Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay (1740–1789) was the French governor of the Bastille, the son of a previous governor, and commander of its garrison when the prison-fortress in Paris was stormed on 14 July 1789 ("see Storming of the Bastille"). The marquis Bernard-René Jordan de Launay was born on the night of 8/9 April 1740 in the Bastille where his father, René Jourdan de Launay, was governor. At the age of eight he was appointed to an honorary position in the King's Musketeers ("mousquetaires du roi"). He subsequently entered the French Guards ("gardes-françaises"), a regiment
Bernard de Nonancourt Bernard de Nonancourt Bernard de Nonancourt (c. 1920 – October 29, 2010) was a French businessman, member of the French Resistance and president of the Laurent-Perrier champagne house for more than fifty years. Under de Nonancourt' s leadership, Laurent-Perrier expanded to become the world's third largest seller of champagne by 2005. He was known as "Le Grand Bernard" within the industry. De Nonancourt's mother, Marie-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt, purchased the Tours-sur-Marne-based champagne maker that would become Laurent-Perrier in 1938. His older brother, Maurice de Nonancourt, was originally intended to inherit the company from his mother, but he would die in