English footballer to give French primer for World Cup fans
LONDON, May 2 (Reuters)

England defender Graeme Le Saux has been signed up to give soccer fans a much-needed grounding in the French language ahead of this summer's World Cup.

The BBC said the Channel Islander, who speaks fluent French and is regarded as something of an intellectual by his team mates, will front a series of television spots from Saturday. He will be joined by fellow soccer stars Ally McCoist from Rangers, Les Ferdinand from Tottenham Hotspur and Martin Keown from Arsenal, who will be cast in the role of pupils.

Phrases deemed handy for Anglophone fans include "Je suis dégouté" (I'm as sick as a parrot), "L'arbitre a besoin de lunettes" (The ref needs glasses) and "Je peux avoir un demi, s'il vous plaît?" (Could I have a beer please?). Perhaps less likely to be of use for England fans is "On est les meilleurs" (We are the champions).

Fiona Pitcher from BBC Education said: "Our research tells us around two million British football fans want to learn French. Hopefully World Cup French will fire them up, if only to teach them how to insult the ref."