968, Fashion: Vogue, Paris Prêt-à-porter (USA, 1 March)

Catherine Deneuve in Venet (left) and Antonnia (right)

Catherine Deneuve in Lanvin (left) and Countess Carl-Alexander Von Bismarck
in Michèle Rosier (right)

Mrs. Patrick Guinness in Ungaro (left and right) and Michèle Rosier (middle)

Mme. Richard de Surmont in Brivet (left) and Patou (middle and right)

Mme. Richard de Surmont in Emmanuelle Khanh (left) and Mlle. Béatrice Dautresme
in Elizabeth Arden (middle) and Castillo (right)

Tuesday, 24 February 2026

1967, Sport: UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race

The 1967 UCI Road World Championships for professional riders were held on 3 September in Heerlen, in the Dutch province of Limburg. The Bergseweg at Ubachsberg proved to be the decisive climb, which the riders had to tackle 20 times.

Eddy Merckx

Jan Janssen, Eddy Merckx and Ramón Saéz

Seventy professionals took the start on Sunday 3 September for a race covering 265.18 kilometres. At the age of 22, Eddy Merckx—world amateur champion in 1964—claimed his first world title among the professionals. He won at an average speed of 39.32 km/h, defeating Jan Janssen in a sprint finish by half a wheel.

Jan Janssen, Eddy Merckx and Ramón Saéz

Complete Results:

Rnk	Rider	Team	Time
1	Merckx Eddy	Belgium	6:44:42
2	Janssen Jan	Netherlands	,,
3	Saéz Ramón	Spain	,,
4	Motta Gianni	Italy	,,
5	~~Van der Vleuten Jos~~	~~Netherlands~~	,,
6	Lasa José Manuel	Spain	2:05
7	Van Ryckeghem Daniel	Belgium	,,
8	Dancelli Michele	Italy	,,
9	Boons Jos	Belgium	,,
10	Hagmann Robert	Switzerland	,,
11	Post Peter	Netherlands	,,
12	Foucher André	France	,,
13	Wolfshohl Rolf	Germany	8:03
14	Altig Rudi	Germany	8:25
15	Karstens Gerben	Netherlands	,,
16	Basso Marino	Italy	,,
17	Steevens Harry	Netherlands	,,
18	Riotte Raymond	France	,,
19	Leméteyer Paul	France	,,
20	Harings Jan	Netherlands	,,
21	López Rodríguez José Manuel	Spain	,,
22	Schepers Wim	Netherlands	,,
23	Momeñe José Antonio	Spain	,,
24	Poulidor Raymond	France	,,
25	Junkermann Hans	Germany	,,
26	Schleck Johny	Luxembourg	,,
27	Claes Jean-Baptiste	Belgium	,,
28	Santamarina Luis Pedro	Spain	,,
29	Gimondi Felice	Italy	,,
30	Balmamion Franco	Italy	,,
31	Hoban Barry	Great Britain	,,
32	Vifian Bernard	Switzerland	,,
33	Gabica Francisco	Spain	,,
34	Schutz Edy	Luxembourg	,,
35	Zandegù Dino	Italy	,,
36	Pingeon Roger	France	,,
37	Guyot Bernard	France	,,
38	Monty Willy	Belgium	,,
39	Stablinski Jean	France	,,
40	Abt Peter	Switzerland	,,
41	De Pra Tommaso	Italy	,,
42	Aimar Lucien	France	,,
43	Ritter Ole	Denmark	,,
44	In 't Ven Willy	Belgium	,,
45	Wilde Herbert	Germany	14:03
DNF	Panter Bob	Australia
DNF	Lawrie Bill	Australia
DNF	Vogels Henk	Australia
DNF	Puschel Dieter	Germany
DNF	Bölke Winfried	Germany
DNF	Wiedemann Dieter	Germany
DNF	Oldenburg Horst	Germany
DNF	Goodman Richard	Great Britain
DNF	Addy Robert Charles	Great Britain
DNF	Lewis Colin	Great Britain
DNF	Claridge Roger	Great Britain
DNF	Hitchen Albert	Great Britain
DNF	Wright Michael	Great Britain
DNF	Denson Vin	Great Britain
DNF	Maurer Rolf	Switzerland
DNF	Brand Karl	Switzerland
DNF	Pfenninger Louis	Switzerland
DNF	Binggeli René	Switzerland
DNF	Spuhler Willy	Switzerland
DNF	Vélez Eusebio	Spain
DNF	Gómez Antonio	Spain
DNF	Adorni Vittorio	Italy
DNF	de Roo Jo	Netherlands
DNF	Vandenberghe Georges	Belgium
DNF	Reybrouck Guido	Belgium

Jos Van der Vleuten was disqualified for a positive dope test.

Video British Pathé, no sound

Sunday, 22 February 2026

1966, Belgian Comics: De daverende daden van Dees Dubbel en Cesar! - De ring van de Radja

In 1966, "De ring van de Radja" ("The Ring of the Raja") was published by the publisher Het Volk. It was the third album in the comic series De daverende daden van "Dees Dubbel en Cesar!" ("The Thunderous Deeds of Dees Dubbel and Cesar!").

The series was created by Henri Clément under the pseudonym Rik and originally debuted as "Dees Dubbel" on 27 November 1955 in Ons Zondagsblad. In 1965, the series was taken over by Het Volk and relaunched under its new title, "De daverende daden van Dees Dubbel en Cesar!". It was at this point that the character Cesar made his first appearance. The comic adventure series follows the escapades of the friends Dees Dubbel and Cesar, along with Coletje, Dees’s sister, her friend Oeligoeli, and Professor Piet Agoras.

"De ring van de Radja" cover

No 3 "De ring van de Radja"
- black and white
- publisher: Het Volk
- never published in English
- drawings by Rik (Henri Clément)
- story by Rik (Henri Clément)

The main characters in this album are Dees Dubbel, Coletje, Cesar, Oeligoeli, Molsky (café owner In de Volle Pint), Radja Rahma Nasj van Rah-Tah-Toeh, Pol Pet alias Oscar alias Jean Patacric, Tist Force.

Dees Dubbel

Cesar

Coletje, Dees Dubbel and Cesar

Coletje, Oeligoeli, Dees Dubbel and Cesar

Cesar, Dees Dubbel and Molsky

Synopsis
After rescuing Radja Rahma Nasj of Rah-Tah-Toeh from a bomb attack, Cesar is rewarded with a ring from the Radja. The ring, however, turns out to possess extraordinary powers...

Oscar, Cesar and Dees Dubbel

Cesar and Radja Rahma Nasj

Dees Dubbel and Pol Pet

Jean Patacric

Dees Dubbel and Tist Force

Trivia

The name of the Radja, Rahma Nasj, is a pun on the Dutch name for black radish: rammenas.
The country Rah-Tah-Toeh is pun on the name of the French dish ratatouille.
Professor Piet Agoras is a pun on Greek mathematician Pythagoras.
Reference to American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali).
Reference to James Bond as James Pond.
Reference to French singer Françoise Hardy.