Now lets not anoy the frogs !

Let us rename Waterloo after a recent French Battle, personally I would favour thier magnificent victory in Vientnam - Dien Bien Pho (SP?), or possibly Sedan, or Oran.

But then Flanders and Swan sang about it rather well -

"Vive de Gaulle!

This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack at Verdun.
Cognac, Armagnac, Burgundy and Beaune,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, World War Two,
He told Churchill what to do,
Free French general, crosses of Lorraine,
He came rolling home again.

This old man, he played trois,
Vive la France, la France c'est moi!
Gimcrack governments, call me if you please:
Colombey les deux Eglises.

This old man, he played four,
Choose de Gaulle or civil war!
Come back president, govern by decree,
Referendum, oui, oui, oui!

This old man, he played five,
France is safe: I'm still alive.
Plastique, Pompidou, sing the Marseillaise,
Algerie, n'est pas francaise!

This old man, he played six,
France and England, they don't mix.
Eytie, Benelux, Germany, and Me:
that's my market recipe.

This old man, sept et huit,
NATO give me back my fleet!
--- --- Adenauer ratified in Bonn.
One old man goes on and on.

[the --- --- is an unrenderable
"tsk" sort of sound; in context
it is evidently a substitute for
"get stuffed!"]

This old man, nine and ten,
He'll play knick till God knows when,
Cognac, Armagnac, Burgundy and Beaune,
This old man thinks he's Saint Joan.


Thank god for the Welsh Lomgbow.

Gareth