ANATOLE FRANCE AT EIGHTY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19204, 21 June 1924, Page 19

ANATOLE FRANCE AT EIGHTY.

Anatolo France celebrated the eightieth anniversary of his birthday on April 1(5, and his letter-bag was crammed witli greetings from admirers in all parts of the world. The venerable author (the Morning Post states') spends several months each year at La Bechcllene, near Tours, where ho leads the life of the well-to-do bourgeois whom he professes to despise, and he spends much of His leisure in motoring about the surrounding country. An interesting member of his family is a youth in knickerbockers who is grandson of both Ernest Renan and Anatole France. The veteran man of letters lias protectors against the curious, who are constantly seeking to intrude on his privacy. These arc Madame France, whom he married a few years ago, and a redoubtable looking watchdog, who bares his teeth at every stranger. Tourists, in particular, are the master's bane. Recent visitors included three young Russian admirers, on the occasion of whose call ho was diplomatically absent. They were loft alone for a moment in the vestibule, and after they had gone it was found ihat every button from his overcoat, as well as a large sample of the cloth, was missinef.