When Raymond Aubrac passed away aged 97 in Paris on the 10th of April, France lost one of his most popular heroes, whose exploits -and most notably his adventurous escape from the Nazis -were immortalised in books and films. I was lucky enough to interview him two years ago, when he came to London to celebrate the 60th anniversary of De Gaulle’s appeal to Resistance. The man I discovered was true to his legend: warm, sharp-witted and strong minded- a hero who despite having been tortured by the Gestapo and having lost his parents and brother at Auschwitz, had managed to keep the most endearing sparkle in his eyes.

As a journalist, I am lucky to experience some very privileged moments, interviewing Tony Blair in a plane somewhere above Australia in 2002 and Seif Gaddafi in his bachelor pad outside Tripoli in 2004 being cases in point. However, rarely was I as moved -and star struck- than on the interview I did on 18th June 2010. That day, I interviewed former resistants Raymond Aubrac and Stéphane Hessel , who had come to London alongside president Sarkozy to celebrate the 60th anniversary of De Gaulle’s appeal to resistance. read more

Admittedly, this topic has got nothing to do with anything remotely “chic” or “London”, but given the current events taking place in Libya, I couldn’t help but reminisce the time when I travelled to Tripoli in 2004 with Saif Gaddafi, in his private plane and while heavily pregnant- an experience which seemed quite surreal then, and seems even more surreal now.

It all started on the 20 January 2004 at 7pm with a phone call from my good friend Zaki Chehab, a London-based Palestinian journalist I had met four years before on a press trip to Scotland. A veteran journalist and the founder of Arabs Today, the largest Arabic language news website, Zaki is the man to know for anyone interested in covering the Middle East, having interviewed everyone from Yasser Arafat to Osama bin Laden.

In the weird world of international politics, the Lybian dictatorship and former terrorist State was being wooed at the time by the Western States, as a new found Arab ally against Al Qaeda, willing to renounce weapons of mass destruction and to open its vast oil fields to American and European companies. As a result, a delegation of seven US senators was about to make a visit to Tripoli, the first Americans to officially set foot in Libya since 1969. Saif, Gaddafi’s second son and heir apparent, then a student at the London School of Economics, had asked Zaki to bring a few fellow journalists to cover the event. read more

With her Marlborough college education, Sloaney wardrobe and millionaire parents, Kate Middleton isn’t really what one would call underprivileged. That said, the fact remains that she is the first commoner to make it as the wife of the British heir to the throne- which goes to show Britain has gone a long way from its rigid class rules and gives its people a real reason to celebrate.

With the heir to the throne marrying a “commoner” -albeit a privately educated, daughter of millionaire’s one- it seems quite obvious that England has become much less class-obsessed that it once was. Thirty years ago, the idea of Prince Charles marrying the daughter of the enterprising middle class, as his son has just done, would have been unthinkable. For Diana might be remembered by adoring fans as the “People’s Princess”, but the fact remains that she came from one of the country’s oldest aristocratic families -in fact more ancient than the Windsor- and was considered suitable for that specific reason, and certainly not for her supposedly “common touch”. read more

For many French people, British gastronomy has long been summed up by the 1967 comedy Les Grandes Vacances, which sees exchange student Michonnet almost dying in London after a long month diet of oysters in milk broth and other local delicacies. So what a shock then it must have been in France when super chef Joël Robuchon declared in a recent interview that “London is very possibly the gastronomic capital of the world”.

Of course, for expats and regular visitors in London, such a tirade is not at all that surprising. London has indeed managed to transform itself in the past 15 years into a true foodie capital, thanks both to the rise of “Modern British” cuisine and to an innovative international food offer, with the 2011 Michelin attributing a total of 43 stars to restaurants offering Chinese, Indian, Italian or Japanese food, and even to a pub –which proves that fine food is not confined to chic establishments. read more

Should we rename LFW “London Party Week”? Well, Ok, it might be an exaggeration, as the business of fashion still looms large at this bi-annual celebration of creativity that is London Fashion Week. That said there is no doubt that London Fashion Week is as famous for its emerging talents and established local names as it is for its parties. And this year, the Top Awards in the latter category has to go to the party hosted on the 21st of February at Liberty by New York designer Alexander Wang to celebrate The Androgyny Issue of LOVE magazine: where else indeed could one dance to a live performance by Beth Ditto while eyeing up David Beckham in the corner?

