London, Feb 6 (IANS) Veteran actress Dame Helen Mirren says that as a girl she learnt French language to woo French boys.
The 65-year-old grew up in Southend-on-Sea, England, a seaside town where there was a regular influx of French students who travelled to Britain for study.
She says she used to spend hours brushing up on her language so she could charm one of them, reports contactmusic.com
‘There was always this coterie of French students who’d come to learn English and I was a complete Francofile. I thought everything French was so cool and smart and elegant. I was desperate to get a French boyfriend and I did – Jean-Louis,’ she said.
Mirren is still in contact with her teenage boyfriend.
‘Thanks to the the internet, brilliantly, the brilliant, wonderful internet, very recently, I thought, ‘I wonder where Jean-Louis is. I’ll never find him.
‘I googled him, bang! He came up immediately. I sent him an e-mail and within 24 hours, I was back in touch with him. It was amazing! This was like 40 years later.
‘(Jean-Louis) wasn’t saucy, he was very, very well-behaved and Catholic,’ she said.
