Detour de France

Zusatztext

<p>Though happy enough with his lot, Michael Simkins has never truly shaken the nagging doubt - helpfully upheld by his partner Julia - that he somehow lacks worldly sophistication. While she spent her teenage years as a nanny on a boat moored at Cannes, his utter lack of travel experience (Weymouth, Cleethorpes and a day trip to Dieppe) still has the power to shock people into leaving dinner parties early.</p><p>So as he hits middle-age, Michael takes up the challenge of broadening his horizons. He decides to improve himself in the same way English gentlemen lacking refined edges have for centuries: by learning from our more cultured French neighbours. Michael, an English provincial<i>ingénue</i>, sets off to discover just what the Gallic nation can teach him and the rest of us Anglo-Saxons about living the good life. Armed only with<i>50 Useful Phrases in French</i>, he waits to see if his odyssey from La Manche to the Riviera will finally turn him from the scotch-egg eating spawn of Anne Widdecombe and John McCririck into the champagne-sipping love child of Serge Gainsbourg and Catherine Deneuve. Julia is saying a prayer for him at Lourdes.</p>

Autorenportrait

Michael Simkins trained at RADA. He has appeared in more than 70 plays, stage highlights include<i>A View from the Bridge</i>at the National Theatre as well as musicals<i>Chicago</i>and<i>Mamma Mia</i>. He also directed Alan Ayckbourn's<i>Absent Friends</i>at the Greenwich Theatre. He has made countless TV appearances - recent credits include<i>Foyle's War</i>and<i>My Family</i>- as well as turns on the silver screen in such films as Mike Leigh's<i>Topsy-Turvy.</i>He has worked with luminaries as diverse as Anthony Perkins, John Malkovich, Michael Gambon and Buster Merryfield. He lives with his actress wife Julia in London.

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