We open on a scene of a small, cute, quiet, French country village. An open-top e-type (UK reg) pulls up and a good-looking, impeccably-dressed and clearly wealthy couple steps out. They enter a bar, say "bonjour" with a thick English accent, and walk around, observing the local paysans. The camera view allows us to understand that the man is surreptitiously taking photos of the natives. Having walked around getting their pictures, they say their goodbyes, and leave without buying anything.
After they have gone, the moustachioed local reading the paper is revealed to have a philosophy book hidden in it, the lady behind the bar turns the mundane photo on the wall over to reveal a copy of a work of a Grand Master painter, the musac switches back to classical.
The punch line was "big supermarket chain: supporting French culture since a long time ago". It took a few seconds for it to sink in, but I howled with laughter when I got the joke. It was probably the funniest thing I have seen on French TV.
Last week it was the Brits bringing the culture to the little village of St Martin le Redon (Pop. 196 depending on who's on holiday). The local church hosted a free flute concert by Philippa Davies and her husband Jan Willem Nelleke. Of a standard for which you would expect to pay a small fortune in the most prestigious concert halls around the planet, the concert was one of those gems that you can stumble upon in the remotest parts of France, if you know where to look.
And it completely changed my opinion of the Reinecke "Undine" flute sonata, that I had previously held to be somewhat anaemic.
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