Heroes of WWII in France – Females all of them! – Part 2 – Odette Sansom
Born Odette Hallowes in Amiens in 1912.
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Heroes of WWII in France – Females all of them! – Part 1 – Violette Szabo
Violette was born in Paris in 1921. Her father was a publican, taxi-driver and car salesman from London. When her parents went back to Stockwell in England, Violette stayed on in Picardy with her aunt for financial reasons.
Beauty and the beasts
Eugène Paul Louis Schueller, the founder of a huge cosmetics company, was a thoroughly nasty piece of work. So were most of his friends.
Collaboration versus resistance—alive, well and living in France
This week we celebrate the anniversary of the Liberation of Paris in August 1944. What have we learned in the 75 years since the Nazis were driven out of France?
FGM: fighting against female genital mutilation in France and beyond
An estimated 200 million women and girls have undergone FGM worldwide.
Colette: “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realised it sooner”
Scandals and sexual exploits: discover the secret life of the incredible Colette.
D-Day: Tiger to Trump
The 75th anniversary of D-Day: The beautiful coastline of Devon is packed with tourists every summer holiday season. In the spring of 1944 it was invaded by 30,000 American soldiers.
Holy Smoke: Notre Dame in flames
The Notre Dame fire: disaster, miracle, social injustice?
Alain Delon: Exciting, seductive, sexy and French
Alain Delon is one of the most recognisable French film stars of the twentieth century. But Delon’s own unlikely story seemingly comes straight from the Hollywood script department.
The Compiègne wagon: signing a treaty to end all wars
There were other fundamental ingredients to ending the war, far beyond the Compiègne wagon…