As many of my French compatriots (the Latin DNA probably…), I do -always did and hopefully always will- love a good party, especially when it is held in a beautiful place, has got its fair share of attractive and creative individuals, provides some good music and what seems like an unlimited supply of cocktails…

Therefore I was quite happy to be invited at the LOVE party held at Liberty on Monday 21st of February during Fashion Week, where I mingled amongst a glamorous crowd that included singers Boy George, Alison Goldfrapp, Alison Mosshart, Elly Jackson -aka La Roux- and Holly Johnson (ex-Frankie Goes to Hollywood lead singer), but also actress Jaime Winstone, fashion It Girl and TV presenter Alexa Chung, fashion designers Peter Pilotto, Pam Hogg and Louise Gray, and models Amber Rose (Kanye West’s ex), Erin O’Connor, Daisy Lowe and Pixie Geldof (amongst many, many others). read more

Dear English Friends… You might be slightly surprised, but the word that goes around in many expat homes in London is that, despite being often very friendly, it can prove difficult to really become close friends with you. I personally disagree, but try to understand here where this rather widely spread reputation might come from.

When I settled in London in 1999, I got a briefing from a French school friend who had been living here for a while. After offering essential survival tips (how to deal with Victorian plumbing and where to find good bread), she shared one particular social observation: “The English are very friendly, but it is almost impossible to become friends with them”. I was quite surprised, especially since she worked for a British firm, and is lovely, smart and generally sociable. But in her three years in London, she had managed to make dozens of international friends, except born and bred Brits. That could have been an isolated case, but the fact is that I have heard this remark many times since, not only from French people but also from American, Italian, Australian or German Londoners, which seems to confirm that this experience is not confined to my compatriots, but widely spread amongst expats. read more

Undeniably one of the most successful and glamorous fashion designers in London, French-born Nicole Farhi has been flagging her own brand of super sleek Gallic chic in Britain for thirty years, earning in the process a CBE awarded by the Queen in 2007. It is therefore fantastic news that President Nicolas Sarkozy also decided to recognise her contribution to the fashion industry and French cultural influence by giving her the Légion d’Honneur, the most prestigious form of public recognition in our home country. She celebrated the award last Tuesday with a superb and extremely fun dinner, where I was lucky enough to be invited, alongside a glamorous crowd including actor Bill Nighy, US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, model and DJ Ben Grimes, style icon Zandra Rhodes and fashion designer Betty Jackson.

It is only when I received the invitation (“a private dinner to celebrate her Légion d’Honneur 2010”) that I learnt that Nicole Farhi had received this prestigious award. Given the fact that she had known of her nomination since last January and that I had had lunch with her several times since, it came to me as a surprise, but also as a testament to the kind of person she is: discreet, modest and certainly not one to boast, however entitled she might be.

Obviously, as someone who is lucky enough to have become her friend, I was extremely happy for her, but also about the fact that Nicolas Sarkozy decided to honour one of the numerous French people who choose to make a life and career in London. And while it is generally British fashion designers who go and settle in Paris to further their career -John Galliano at Dior being the prime example- Nicole has been leading a much smaller but significant trend of French talents coming to settle in the British capital, with super successful designers such as Roland Mouret and Charles Anastase following her lead. read more

Given the nature of this website, I thought it would make sense to start a blog by explaining why I gave up my native city of Paris for London, and never looked back. Of course, the British tabloids might still occasionally describe the French as “cheese eating surrendering monkeys” and we like to joke about the “Roast beefs” from the “Perfidious Albion”… And yet, as a French person, there is so much to enjoy about calling London “home”, as the 300,000 or so of my compatriots who have settled in the British capital could testify.

As a Frenchie who has lived in London for almost eleven years, I am often asked -usually by my English friends- why I should have left beautiful Paris for their capital. The truth is that the decision was a practical compromise at the time -linked to factors including a boyfriend, a job and the desire to be closer to my family after a two-year stint in Sydney- rather than a choice based on a deep passion for this city.

Of course, I had always liked London, which I first discovered aged five on a one-day trip with my parents, who used to come here to shop (apparently good value at the time). I then spent a week in South Kensington as an 18-year old, where I stayed in a flat belonging to a famous English screenwriter. In true Frog mode, I insisted to go to Café de Paris to listen to my then favourite DJ, a quintessentially Parisian man called Alfred de Paname (“Paname” meaning “Paris” in French slang), who used to hop to Londonevery Wednesday to dispense his own brand of retro music magic -including 1950s radio jingles in French- to an unsuspecting and slightly perplex crowd of British party goers. I then stayed during my student days with friends in Notting Hill, before the film and the bankers invasion, when it was getting seriously trendy but still considered risky to walk alone in All Saints Road (unless you were a drug dealer or suicidal). read more