His name was Jacquot. He was bought from a peasant in the Alpine spa of Aix-les-Bains for 200 francs – a purchase securing Queen Victoria the services of a royal mule who returned with her to Buckingham Palace, where his duties included distributing Christmas presents to the royal grandchildren. Continue reading…
Tag Archives: France
Alps murders: ex-policeman arrested in village near scene of al-Hilli shootings
French police on Tuesday arrested a 48-year-old former policeman in a French Alpine village close to the layby where the Iraqi-born British engineer Saad al-Hilli, two members of his family and a French cyclist were murdered. Continue reading…
France faces up to scandal of Réunion’s stolen children
Jean-Jacques Martial was six years old when he arrived at Orly airport in Paris one November morning wearing flip-flops and shorts. He had been removed from his grandmother’s care in the French island territory of Réunion as part of an official scheme to help boost the falling population in the rural heart of the mother country. He had only one idea in his head: “I was going to cultivate myself and I would denounce what had happened to me,” he said. Continue reading…
Libération journalists fight investors’ vision for future of French newspaper
Three months ago a crazed gunman opened fire in the Paris offices of the iconoclastic French newspaper Libération, critically wounding a photographer. The leftwing paper survived that crisis but now it is facing a different kind of threat – a war with itself. Continue reading…
Postcard from…Montferrat
The black puddings were coiled on a table, and served with chips. The spicy mulled wine had a hint of orange. But when Jean-Michel invited about 20 friends to his fête du cochon, to celebrate the slaughter of a pig, they were actually attending a semi-clandestine party. Continue reading…