The Return of Françoise Hardy...

The French 60's icon, Françoise Hardy, is back in the news with the release of her 26th album, La pluie sans parapluie. The first single from the album, Noir sur blanc, produced in collaboration with Calogero, shows that La Grande Dame de la chanson française is back on brillant form.

I've always had a soft spot for Françoise Hardy. I clearly remember the day back in Junior High School French class when my teacher, Mme Barber, first put on the scratchy record of Tous les garçons et les filles. Sitting in class in South Dakota, I was suddenly transported to Paris, an exotic country full of lovers and romance, of rain-splashed streets full of couples walking hand in hand. I even chose 'Françoise' as my name in class for the rest of the year. Forget Audrey Hepburn and Brigitte Bardot, I wanted to be Françoise Hardy.

Serge Gainsbourg- Vie Héroïque

Already being called the French film of 2010, Serge Gainsbourg- Vie Héroïque, the biopic of the man whom many consider to be one of France's all-time greatest singer/songwriters, was released last week in France.

Starting with his childhood as a Jewish boy growing up in Nazi-occupied Paris, the film goes on to tell the story of his career, from struggling painter to one of the country's biggest rock star bad boys.

I can only imagine how many later musicians have been inspired by the life of this cult French icon. From his hard-drinking lifestyle to his well-publicised love life, which included relationships with the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birken, Serge Gainsbourg's life reads like a manual on how to really do the whole sex, drugs, and rock and roll thing (particularly the sex bit...).

The film has been dedicated to Lucy Gordon, the young English actress who played Jane Birkin in the film, and who committed suicide in her apartment in Paris, shortly after filming finished.

Gainsbourg - Vie Héroïque - Trailer HD [VF]

The return of a sexy French icon...

No, not Catherine Deneuve or Brigitte Bardot, but the Citroen DS, one of the most recognizable, and in my opinion, one of the sexiest cars ever made.

Citroen has recently unveiled plans to relaunch the DS (which is a pun on the French word for Goddess) in 2010, in a bid to compete with other top of the line luxury cars and to cash in on the nostalgic love affair people seem to be having with cars such as the Beetle, the Fiat 500 and the Mini Cooper.

Now before you start thinking I'm a bit of a motor head, let me reassure you, my love of the DS is a purely shallow attraction. The technical brilliance of this car goes completely over my head. Hydro pneumatic suspension, power steering, hydraulic systems- you might as well be speaking Greek to me. I'm the sort of person who when asked what kind of car I drive, I respond 'a blue one'.

I've never really been that into sports cars, and quite often I find some of the people who drive the likes of Ferraris or Porsches to be quite off-putting. It has never been a useful pulling technique with me either, the sort of car a man drives, and I'd rather travel around the world than own a Range Rover.

But there is just something about this car that gets me going. It's certainly a glamorous car, and the black and white images of de Gaulle being driven around in one while he was President could appear in the dictionary to illustrate the word 'French'. Sure there are other French cars that have become symbolic of the country, like the 2CV or the Renault 4, but the DS is like the Robert Redford to these little upstarts; no matter how hard they try, they'll never ooze as much sex appeal.

The DS ranked 3rd in a 1999 poll of 'Car of the Century', behind the Ford Model T and the Mini Cooper. I've owned a Mini Cooper before, and it was fun to drive and smart looking. But it's just too cute to ever inspire the same lust in me. It will be interesting to see how the DS's relaunch goes, though. It could be hugely successful, or it could fall as flat as the Spice Girls' comeback tour.

I know the Duke loves the DS as much as I do, but I'm still pretty sure we will never own one. He already owns his favorite little piece of French iconography, the Citroen H van. The thing goes maximum 30km/hour, has no seatbelts and very little floor left in it, and is quite possibly the un-sexiest car I have ever seen...