OOOH la la.

It was revealed yesterday that l'entente cordiale was far more cordiale than once thought - 50 years ago France actually proposed forming a union with Great Britain.

Papers from the National Archives show that in 1956 French Prime Minister Guy Mollet visited London and proposed to Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden that the two countries merge.

At the time, France was in economic disarray and facing the Suez Crisis.

The offer was rejected, but the French PM came back with another plan - that France join the Commonwealth and take the Queen as its head of state. This was at first greeted with enthusiasm by the British, but eventually rejected.

If not, the course of British and French culture could have been so different.

L'escargot with mushy peas could have been on the menu for we Brits while the French would undoubtedly have preferred potted meat to pt.

Ultimately, the marriage was not to be, but what do French people living in York think of the proposal? Would they have been happy to have been effectively ruled by their oldest rival?

Eglantine Ravaglia, 23, from Marseille, has been in York for only two weeks. Having finished her degree she decided to come to Britain to improve her English and is currently working as a waitress at French restaurant, Rustique, in Castlegate.

Perhaps, surprisingly, the thought of a union between Britain and France did not shock her.

She said: "I think it would be good, it would be a mixture of cultures. It would be enriching."

Tactfully, she said she had no opinion on France joining the Commonwealth and having the Queen as the head of state, although the look on her face said otherwise.

But, so far, her experiences of England have been good, although the reputation of British food preceded it.

"It's not so good," she said.

"We always talk about the multi-coloured jelly and boiled meat."

British cheese also came in for some stick.

"It's just one sort. It all looks the same and it hasn't really got a taste."

But crumpets are a revelation to her and York and the British way of life gets the thumbs-up.

"This is a pretty city, she said, "it's very nice.

"I think the cities in England are very clean and when I walk in the streets it feels like I am in the past, I feel more calm and tranquil. You don't feel so stressed because of the architecture. Another good thing is that the shops are open on Sundays so you can shop everyday of the week."

With Eglantine's thoughts on British cuisine it is perhaps not surprising that the two insults the French and English reserve for each other are food-related.

We are Les Ros Bifs (literally the roast beef) and they are the The Frogs.

While we may once have shuddered at the thought of frogs' legs, snails and garlic, our Gallic neighbours have despaired at the stodgy, tasteless food they associate with the UK.

But French food markets are now a common sight in York and across the country as people embrace continental flavours.

The stereotypical images do not deter holidaymakers from either country.

A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents said that, after Spain, France is the most popular destination for the great British holidaymaker with 7.3 million visits in 2005. The traffic is not all one way with 3.3 million French visitors coming to the UK in the same year.

The love affair between both countries, while perhaps not admitted to, undoubtedly exists and is set to continue.

Friends & enemies

YES Minister's Sir Humphrey Appleby once told Jim Hacker that Britain's nuclear deterrent was to deter the French rather than the Russians - his explanation being we have been fighting the French for the last 1,000 years.

But the fact remains our nearest neighbours on the Continent have been our allies for nearly 100 years.

The Normans may have invaded in 1066, but just a few decades later Christians from both countries fought on the same side during the Crusades.

Over the following centuries the two nations fought against each other and with each other on numerous occasions - the last battles as enemies during the Napoleonic wars which ended in 1815.

Since then the two countries have fought on the same side in the Crimean War, the Boxer Rebellion, both World Wars, the Korean War, the Suez Crisis and most recently in the First Gulf War.