Jerome Mesnager is a French artist who made his name during the 80s with a spree of stencil art featuring a distinctive “white man” resembling an artist’s mannequin.

Although most of his pieces were removed within weeks or days, his prolific output means that there are still many classic examples to be found on the streets of Paris and its eastern suburbs.

The remaining pieces are mostly those which were commissioned by shop owners, such as on the window of a hair salon and outside the restaurant L’Émile (where the man is inexplicably wrestling a zebra).

Elsewhere in Paris, we’re lucky that the Street View car visited during lunchtime so we can see further examples on shop shutters. The man is painting pictures at a toy store on rue de l’arbalète and leaping for joy at an art gallery on rue de Montreuil.

The leaping continues at Mesnager’s workshop in Montreuil (right at the east of Paris), and two-storeys up at the Hôtel des Académies (where Mesnager also used the white man to decorate the interior).

Finally, a walk up the rue de Ménilmontant gives us even more Mesnager from here to there and even up there.

There’s doubtless many more of Mesnager’s pieces that we’ve missed, so have a hunt around Paris and leave a comment with your findings.

Unfortunately, there’s no English translation of the French Wikipedia article, neither of his official website, but be sure to check this flickr pool about the artist.

Thanks to Eric from Paris Daily Photo.

One of the most picturesque villages found in the Peak District National Park, Eyam is historically significant for the actions the villagers took to isolate themselves in the mid 1600s to prevent the spread of the plague despite the toll it took on their population.

Fleas in a shipment of cloth brought the plague to the village in 1665 with the first death happening within a week of its arrival and the disease spreading quickly to neighbouring homes, now known as the Plague Cottages.

The villagers, led by their Church ministers, enacted measures to try to restrict the spread of the disease, such as families having to bury their own dead and limiting contact with outsiders. Church services were held outdoors in Cucklett Delph, a nearby valley.

The plague killed more than 260 of the 350 people who lived in the village, with researchers unsure why some survived. Elizabeth Hancock lost her husband and six children in 8 days but did not become ill herself. The family is buried some distance from the village in a plot known as the Riley graves.

The village effectively quarantined itself, refusing any contact with people from nearby communities. Villagers developed arrangements to receive and pay for goods without meeting people from elsewhere face-to-face. Difficult to see on Google Maps, but a landmark for hikers, the Boundary Stone can be found on the footpath to Stoney Middleton. The stone has a number of holes carved in the top – villagers from Eyam would fill these with vinegar in an attempt to disinfect the coins they would leave as payment for food and medicine delivered there.

A similar arrangement took place to the north of the village at Reverend Mompesson’s well.

There is a small museum depicting the sombre history, and many landmarks have information signs for those walking around the village. Online information can be found at Wikipedia and the Eyam Plague Village site.

Ah, the English summer: Pimm’s on the lawn, sandcastles on the beach, socks inside sandals, and the gentle sound of leather on willow. Yes, along with tennis, the nation’s sporting thoughts at this time of year turn to cricket – and, this month, to the Twenty20 World Cup.

Cricket mystifies many people from outside the former British Empire¹. Quite apart from its arcane terminology (googlies and doosras; backward short leg and silly mid off), some struggle to see the appeal of a game where you can play for five days and still end up with a draw.

In recent years though, a new and – dare we say it? – more exciting form of the game has become increasingly popular. In Twenty20 cricket, as the name suggests, each side bats for only 20 overs² and essentially just tries to slog the ball for as many runs as possible. Purists complain that this takes all the finesse out of the game and could spell the death of Test cricket³, but many fans are just happy to be able to watch a complete match without having to take a week off work…

2009’s Twenty20 World Cup, the second in the event’s history⁴, is being contested by 12 nations at three venues in England, two of which are in London. First up is Lord’s, where the final will be held on June 21.

Often called “the home of cricket”, this is the headquarters of the world’s oldest cricket club, the MCC⁵. The current location, which dates from 1814, is actually the third incarnation. Thomas Lord built his first ground in the area in 1787, near the site of present-day Dorset Square, then a second which had to be abandoned due to the building of the Regent’s Canal.

It looks as if there was a match being played on the day the Street View car drove past Lord’s, judging by the marshals and crowds. Let’s hope those big black clouds went away!

We head south of the River Thames for our next venue: The Oval, or, to give it its proper corporate-sponsored name, The Brit Insurance Oval.

This ground dates from 1845 and in 1880 became the first venue in England to hold a Test match (England v Australia). Two years later, after Australia beat the home nation at The Oval, a mock newspaper obituary mourned the death of English cricket, stating “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”; to this day the two nations compete for The Ashes.

The Oval hasn’t always hosted cricket though: the first ever international football⁶ match took place here in 1870 (England v Scotland), and all but one of the first 20 FA Cup finals were held here. Despite being in the London Borough of Lambeth, The Oval is the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club.

Street View doesn’t show too much of the ground itself, but one of the large gasometers to the north, a well-known landmark associated with the venue, is clearly visible.

The last of our three locations is a hundred miles or so to the north, in Nottingham. Trent Bridge is the home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and takes its name, unsurprisingly, from the adjacent bridge which carries the main London road over the River Trent.

Cricket has been played on the site since the 1830s, when Nottinghamshire’s club captain married the landlady of the Trent Bridge Inn, and set up a ground in the meadow behind it. The impressive pavilion was built in 1886 and served as a military hospital during the first world war. It can be seen in Street View, but only end-on.

Also on view are the smart new stands and floodlights that were completed last year. A rather less lovely landmark of the ground is the ugly office block that was built after a corner of the ground was sold off in the 1960s.

