It is not too fanciful to say that the world owes a huge debt of gratitude to Francis I, King of France for Leonardo's Notebooks, or at least some of them.

Francesco Melzi was an Italian aristocrat. His family took the name from their home town, Melzo near Milan (Francesco has a street named after him).

John Evelyn visited Amboise in 1644.

When was it built? No-one knows. Some sources say parts date from the 1100s. Others say that it was built in the 1300s as a Watch Tower. The consensus is the second half of the fifteenth century which makes it the oldest house in Amboise.

In 1494 Leonardo da Vinci started working for Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan.

Dendrologists, who study the growth patterns and structures of trees, say that Leonardo's Rule of Trees is spot on.

Renoir's birthday, 25 February

On 24 February 1848 news came from Paris that King Louis-Philippe had abdicated.