Anne is the English-speaker of the two authors. She tells how they had to publish and distribute the books on their own for two years, until a campaign by their readers – the Pollockmaniacs – in the media brought them a publisher. Anne explains that they set the stories in London, because it is the one city in the world that seems full of magic. Listen and enjoy their amazing story! Michelle Pauli...
Philosopher publishes list of allegations against FN candidates and says far-right party has not changed The celebrated French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy has made an impassioned plea to voters to reject "far-right louts" in Sunday's local elections runoffs. Levy rejected claims that the Front National, which made spectacular gains in the first round of voting last Sunday , had become less extreme...
Peter Wynn Kirby: Rising costs and long delays for the European Pressurised Reactor nuclear plants at Olkiluoto and Flamanville should raise concerns over the UK's first nuclear reactor in decades Peter Wynn Kirby ...
Far-right National Front hails breakthrough after disillusioned voters reject François Hollande and both mainstream parties Was this the moment the Front National became more than just a protest party? While France's local elections on Sunday were notable for record voter abstention and a bloody nose for the governing Socialists, it was the far-right party's showing in a crucial European election...
As Scotland debates splitting from the UK, some of its islands are now demanding the right to their own independence vote. Where will it all end? Alex Salmond should always have expected it. Once you stir the nationalist pot, you can never know where it will lead. Residents of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are petitioning the Scottish parliament at Holyrood for the right to hold their own...
Polls suggest ruling Socialists have just 43% of vote, compared to 48% for centre-right opposition, while FN has 7% support France's far-right Front National party has made significant gains in local elections, when voters sent a message of deep dissatisfaction with the Socialist president François Hollande. As the voting stations closed, polls were suggesting the governing Socialists had gained just...
Items from the time of emperor's death withdrawn from sale for fear they would have been taken abroad As Napoleon lay dying on St Helena cursing the British who had sent him into exile on the remote volcanic island, his loyal stable master was never far from the bedside. Achille Thomas Archambault would later hold the emperor's head while his death mask was made. He attended the autopsy, where witnesses...
French satellite detects possible debris from MH370 while search aircraft spots wooden pallet and strapping belts Paul Farrell Jon Swaine ...
As France goes to the polls, the fate of the last accordion factory in Tulle reveals why people stopped believing in the president The bucolic backwater of Tulle – François Hollande's remote country fiefdom where he will vote in today's municipal elections – has many claims to fame. Accordions are one of them. Locals say the instrument, known colloquially as the squeezebox, is part of their genetic...
Brussels drafts tougher sanctions for new battle plan against Moscow should Putin expand territorial claims in Ukraine Europe began to prepare for a possible trade war with Russia over Ukraine on Friday, with the EU executive in Brussels ordered to draft plans for much more substantive sanctions against Moscow if Vladimir Putin presses ahead with Russian territorial expansion. But the bigger EU countries...
Rise to 13,350 centenarians in 2012 attributable to better medical treatments, housing, nutrition and living standards, says ONS The number of people over 100 living in the UK has increased nearly fivefold in 30 years as better medical treatments, housing, nutrition and living standards, together with a decline in smoking, significantly improved the chances of surviving to a very old age, the Office...
President promises to open account at blacklisted bank as west signals intent to maintain pressure over Ukraine crisis Vladimir Putin has laughed off western sanctions against Russia, promising to open an account in a bank on the US blacklist, but indicating that he will not escalate the Ukraine crisis further. A day after the US extended its sanctions blacklist to take in businesspeople and aides...
Hidalgo pulls away from rightwing rival Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet in contest for French capital's powerful executive By the end of the month – barring a physical or political earthquake – Paris will have its first Madame le Maire. If the polls are accurate, the Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo will get the keys to the city and the 150 sq metre mayoral office at the French capital's imposing Hôtel...
Simon Bartlett had stopped to urinate when doing some late-night sightseeing around Les Invalides complex of museums A British businessman died after he fell into a 10ft deep dry moat while stopping to urinate during some late-night sightseeing in Paris, an inquest has heard. Simon Bartlett, who works for a firm of architectural engineers, had finished a dinner with colleagues in the French capital...
The children, aged between two months and six years, were discovered by social services sleeping on the floor of a room French social services have found four children aged between two months and six years in a locked flat that they appeared not to have left since birth. The eldest two children could barely talk or walk and had never been to school; none had ever seen a doctor. Investigators said...
Highest court rejects ex-Société Générale trader's appeal against jail term but rules he does not have to repay €4.9bn France's highest court upheld a prison sentence for the one-time rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel but threw out the €4.9bn (£4.1bn) in civil damages he'd been ordered to pay back. Kerviel, who is currently walking from Italy to Paris on a pilgrimage after meeting the pope last month, had...
Ten people at telecoms giant have killed themselves this year, most over what company says are 'work-related' reasons The French telecoms company Orange is on "serious alert" after reports of a fresh spate of work-related suicides. Since the beginning of the year, 10 of its employees have killed themselves – most for reasons "explicitly related" to their jobs, according to the company's own stress...
Shells turned into skateboards, bunkers becoming coffee shops and rainbows made from war ribbons ... a major new art collaboration spans three French and British cities and shows how the artists of today respond to war Sculptures made of corroding metal scavenged from first world war battlefields, and a colourful wall-hanging consisting of ribbons bearing honours that include Nazi medals. These are...
French foreign minister says £1bn contract for two high-tech Mistral warships could be blocked if situation escalates France might cancel a controversial deal to sell two state-of-the-art warships to Russia but only if Britain also acted against Russian oligarchs in London, according to the French foreign minister. Speaking after Russian president Vladimir Putin approved a draft bill for the annexation...
As smog contaminates Paris, Shanghai and other world cities, we should regard pollution as a crime against humanity Air pollution is deteriorating in many places around the world. In Shanghai, such is the oppressive smog, covering the city with a toxic cloud, that authorities have had to instal gigantic TV screens to broadcast the sunrise. Salt Lake City has such poor air quality that chemicals in...