American Independence was fuelled by two Englishmen. The first was John Wilkes, few in America have ever heard of. In 1763, charged with seditious libel (criticising the King), he left for Paris where he lived for four years in Hôtel de Saxe, Rue du Colombier (now part of the chic Rue Jacob in the 6th arrondissement).

In this portrait of Gaston of Orléans, he is wearing the crown of a prince of the blood an elaborate lace jabot and an ornate doublet.

Sandy invented the mobile. His kinetic sculptures, delicately balanced, suspended shapes move in response to touch or air currents.

Sculpted by world famous Surrealist, Max Ernst, The Baby turtle Hatchlings. were born almost sixty years ago to adorn the basin of his wonderful Fountain in Amboise.

I find the bronze sculpture, ‘Danseuse’ on display in Tours Musée des Beaux Arts mysterious.

One of the reasons, apart from the usual displacement activities, it takes so long to write a book is because of the rabbit holes the writer tumbles down along the way, often because of accidentally stumbling over just one sentence read somewhere or other a long time ago.

Although known locally as The Museum, its official title is Le Musée-Hôtel Morin. Built between 1501 and 1505 at the flowering of the French Renaissance, this was one of the first permanent monuments in Amboise.

This guide was written with two kinds of photographer in mind: The new camera owner and the mobile phone photographer transitioning to a larger format camera. It introduces the reader to the principles of photography in easy to read non-technical language.