3. In January 1869 Pierre-Joseph drove a three-wheeled, steam-powered vehicle through the streets of Paris, right up to Saint-Denis; this was much further than his permit had allowed, but he’d bribed the police escort with hot grog at a nearby café first.
4. Ravel was immensely proud of his Basque heritage; he could speak some of the language, and could read letters received from a colleague in ‘the most elegant Basque’. #Ravel150
5. After Ravel’s first piano lesson in 1882 his teacher Henry Ghys recorded in his diary that his seven-year-old pupil ‘appears intelligent’, though he added resignedly, ‘I now appear to be destined for teaching children’. #Ravel150
6. Ravel’s commitment to piano practice was desultory: ‘I would only work like a taxi’, he recalled; ‘in order to produce the slightest effort, I had to be paid.’ #Ravel150
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