BOOKS

Spectator, The, Oct 18, 2008

On 7 January 1785 the Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, and the American, John Jeffries, set out from Dover cliff to make the first successful hot-air balloon crossing of the English Channel. Early on each one accidentally managed to drop the other's national flag over the side, after which the entire contents of the balloon was gradually jettisoned, as it threatened to sink into the sea, including instruments, clothing and lastly a bottle of brandy.

Blanchard and Jeffries eventually landed in their underclothes among the trees of the forest of Guines, 12 miles inland from Calais. Their perilous two-hour flight is described by Jeffries in Narrative of Two Aerial Voyages with M. Blanchard.