‘It will be 80 years since the good guys clambered ashore to tackle tyranny’

Normandy, France

The Olympic Games in Paris (see p2) will steal the show in France next year, but there are plenty of big anniversaries too. Celebrations are in order for 150 years of Impressionism, and it is 70 years since the death of Matisse. Then there are the festivals saluting Chopin (Paris, June), wine (Bordeaux, end of June) and more.

But the most vital commemorations will mark events without which none of the above would be happening. On June 6, it will be 80 years since the good guys – 156,000 of them – clambered ashore to tackle tyranny. Such is the importance of the Normandy landings that D-Day is celebrated every year, but the 80th anniversary will make a much greater splash throughout June. Look out for parades of tanks and armoured cars, military reconstructions, giant picnics, fly-pasts, parachute drops: all the fun of the 1940s without anyone getting blown up. Not least there will be a firework display simultaneously on all five landing beaches on June 1.

If you have time for only one museum, head for the Mémorial de

Caen, the best Second World War historical centre anywhere. Otherwise, the Musée du Débarquement at Arromanches has recently been rebuilt and reopened. Almost as new is the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer – which, from next spring, will be distinguished by 1,475 art installation silhouettes – symbolising the fatalities under British command on June 6 1944.

Nearby, the Ranville Commonwealth war cemetery hosts the grave of 19-yearold paratrooper Emile Corteil from Watford. He was buried with his patrol dog, Glen. The inscription on his gravestone reads: “Had you known our boy, you would have loved him too.”

How to do it

Leger Holidays (01709 787 463; leger. co.uk;) offers a five-day coach trip for the 80th anniversary for £899pp. A four-day D-Day trip at other times during the year costs from £439pp.

Anthony Peregrine moved from Lancashire to Languedoc in southern France to get out of the rain. Many years later, he is still there.