Another interesting thing is that Angoulême and the Charente region has a long affiliation with England, and there is apparently a town consisting entirely of resident English-speakers somewhere nearby.

This, I’m told, is due to some link between Richard Coeur-de-Lion, the county of Angoulême, the fourteenth century Treaty of Brétigny… and not just cheap airlines Easyjet and Ryanair bringing a transient population from London, East Midlands and Liverpool in their droves, as I had first assumed.

So it came as no surprise that the hot gossip last summer was that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were in the Charente not to buy babies,* but a castle. Well… it came as a surprise to my French companions, and the gossip picked up in both intensity and implausibility as the hours passed.

“Buying a castle in the Charente…

…just outside of Angoulême…

…in La Couronne.”

It came as no surprise to me, as Angoulême is reported to have the highest square-footage of supermarket coverage for population density in all of France, and the location of the alleged “castle”, La Couronne, is particularly “blessed” with an abundance of hamburger restaurants and colossal chain outlets.

I just thought they wanted a little bit of the United States just next to their castle – although I have no idea where they would find a castle around there!

It turned out to be all hyped-up fallacy. Yes, they were in France, quite possibly even ten-pin bowling in Angoulême at some stage, but no, their castle isn’t between the Carrefour, McDonalds and Decathlon in La Couronne. I can’t remember where they were, but honestly, don’t really care.

…

*Ironically, La Couronne would also have been an ideal place for this. Recently, some Romanian gang members were caught trying to sell a two-month-old girl from a car boot in a hypermarket car park near Angoulême. Guillaume and I are not sure exactly where this was… but we have our suspicions that it just might have been La Couronne!