A New Zealand man has won the French language Scrabble championship, despite not speaking French. Nigel Richards triumphed over Schélick Ilagou Rekawe, from French-speaking Gabon, in the final in Louvain, Belgium, on Monday. Richards’ friend Liz Fagerlund, former president of the New Zealand Scrabble Association, revealed that he had been studying the language closely for approximately eight weeks in preparation.
this was in 2015 btw
not that it’s super important, just in case someone reads it as a contemporary news headline rather than fun historical trivia