Avengers in Time: February 2026

Tuesday, 3 February 2026

1975, Film: La Course à l'échalote

The French comedy film "La Course à l’échalote" premiered on 8 October 1975. Directed by Claude Zidi, the film stars Pierre Richard and Jane Birkin together for the second time, following the success of "La moutarde me monte au nez". The screenplay was written by Claude Zidi in collaboration with Michel Fabre and Jean-Luc Voulfow, and the music was composed by Vladimir Cosma.

Synopsis
Young and dynamic, endowed with authority at the 20th Century Bank, Pierre Vidal (Pierre Richard) regularly spies through his binoculars on his partner Janet (Jane Birkin), who works in a hair salon across the street. Growing weary of the monotony of her relationship with Pierre, she is considering leaving him. His boss has taken a few days of vacation, and Pierre is in charge to replace him. He escorts a certain Monsieur de Rovère (Claude Dauphin) to the vault, where he has come to deposit the deed of transfer of shares in a company that organises shows. But the briefcase containing the documents is stolen on sight...

Jane Birkin as Janet

Pierre Richard as Pierre Vidal

Catherine Allégret as Nicole

Main Cast

Pierre Richard as Pierre Vidal
Jane Birkin as Janet
Michel Aumont as Commissaire Brunet
Marc Dolnitz as Marc
Amadeus August as Gunther
Henri Déus as Mike
Luis Rego as Frantz
Catherine Allégret as Nicole
André Bézu as André
Jean Martin as bank director
Claude Dauphin as Bertrand de Rovère
Philippe Dehesdin as Philippe
Paul Cambo as CEO of the bank
Jean Bouchaud as Brunet's assistant

Michel Aumont as Commissaire Brunet and Jane Birkin as Janet

Jane Birkin as Janet and Pierre Richard as Pierre Vidal

Trivia
Filming locations were Cherbourg-Octeville, Manche, France and Brighton, England, UK.

Jane Birkin as Janet

Pierre Richard as Pierre Vidal and Jean Martin as bank director

Sunday, 1 February 2026

1974, Belgian Comics: Thomas Pips - De dubbelgangers

In 1974, the 23rd "Thomas Pips" album, "De dubbelgangers", was published by "Het Volk". The Thomas Pips series was created by Leo De Budt, better known under the pseudonym Buth. In 1946 and 1947, the strip appeared daily as a gag strip in the newspaper "Het Volk". Afterwards, Thomas Pips continued to be published in the newspaper as a daily strip in serialised story form. Initially, the scripts were written by Raymond Jean de Kremer, also known as John Flanders. From 1948 to 1949, the texts were written by the children’s author Ludovic Van Winkel, aka Lod Lavki. From 1965 until 1982, Thomas Pips appeared as a serialised story in the youth supplement "’t Kapoentje", with Buth taking charge of the stories himself.

"Thomas Pips", "De dubbelgangers" cover

No 23 "De dubbelgangers"
- black and white
- publisher: Het Volk
- never published in English
- drawings by Buth (Leo De Budt)
- story by Buth (Leo De Budt)

Thomas Pips

Tinneke

Professor Abraham Ölstein and the Boss

The main characters in this album are Thomas Pips, Thomas Pips as Lucy Pipstone, his wife Tinneke, Professor Abraham Ölstein, John, Bob, Boss, Louis, Manneke, Jef Cassiers, and the Commissaris.

Louis and Thomas Pips

Thomas Pips as Lucy Pipstone

Synopsis
When Thomas Pips goes in search of a plumber, he is abducted by a gang of gangsters who are planning a bank robbery using a mechanical double of Pips created by Professor Ölstein...

Bob and John

Commissaris

Trivia
Thomas Pips disguises himself as "Manneke", a reference to the sketch programme "Het Manneke" on the Belgian television channel BRT. The actor behind the character, Jef Cassiers, also appears in the album.