In May 1979, a hot air balloon unexpectedly landed inside the exercise yard of Fleury-Mérogis Prison near Paris. Two inmates saw their chance and clambered into the basket. The startled balloonists were forced at knife-point to operate the burners. Floating over the prison walls, the prisoners made their daring aerial escape.
In the UK, the letter G is often associated with a number of things, including:
Gather
To bring together; to collect, as a number of separate things, into one place, or into one aggregate body; to assemble; to muster; to congregate.
Gallium
A rare metallic element, found in certain zinc ores. It is white, hard, and malleable, resembling aluminium, and remarcable for its low melting point (86/ F., 30/C). Symbol Ga. Atomic weight 69.9.
Granger
A farm steward.
Glaze
To become glazed of glassy.
Gainless
Not producing gain; unprofitable.
Gallop
To move or run in the mode called a gallop; as a horse; to go at a gallop; to run or move with speed.
Glee
Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
Gayety
The state of being gay; merriment; mirth; acts or entertainments prompted by, or inspiring, merry delight; -- used often in the plural; as, the gayeties of the season.
Gymnasium
A place or building where athletic exercises are performed; a school for gymnastics.
Guide
The leather strap by which the shield of a knight was slung across the shoulder, or across the neck and shoulder.
Gaunt
Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim.
Gong
A privy or jakes.
Gold-beaten
Gilded.
Groanful
Agonizing; sad.
Grape
A well-known edible berry growing in pendent clusters or bunches on the grapevine. The berries are smooth-skinned, have a juicy pulp, and are cultivated in great quantities for table use and for making wine and raisins.
In 1963, three men incarcerated inside Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay hatched an elaborate, months-long escape plan. Using tools as crude as spoons and a drill fashioned from a vacuum cleaner, they slowly tunneled through their cell walls which led to unlocked utility corridors. Though assumed drowned, their bodies were never recovered.
The Libby Prison Escape in Richmond in 1864 remains the largest break-out from a Confederate prison during the American Civil War. Over 100 Union prisoners managed to tunnel out of the prison’s basement to freedom, assisted by a Union sympathizer. 59 soldiers succeeded in crossing back over into Union territory.
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In December 2011 in the Netherlands, a thief made his getaway in an unlikely vessel – a harness strapped beneath hundreds of helium party balloons. Airport authorities spotted him floating unsteadily in the balloon contraption but could not intercept this bizarre escape before the man parachuted safely back to earth and disappeared.
In 1970s East Germany, daredevils attempted to flee from behind the Iron Curtain by leaping border fences and sprinting into the forest hoping to evade armed guards. One man modified his car into a makeshift submarine to cross under the Baltic sea to Denmark though the primitive vessel nearly sank mid-journey.
In 1646 Lady Anne Vane disguised herself as a man to break her captured husband out of the Tower of London. Remarkably, the pair bluffed their way past the guards even insisting on stopping to have a drink on their way out! Though recaptured days later, their brief freedom remains legendary.
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In 1973 three men escaped Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison using a hijacked helicopter that audaciously landed inside the prison yard. Though initially reported as a bold success, later revelations showed it was an embarrassing, bungled effort. Still, brazen helicopter escapes occasionally reappear, though rarely with happy endings.
During WWII’s Great Escape, 76 Allied pilots tunneled out of a German POW camp in a famous, mass break-out attempt. While 73 were swiftly recaptured, 3 pilots successfully crossed the border to safety. 50 recaptured men were executed as punishment which became a war crime after the Axis defeat. Though tragic, the bravery and ingenuity still amazes us.
