THE LATE French president Francois Mitterrand, settling old scores from his grave, scorns his former political rivals in two books published yesterday, defending his controversial war record and stance on German reunification.
Published less than four months after his death from cancer, Memories interrrompues (Interrupted Memoirs) and De l'Allemagne, de Ia France (On Germany on France), mention the contentious subject of Mitterrand's relations with the wartime collaborationist Vichy regime. He says he did not take the oath of loyalty to Marshal Philippe Petain.
Actor Sir Peter Ustinov yesterday viewed for the first time in more than 50 years a wartime recruitment documentary he co-wrote and in which he performed.
The New Lot, a 42 minute film aimed to encourage young men to join the British army, was made in 1943 and directed by Carol Reed. He was recently rediscovered in the vaults of the National Film Archive of India, and the remaining versions given to the Imperial War Museum in London.
Heavyweights led by Bernardo Bertolucci and Robert Altman look likely to dominate this year's Cannes Film Festival, pushing out first time directors such as Al Pacino.
Organisers said yesterday 22 entries will run for the coveted Golden Palm award at the May 9th-20th jamboree on the French Riviera. Famous names competing for the prize, to be awarded by a jury headed by Francis Ford Coppola, include Bertolucci with Stealing Beauty, Altman with Kansas City, and Stephen Frears with his version of Roddy Doyle's novel The Van.
The Princess of Wales's brother, the Earl Spencer has begun putting down roots in South Africa buying a large house in the up market Cape Town suburb of Constantia, an estate agent said yesterday. A local newspaper reported that the earl paid 5 million rand (about £780,000 ) for a property called Terry Stone House in Southern Cross Drive.