Can you imagine a sweeter rapprochement? From mid-Ulster to the Balkans, Damascus to Tel Aviv, one part of Africa to the next, it is a lesson for every warring faction, or previously warring faction,
to heed.
Salut! sets a simple competition. Colin Berry knows the answer but nobly stands aside to allow none other than his sworn blogging adversary Bill Taylor to sweep to an impressive victory.
Congratulations to both of you.
Bill's prize, which will be on its way to him in Canada very soon, is a copy of Graham Robb's fascinating new book, The Discovery of France , a review of which in the Observer gave me the idea of running the contest in the first place. More about the book in a moment.
Thank you to everyone for the right and wrong answers, and for the wit - more of which I hope will now be applied to the Piers Morgan competition.
Bill correctly replied that the island photographed by me was that of Ste-Marguerite, which lies a 15-minue ferry ride from Cannes and is worth a visit despite the quarrels with catering, once you get there, that Colin Berry and I could easily describe. What is more, Bill needed none of the subsequent photographic clues; he had it in one.
The competition was due to end at midnight but, as has been noted in the comments field, there is nothing left to decide.
Graham Robb, an eminent scholar and tutor of French history and literature, is noted for his biographical works on Rimbaud, Hugo and Balzac.
For his new book, he embarked on a series of marathon treks by bicycle around a country he realised he knew far less well than was supposed by his students and readers. He clocked up 14,000 miles in twice-yearly expeditions (if, that is, his cycle allows such things as clocking up) and spent long hours in the library in the preparation of his book.
Robb says this of his exploration of la France profonde:
This was supposed to be the historical guidebook I wanted to read when setting out to discover France, a book in which the inhabitants were not airlifted from the land for statistical processing, in which "France" and "the French" would mean something more than Paris and a few powerful individuals, and in which the past was not a refuge from the present but a means of understanding and enjoying it.
I have already dipped into the book, and it is obvious that I am going to derive a great deal of enjoyment and stimulation - whether or not I agree with all or many of the author's conclusions - as I plough deeper into its pages. I hope Bill finds it a good read, too, and that Colin will console himself with his high moral ground, and the copy he orders from Salut!'s bookshelf.
Related postings:
* Bill Taylor: Dead good
** Colin Berry: Au revoir mais pas adieu (1)
Au revoir mais pas adieu (2)
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