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Jeremy Paxman has launched a savage attack on the French – describing their language as “useless” and saying that all their achievements are “long past”.

The BBC broadcaster instead describes English as “the language of science, technology, travel, entertainment and sport” and the “only language that you must have”.

His words caused shock and anger in France, especially as Paris is currently celebrating the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death in 1616.

“Who does this man Paxman think he is?” said Leo Moreau, a 19-year-old modern languages student in Paris.

“Attacking a language spoken by millions of people all over the world as useless is arrogant and unpleasant.”

Mr Paxman, the former Newsnight presenter who is now the quizmaster on University Challenge, uses a column in the Financial Times to attack the French.

He wrote: “It is time to realise that in many parts of the world, being expected to learn French is positively bad for you.

“If you were to emerge from school unable to add up, you would, rightly, be furious. Yet it is possible to finish schooling all over the world fluent in French but ignorant of the skill absolutely necessary get by in the global economy: English.”

The 65-year-old blames the so-called Francophonie – the French-speaking world – for promoting a “useless language”, saying that great Gallic artists and philosophers such as Cezanne and Descartes are – like Napoleon Bonaparte – dead.

“The problem is that it is all long past and the new world is Anglophone,” said Mr Paxman, even attacking the “French Elvis”, Johnny Hallyday.

“In the centuries-long struggle between English and French there is one victor, and to pretend otherwise is like suggesting that Johnny Hallyday is the future of pop,” says Mr Paxman.

Mr Paxman also mocks the “middle-class English and their forelock-tugging deference to France’s highly subsidised rural living, high-speed trains and ‘marvellous food’.”

The British Embassy in Paris and the British Council are among institutions promoting the “Shakespeare Lives” campaign in France, and it is being widely supported by the French.

“It’s very sad that Mr Paxman should be attacking our French friends while they are celebrating our greatest writer and poet,” said an organiser. “They would never insult us in this manner.”