Amy Johnson was born in Hull on the 1st January 1903 and became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930 winning £10,000 from the Daily Mail Newspaper.

Her aeroplane was a second hand De Havilland Gipsy Moth biplane nicknamed ‘Jason’ and the famous flight departed from Croydon Airport on the 5th May 1930.

At 18,000 kilometres (equivalent to 11,000 miles), the flight time was 19 days. She landed in Darwin, Australia on 24th May 1930, receiving a hero’s welcome and becoming a key figure in aviation history. She became the youngest president of the Women’s Engineering Society in 1934.

Amy joined the Air Transport Auxiliary as a pilot in World War 2 and died on 5th January 1941 when her plane was lost over the Thames estuary.

A brief history of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin. ⏱️ Sixty second read.

Born in 1777 in Reims, she married Francoise Clicquot in 1798 and was widowed in 1805. She launched her own company Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin 1810. She died in 1866 in Paris.

Two businessmen, Mr Ponsardin and Mr Clicquot ‘arranged’ the marriage of their children Francoise Cliquot and Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin. This practice was quite common at the time and designed to protect families fortunes.

When Francoise died suddenly aged just 30 his father intended to wind up the business he had built with his son. However, Barbe-Nicole convinced her father in law, Philippe Clicquot to invest in her and keep the business going.

To cut a long story short, this proved a shrewd move and Veuve Clicquot became the first known vintage champagne in 1810, the first rosé was introduced in 1818. In a moment of genius Barbe-Nicole came up with the technique of removing the yeast by-product that comes from making champagne.

In addition to establishing champagne as the luxury drink for special occasions, Madam Clicquot also established the technique known as riddling which enabled removal of sediment formed from yeast fermentation. This process has been adapted by nearly all champagne and fizzy wine producers. For more information about the process > HERE

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