You know, I had no idea that the Richelieu clan was so rich in culinary trivia. As explained earlier, the invention and introduction of mayonnaise stands as one of their key contributions. And now I have found (in Wired, odd though that sounds) another.

Imagine it. It is 1637 and for reasons we can only guess at – possibly he was put off his dinner watching dinner guests picking their teeth with the points of their daggers – Cardinal Richelieu orders the blades of his dinnerware to be ground down and rounded off.

Behold, the modern dinner knife is born.