15 July 1889: On the centenary of the French Revolution, The Guardian recalls the storming of the Bastille in Paris.
6 April 1955: Maurice Chevalier, the epitome of gallic charm, is back on stage in London for a month. For two hours he held the vast Palace Theatre audience in the palm of his hand, alone with his boater, his excellent pianist and a selection of ditties.
18 November 1958: Champagne is ‘French and nothing else,’ the Old Bailey hears as a London wine company is accused of applying the false trade description of “champagne” or “Spanish champagne” to bottles of wine.
21 September 1966: Could the French way of life be overrated? Researchers in Paris find the French sleep longer, work more, and read less than both the Russians and the Americans.
21 May 1971: English could become official language of the Common Market, President Pompidou says, as the French worry about the fate of Molière’s language.
24 September 1996: Brigitte Bardot bares her soul in an interview about her autobiography, Initiales BB. ‘Everything that happened to me was excessive. In this book, I have stripped myself bare,’ she says.
Photograph: Alamy
10 October 1998: Fifty years in fashion for Hubert de Givenchy. The couturier dressed many famous women of the 20th century including Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly.
9 January 2018: Even feminism in France seems different to the anglo-saxon version. One recent example is the letter sent by 100 feminists to Le Monde newspaper, presenting a maverick view of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. There was such a backlash that French actor Catherine Deneuve had to apologise to sex attack victims.
22 January 2018: The giant of French cooking, Paul Bocuse, dies aged 91. For many people around the world, the chef was the incarnation of French gastronomy, a colossus of haute cuisine.
