Patrick Henry was one of the founding fathers of the United States. He is best known for a speech he made in 1775 and which he ended with the defiant words, Give me liberty, or give me death! All well and good, but when I spotted this tea room in Nice yesterday, it dawned on me that Henry’s reputation for bravado may be entirely based on a tremendous misunderstanding. Indeed, thirsty from a lengthy speech, Patrick Henry may simply have been trying to order a beverage in a humorous way: Waiter, give me Liber’tea or give me death! If one remembers that the Boston Tea Party had taken place a mere two years earlier, such political humor becomes credible, indeed. American history may have to be rewritten; remember, you read it here first!