Two businessmen from the Caen area, François Mahé and
Alain-Pierre Vautier, have launched France’s first self-service
boatwash in the harbour of Ouistreham. The idea is simple
but no one had thought of it before: a place with a highpressure
hose where you can clean your boat yourself as you
would your car. The wash can take two boats, moored either
side of a floating platform, and you can select the
programme, prewash, wash with desalinated water and 100%
biodegradable soap and rinse with demineralised water. The
wash is totally harmless to the environment and uses much
less water than a classic wash. Other French ports and an
English group which runs marinas are showing interest and
the ‘Washboat’, as it’s called, could well catch on.
The muchacclaimed
‘Mamma Mia!’,
starring Meryl
Streep and Pierce
Brosnan, will make
its French debut.
There will be a
tribute to the career
of Spike Lee
(‘Jungle Fever’,
‘Malcolm X’ and
‘Inside Man’) who
will also show his
new film ‘Miracle at
Santa Anna’. The
actor Ed Harris will
present his new film
‘Appaloosa’. The
other premiers are
‘Max the Menace’ and ‘Dan in real life’, featuring actress
Juliette Binoche who will be at Deauville for the showing
of her first American film, a romantic comedy with actors
Steve Carell, Emily Blunt and Diane West. Another star
French actress Carole Bouquet will preside the jury.
For the full programme of films, who will be there, and
times, contact the Office de Tourisme Deauville, Place de la
Mairie, 14800 Deauville, tel 02 31 14 40 00 or email
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In a little more than 150 years,
Deauville has been transformed from
a vast desert into a multi-million-euro
business attracting tourists, entertainers
and business people from all over the
world throughout the year.
The seed was first sown when the
Duc de Morny in the late 1840s saw
the possibilities of developing the area
into a spa, based on the German Baden
Baden model. This proved so
successful that the La Touques
racecourse was built in 1864,
coinciding with the rail link from
Paris and Deauville which soon
became a popular summer retreat for
the rich and famous.
John Gilmore looks at the sand-to-success story of chic Deauville and its star-studded American film festival
During the 1960s, the up-market seaside resort of
Deauville needed to change its strategy to extend the
season and be more dynamic. The break came when
businessman Michael d’Ornano was elected mayor in 1962.
According to his wife Anne
d’Ornano, herself a former
mayor of Deauville (1977-
2001) and president of the
conseil général of Calvados,
“Deauville was only busy
from July 15 to the end of
August, and shops and some
hotels were closed for the rest
of the year.”
At the same time, Lucien
Barrière replaced his uncle
François André at the head of
the grand hotel and casino
operations. The two men
worked together to develop the
town into a year-round
attraction for business and
tourism. An Olympic swimming pool was built with a
seawater spa centre along the seafront. Meanwhile, the
Claude Lelouch film ‘Un homme et une femme’ was shot in
the area and won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival
in 1966, boosting Deauville’s image at home and abroad.
Stand on the Pont de Tolbiac at
night and look towards the
Left Bank. If you see a lightship
blinking red then green in the
darkness, you’re not dreaming,
you’re looking at the Batofar,
one of only three rescued fire
ships in France. Two are in
museums, this one comes all the
way from Ireland and since it
opened as a clubbing venue in
2006, it has become a Parisian
institution where you can hear
music and listen to DJs you
won’t find anywhere else.
When Charlotte Bryant was sentenced to hang in Exeter in
July 1936 for poisoning her husband, ‘The Daily Sketch’
needed a reporter in a
hurry. They sent
‘Southern Times’
stringer, Barbara
Board, just 20, to the
gates of the prison to
cover the grim event.
Within months, she
was the Sketch Middle
East correspondent,
covering the entangled
situation in the
Palestine Mandate.
She stayed there
until 1946.
The Cité de la Musique, at
the Porte de Pantin
entrance to the Parc de la
Villette, stages its annual
jazz festival this month.
Anne Teresa de Keesmaeker
and Archie Shepp kick off
the two-week long event on
September 2, in the Grande
halle. Some events take place
in the Cité de la Musique
itself, others at a Point
éphémère, the name given to
the 35 bright red girder
follies placed equidistantly
around the park. Yet others
are programmed in the
Trabendo, one of the two
square stone buildings that
served as offices in the old
livestock market days.
On November 4 the American people will choose a
new president. Who would be the next president of the United
States of America - if the world could vote?
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