Mr de Villepin knows well from his study of French history that forelock-tuggers can quickly turn nasty in a crowd.

BBC: Profile: Dominique de Villepin

Mr Bodson made it crystal-clear that he wanted to run it as an autonomous Belgian corporation, not as a forelock-tugging subsidiary of a French conglomerate.

ECONOMIST: Tractebel the intractable

Poliosis is the white forelock.

NEWYORKER: Brother on Sunday