France

France (officially the French Republic (French: République française), is a sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. France spans 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and has a total population of 66.7 million. It is a unitary semi-presidential republic with the capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. The name "France" comes from the Latin Francia, or "country of the Franks". Modern France is still named today Francia in Italian and Spanish, Frankreich in German and Frankrijk in Dutch, all of which have the same historical meaning.

Links To Peel
Peel has travelled many times to France, including going on a road trip through France with his brother Alan and Sheila in 1969, watching Liverpool beat Real Madrid in the 1981 European Cup Final in Paris, travelling through France to Belgium by car to the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest and spending his family holidays in southern France through various years.

In 1983, Peel hosted the European chart on Top Of The Pops from Boulogne on 28 April 1983 (TOTP) and commentated many times on his radio shows how the French had excellent customer service compared to the British, who did not feel you were welcomed. Peel mentioned in an interview with Michael Kerr of the Daily Telegraph in May 2004 that one of his favourite travel destinations was his family holiday in a chateau in Dordogne in southern France.