Sarkozy in London marking de Gaulle anniversary

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in London marking for the first time the 70th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle's appeal to his countrymen to resist the Nazi occupation of France.

General de Gaulle's broadcast from a BBC studio on June 18 1940 - the day after Marshal Philippe Petain's government announced its surrender to the Germans - is widely seen as the founding act of the Second World War French resistance.

Few Frenchmen actually heard Gen de Gaulle declare over the airwaves that "the flame of French resistance must not and will not be extinguished".

But further broadcasts in the following days led to him becoming so well-known that he was subsequently court martialled in his absence and sentenced to death for treason.

The British Government had originally not wanted to allow him to issue his rallying cry, but the Cabinet was persuaded by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to let him go ahead.

Sarkozy will today take in the B2 studio in Broadcasting House, from where Gen de Gaulle made the broadcast, as well as his wartime headquarters in Carlton Gardens. He will then lay a wreath at the general's statue outside.

The French President, who is travelling with his wife Carla Bruni, will also meet the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister David Cameron.