For the first time since it was built in the early 1500s, the Tour Saint Jacques is opening to the public this summer

Gothic edifice that has inspired writers and scientists alike has just undergone a restoration

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Postcard from... Paris

Bell in 2004: his playing echoed Jelly Roll Morton

Henri Alleg: Journalist who fought for Algerian independence

Although forever identified with Algeria and its former colonial ruler France, Henri Alleg was originally a Londoner, his Russian Jewish grandparents having fled the poverty and pogroms of the 19th century to install themselves in the East End.

As many as 1.2 million people in the UK over 55 are gay

The only gay (retirement home) in the village

At the Rainbow retirement village in France, residents will enjoy something perhaps for the first time: majority status. The development near Montpellier will be the country’s first such home for the lesbian, gay and transgender community.

Sibylle, biotechnology engineering student, collects Orgeval yellow courgettes from the rooftop kitchen garden

Do food the French way - grow it on your roof!

In recent years people have become more aware of exactly what is in their food, but patrons of one restaurant in Paris need not worry, as they have a unique way of assuring that their food is ethically-sourced - by growing it on the roof.

Sir Dave Brailsford speaks with the winner of the 2013 Tour de France, Chris Froome, during the final stage

Tour de France 2013: Sir Dave Brailsford hails Team Sky effort that propelled Chris Froome to glory

Froome became the second winner from Team Sky in as many years

Chris Froome wins historic 100th Tour de France

Va va Froome: Chris Froome wins Tour de France and England’s Ashes cricketers bask in success, but Lee Westwood washes out

Two out of three ain’t bad – a tour de force for British sport

The yellow jersey of Chris Froome heads the peloton in the Alpine rain

Tour de France 2013: Focused Chris Froome rides out Alpine thunderstorm

Leader battles against complacency with Paris in sight as Quintana closes on podium finish

Bacary Sagna

Transfer news: Bacary Sagna vows he will remain at Arsenal despite speculation over move away

The right-back is entering the final year of his contract

Tourists around the Eiffel Tower

Rude? Here’s what Parisians really think about tourists

What do the French really think about the rest of the world? A new guide for their capital’s hoteliers reveals all

Tour de France: Leader takes it easy before climb up Bald Mountain

Sky's Chris Froome had his first truly straightforward day as race leader yesterday as a break of 18, including Britain's David Millar, fought it out for the stage win – taken by Italy's Matteo Trentin – while the overall contenders eased back.

Dozens of passengers trapped, electrocuted or crushed after express train partially derailed at high speed

Paris train derailment that killed six and injured dozens
'caused by track fault' not human error

Dozens of passengers trapped, electrocuted or crushed after express train partially derailed at high speed

Crash course: France's Bastille Day

Raise the Tricolore for France's most important public holiday - 'La Fête Nationale' - when all things Gallic are celebrated with a day off work. Quel dommage that it falls on a Sunday...

Firemen struggle to contain the blaze at the Paris mansion

Historic Parisian mansion linked to Voltaire and Chopin ravaged by fire

The 17th-century Hôtel Lambert burns just as renovations finish for billionaire Qatari owner

Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian sporting director Leonardo speaks to the press after a hearing at the disciplinary commission of the French Football League

PSG announce Leonardo is to step down as sporting director

The Brazilian had been banned for the forthcoming season

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Special report: How my father's face turned up in Robert Capa's lost suitcase

Special report: How my father's face turned up in Robert Capa's lost suitcase

The great war photographer was not one person but two. Their pictures of Spain's civil war, lost for decades, tell a heroic tale
The unmade speech: An alternative draft of history

The unmade speech: An alternative draft of history

Someone, somewhere has to write speeches for world leaders to deliver in the event of disaster. They offer a chilling hint at what could have been
Funny business: Meet the women running comedy

Funny business: Meet the women running comedy

Think comedy’s a man's world? You must be stuck in the 1980s, says Holly Williams
Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

The Dr Feelgood guitarist talks frankly about his terminal illness
Lure of the jingle: Entrepreneurs are giving vintage ice-cream vans a new lease of life

Lure of the jingle

Entrepreneurs are giving vintage ice-cream vans a new lease of life
Who stole the people's own culture?

DJ Taylor: Who stole the people's own culture?

True popular art drives up from the streets, but the commercial world wastes no time in cashing in
Guest List: The IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Guest List: IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Before you stuff your luggage with this year's Man Booker longlist titles, the case for some varied poolside reading alternatives
What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner?

Rupert Cornwell: What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner?

The CIA whistleblower struck a blow for us all, but his 1970s predecessor showed how to win
'A man walks into a bar': Comedian Seann Walsh on the dangers of mixing alcohol and stand-up

Comedian Seann Walsh on alcohol and stand-up

Comedy and booze go together, says Walsh. The trouble is stopping at just the one. So when do the hangovers stop being funny?
From Edinburgh to Hollywood (via the Home Counties): 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Edinburgh to Hollywood: 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Hugh Montgomery profiles the faces to watch, from the sitcom star to the surrealist
'Hello. I have cancer': When comedian Tig Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on

Comedian Tig Notaro: 'Hello. I have cancer'

When Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on
They think it's all ova: Bill Granger's Asia-influenced egg recipes

Bill Granger's Asia-influenced egg recipes

Our chef made his name cooking eggs, but he’s never stopped looking for new ways to serve them
The world wakes up to golf's female big hitters

The world wakes up to golf's female big hitters

With its own Tiger Woods - South Korea's Inbee Park - the women's game has a growing audience
10 athletes ready to take the world by storm in Moscow next week

10 athletes ready to take the world by storm in Moscow next week

Here are the potential stars of the World Championships which begin on Saturday
The Last Word: Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale's art of manipulation

The Last Word: Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale's art of manipulation

Briefings are off the record leading to transfer speculation which is merely a means to an end