Vaud

The Canton of Vaud (French pronunciation: ​[vo]; German: Waadt pronounced [ˈvaːt]) is the third largest of Swiss cantons by population and fourth by size. It is located in Romandie, the French-speaking western part of the country, and borders the canton of Neuchâtel to the north, the cantons of Fribourg and Bern to the east, Valais and Lake Geneva to the south, the canton of Geneva to the south-west and France to the west.

The capital and biggest city is Lausanne, officially designated "Olympic Capital" by the International Olympic Committee and host to many sport organizations. The canton had 725,944 inhabitants as of 2011.

History

Along the lakes, Vaud was inhabited in prehistoric times. Later, the Celtic tribe of the Helvetii inhabited the area. The tribe was defeated by Caesar's troops in 58 BC and as a consequence the Romans settled the area. The towns of Vevey (Latin: Viviscus) and Lausanne (Lausonium or Lausonna) are two of the many towns established by the Romans.

In 27 BC the state of Civitas Helvetiorum was established around the capital of Avenches (Aventicum). There are still many Roman remains around the town today. Between the 2nd and the 4th century the area was repeatedly invaded by Alemannic tribes, and in the 5th century the Burgundians occupied the area. The Merovingian Franks later replaced the Burgundians. Their occupancy did not last long either, and in 888 the area of the canton of Vaud was made part of the Carolingian Empire. In 1032 the Zähringens of Germany defeated the Burgundians. The Zähringens themselves were succeeded in 1218 by the counts of Savoy. It was only under the counts of Savoy that the area was given political unity, establishing the Barony of Vaud. A part stretching from Attalens to the River Sarine, in the north, was absorbed by the canton of Fribourg.

Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva (French: lac Léman, le Léman[lemɑ̃], sometimes lac de Genève [lak d(ə) ʒ(ə)nɛːv], German: Genfersee [ˈɡɛnfərˌzeː]) is a lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. 59.53% (345.31 km² [133.32 sq mi]) of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland (cantons of Vaud, Geneva, and Valais), and 40.47% (234.71 km² [90.62 sq mi]) under France (department of Haute-Savoie).

Lake Geneva has been explored by four submarines: the Auguste Piccard and the F.-A. Forel, both built by Jacques Piccard, and the two Mir submersibles.

Name

The first recorded name of the lake is Lacus Lemannus, dated from Roman times; Lemannus comes from Ancient greek Limanos, Limènos Limne Λιμένος Λίμνη meaning port's lake; it became Lacus Lausonius, although this name was also used for a town or district on the lake, Lacus Losanetes and then the Lac de Lausanne in the Middle Ages. Following the rise of Geneva it became Lac de Genève (translated into English as Lake Geneva). In the 18th century, Lac Léman was revived in French and is the customary name in that language. In contemporary English, the name Lake Geneva is predominant. A note on pronunciation:

26 minutes

26 minutes (26’) is a weekly humorous television programme of Vincent Kucholl and Vincent Veillon. It started in 2015 on RTS Un, following their daily radio programme 120 secondes (120’’) from 2011 to 2014 on Couleur 3 (Radio télévision suisse).

Biographies

Vincent Kucholl, born in 1975, studied political sciences at the University of Lausanne and is the director of the book collection "Comprendre" of the Éditions loisirs et pédagogie.

Vincent Veillon, born in 1986, studied new media at the École cantonale d'art de Lausanne. He is the son of Pierre-François Veillon, who was successively member of the Grand Council of Vaud, the Council of State of Vaud and the National Council of Switzerland.

120 secondes

The principle of 120 secondes is an interview of a fake personality played by Vincent Kucholl, by Vincent Veillon who is acting as a journalist It was broadcast daily at 7:50 on Couleur 3 and then available on YouTube and Dailymotion; each video was viewed about 60'000 times with peaks at 80'000 for burning questions.