The British experience of the Mediterranean, 1976

‘To wake each morning to the scent of mimosa, to breakfast outdoors…’ Robert Morley in the Med. Photograph: Peter Williams

‘When we set up the Common Market what was in the back of most of our minds was the Côte d’Azur,’ declared the actor Robert Morley, introducing the Observer’s exploration of Britons and the Med in 1976. His Riviera trips involved a regular ‘ritual potter’ around estate agents chasing a familiar Med fantasy: ‘To wake each morning to the scent of mimosa, to breakfast outdoors… A long swim, a short drink, luncheon under the tree, a slumber in the hammock.’

You have to get used to the French and, more important, they have to get used to you

Robert Morley