Six days of Paris

This is one of those images that makes you feel almost as though you're there in it, soaking up an atmosphere heavy with embrocation and cigarette smoke, those hanging lamps creating a ghostly glow across the arena.

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That arena, by the way, is the Vélodrome d'Hiver, just around the corner from the Eiffel Tower. It isn't there anymore - it was gutted by fire and subsequently demolished in 1959, not long after this photograph was taken.

Inaugurated in 1902 and owned by Tour de France bosses Henri Desgrange and Jacques Goddet, the track was one of the foremost sports venues in Paris, hosting not just cycling but boxing, ice skating and basketball, among others.

However, it suffered a major stain against its name when, during the German occupation of World War Two, it was used to round up more than 13,000 Jews who would ultimately be sent to Auschwitz.