Of course, Calais only became a lacemaking capital after some British skulduggery: “Lace-making began to flourish here in the early 19th century, after three British weavers smuggled giant looms, called Leavers machines, across the English Channel to evade English restrictions on selling lace to the French. They set up in the textile-making town of Calais. The new industry blossomed, and the metallic click of the Leavers looms vibrated in Calais’s narrow streets day and night.” (Narrator voice: This prosperity was not to last.)