There are many people among us who wait for the newspaper every morning even though it has been a long time since we started hearing the saying that the time of the newspaper is over. But what if you know that a whole country waits four years for a newspaper? So there is a newspaper in this world. Not in India, but in France. “La Bougie du Sapeur” (La Bougie du Sapeur), a French newspaper published from Paris, amazes its readers with many features.
Lakhs wait for this newspaper which is published once in four years. Published only in leap years, the paper appears on newsstands across France on February 29. Started in 1980, only 12 editions of the newspaper have been published so far. The Satire Newspaper “La Beauchie du Supper” sells out in no time. The price of the newspaper is 4 euros, but if you spend 100 euros, you can subscribe for 100 years.
“La Beauchie du Supper” was started as a joke in 1980 by friends Polytechnic Jacques de Bisson and Christian Baillie, a journalist and collector of old newspapers. The name means “sapper's candle”.
The newspaper got its name from the comic series “Sapper Camembert” written in 1896 by the French writer Georges Colombe. Camember, a soldier, was born on February 29. He joined the army after celebrating his fourth birthday. Each edition of La Beauchie du Supper can be said to be a celebration of Camembert's birthday.
The first edition, wrapped in humor, was well received. It was published in 1980 and sold over 30,000 copies. Both of them refused to continue publishing. The next version was released in 1984. Viscount Jean de Indy is the current editor-in-chief of “La Beauchie du Saper”, which holds the record for the newspaper with the fewest editions.
Indy and his team present the newspaper by hiding many things to attract the readers. What everyone is waiting for in the 2024 edition is the answer to a crossword puzzle. The answer to the puzzle that was in the version released on February 29, 2016 is included in today's version. That means eight years of waiting will come to an end today.
This newspaper is modeled after a typical tabloid newspaper. The important news of the last four years is being told in a funny way. La “Beauchy du Supper” has a Sunday edition like other newspapers. A special edition was also printed with the Sunday 29 February 2004 paper. The next Sunday edition will be published in 2032.
As of 2016, the French-language newspaper is distributed in Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Canada in addition to France. About two lakh copies were printed in 2020. “La Beauchie du Supper” wins people's hearts by doing something not funny even though it is a joke. A portion of the profits from the newspaper is donated to a voluntary organization working for people with autism and epilepsy.