Novelist Maurice Druon dies aged 90AFP - Maurice Druon, the prominent novelist and member of the French Academy, the pre-eminent body on the French language, died on Tuesday at the age of 90, the academy said. Druon died at his home, the academy's permanent secretary Helene Carrere d'Encausse told AFP, without elaborating. Born in Paris on April 23, 1918 to a Russian father, Druon was a prolific writer who was elected to the French Academy in 1966 at the age of 48.
AFP - Maurice Druon, the prominent novelist and member of the French Academy, the pre-eminent body on the French language, died on Tuesday at the age of 90, the academy said. Druon died at his home, the academy's permanent secretary Helene Carrere d'Encausse told AFP, without elaborating. Born in Paris on April 23, 1918 to a Russian father, Druon was a prolific writer who was elected to the French Academy in 1966 at the age of 48.
The strains of the French Resistance anthem filled the air yesterday as the country paid tribute to its author, Maurice Druon, a Second World War hero, writer and Anglophile who became the defender-in-chief of the French language. Mr Druon, who broadcast to France from wartime London, died on Tuesday just short of his 91st birthday. President Sarkozy, whose colloqial French appalled Mr Druon, paid tribute to him as "a great writer, Resistance fighter, political figure, wordsmith and a great spirit".
The strains of the French Resistance anthem filled the air yesterday as the country paid tribute to its author, Maurice Druon, a Second World War hero, writer and Anglophile who became the defender-in-chief of the French language.
Mr Druon, who broadcast to France from wartime London, died on Tuesday just short of his 91st birthday.
President Sarkozy, whose colloqial French appalled Mr Druon, paid tribute to him as "a great writer, Resistance fighter, political figure, wordsmith and a great spirit".
