It doesn't take long for Nice visitors to wonder "what's up with the boom at noon"? Now, a firecracker does the trick but at one time an actual cannon fired to mark midday. Although legend has it that a wealthy Englishman fired a cannon to remind his chatty wife to return from her morning walk and make lunch, the real story behind Nice's noontime "cannon" is more complicated. And more interesting.
The tradition started in 1863 with Thomas Coventry, a wealthy English lawyer accustomed to wintering in Nice with his wife. They would stay at the former Hotel Chauvin at the corner of the Place Massena and boulevard St-Jean-Baptiste. The hotel was kind enough to offer their English guest access to their rooftop. At the time, every gentleman needed a hobby and for Mr Coventry that hobby was astronomical observations and measuring time. He installed some 30 instruments on the hotel roof to indulge his passion.
As a civic-minded person who was actively involved in local associations, he decided that Nice residents needed better time-keeping. First he funded a sundial on the southern facade of the Nice Opera House and then he built a clock in the arcades of the Place Masséna. To set the clock he installed a red time ball on the roof of his hotel nearby, modeled on the one in Greenwich. At 11.55am each day (except Sunday) he hoisted the ball to the top of the pole which signaled his artillery man, installed on a terrace of the Colline du Chateau, to fire the cannon at noon.
After his death, the tradition lapsed for a few years but popular demand insisted upon its return and the cannon started up again in 1875. First, municipal police took charge of firing it, taking their cue from the clock on the Tour Saint Francois and, in the 20th century, from the radio.
Since 1886 shell-type fireworks known as aerial maroons have been fired from a mortar. Black powder propels the firework to a height of 60 meters where it explodes colorlessly. A local, Philippe Arnello, is now in charge but, be careful, he has a sense of humor! On 1 April the firecracker intentionally goes off at the wrong time.
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