If you haven’t learned enough about cricket yet, you can read more about Lord’s, The Oval and Trent Bridge at Cricinfo.

Obscure geography trivia time: where would you find the steepest street in the world?

You might guess San Francisco. If you’re a Guinness Book of Records-reading smart alec, you might say New Zealand. As it turns out, you’d be wrong – probably. In fact, nobody seems quite sure which is the world’s steepest, and then there’s the problem of what exactly counts as a street anyway.

But we’ve looked into it, got out protractors out, and can now reveal the not-quite-scientifically-verified Google Sightseeing Top Six World’s Steepest Streets! And happily, the intrepid Street View car has struggled its way up (or down) all of them. Here they are, in reverse order:

6) Dornbush Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In the East Hills area of the city, this quiet-looking residential street has been surveyed at a 31.98% grade – that’s a 17.7° slope. The Street View car missed out one section of the steepest part, which is one-way in the downhill direction. Check out the heavy-duty concrete staircase.

5) Maria Avenue, Spring Valley, California

Here’s a prime example of the “We’ve got a grid system and we’re damn well going to stick to it” school of city planning. Google’s Terrain view shows how the north-south street pattern has been laid out with no regard whatsoever to the steep contours – in fact you have to wonder whether the planners had ever even visited the site!

Maria Avenue marches straight up the southern slope of Dictionary Hill, attaining a surveyed grade of 32% (17.7°) just north of Chestnut Street. This section of road seems to be paved with concrete, and is cut off from the section above: Street View leaps straight across the gap, missing out this part of the road. The next block to the east would have been even steeper – Buena Vista Avenue is shown on the street map, but the builders understandably admitted defeat there.

4) Baxter Street and Fargo Street, Los Angeles, California

We’ll call this one a tie. These two streets are right next to one another in the Silver Lake district of LA, and both have been measured at 32%, but they get the nod over Maria Avenue on account of being altogether more exciting.

Baxter Street goes up and up and up… but then it goes down almost as steeply, giving the alarming impression that you’re about to drive off a cliff as you approach the summit.

Fargo Street is much shorter – only one block – but that’s plenty long enough for the cyclists who enter the annual Fargo Street Hill Climb. In 2008 one nutter rode up it 101 times in one day.

3) Eldred Street, Los Angeles, California

Just pipping Baxter and Fargo, with a 33% (18.3°) grade at its topmost end, LA’s steepest is in the Highland Park area. It rises 67m over only 400m, which presents some interesting challenges for its residents, according to an entertaining LA Times article.

2) Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand

Despite being listed in the Guinness Book of Records (and having that sign at the bottom), Baldwin Street doesn’t make the top slot. True, the top section attains an impressive 35% (19.3°) grade; true, it’s quite a slog walking up, even with the steps at the side¹; and true, sliding down it in a wheelie bin is a very bad idea; but it’s not the steepest. Unless anyone else knows better, the winner is…

1) Canton Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The signs at the top say “Do Not Enter”, and in slippery conditions you’d do well to heed them. Canton Avenue, a short cobbled street in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighbourhood attains a whopping 37%, or 20.3°, gradient, making it the steepest public road in the United States – and, quite possibly, the world. This YouTube video shows what happens when you try and cycle up it, and this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more photos, giving an idea what it’s like to live there in winter. You can bet the residents of this house at the bottom of the hill are quite glad of that crash barrier out the front.

Honourable mentions

Here are a few other contenders that, for various reasons, didn’t quite “make the grade”…

West 28th Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles

Apparently this is officially the steepest LA street, at 33.3% (18.4°, just pipping Eldred), but looking at it on Street View, the steep portion is pathetically short. Next!

Ffordd Pen Llech, Harlech, Wales

This lane, said to be the steepest in Britain, plunges down the side of the steep hill topped by Harlech Castle. Sadly, Street View hasn’t reached rural north Wales yet, but there is high-resolution aerial imagery. The sign at the top claims it to be a 40% (21.8°) slope, but that seems dubious. And in any case, look at the sign just below the gradient warning: “Anaddas i fodur”. Unsuitable for motors. Disqualified on a technicality…

Waipio Valley Road, Hawaii

Now we’re talking: 45% gradient, or 24.2° – just look at those contour lines! Sadly, although this potential record-breaker is paved, it is restricted to 4WD vehicles – and in any case, it’s out in the wilds of the north of the Big Island, and with no houses on it you can hardly call this one a street. Still, it looks like quite a drive, judging by the pictures on this page.

Sunny Beach (Bulgarian: Slanchev bryag) is a Bulgarian resort community located in the southern end of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast along a semi-circular bay. Known locally as Bulgaria’s Beverly Hills, it is the country’s largest resort boasting 800 luxury hotels with 300,000 beds. Incidentally, it is also the funny-shaped pool capital of the world.¹

Construction on the town began in 1958 during the Soviet occupation. It has a very small permanent group of inhabitants and stays almost completely empty for most of the year. However, during the summer months the resort’s population can swell with many thousands of tourists from Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Aerial views of Sunny Beach reveal the sheer number of unique pools that dot town. Actually, it seems a distinct possibility that rectangular-shaped pools might have been made illegal at some point.

Exploring Sunny Beach’s many pools is rather like picking shapes out of passing clouds. Each one seems to be unique with some having some interesting resemblances to other objects. Here’s one that looks like Mickey Mouse’s head:

And here’s another that looks like…well…you get the idea:

You can learn more about Sunny Beach at the official website and on Wikipedia.

Thanks to Capital C.