Game of Thrones: The cult French novel

It's like history - but with the added suspense of not knowing who will win or lose. This element of Martin's work has gained him the admiration of some historians. "Different events - and different periods - elide to consistently potent and surprising effect. In Game of Thrones, episodes from the history of our own world lie in wait for the characters like booby traps," writes Tom Holland, author of Rubicon and Persian Fire, about the series. For others, Game of Thrones has itself been a gateway into historical study. US writer Jamie Adair was inspired to begin the History Behind Game of Thrones blog. "To be honest I only expected to get a couple of blog posts out of it," he says (it's now about 180 pages long). "I didn't think the novels had that many historical parallels besides a few obvious ones with the War of the Roses. "I keep writing the blog because it challenges me to explore new areas of history and look at it in different ways. For example, before the blog, I never would have chosen to read about siege warfare in the ancient world… but I end up seeing different patterns in history as a result." Maurice Druon, who died in 2009, is barely known in the English-speaking world, but he enjoyed a considerable reputation as a man of letters in his home country. During World War Two he served under Charles de Gaulle and penned the patriotic anthem Chant Des Partisans. Later in life, he became head of the Academie Francaise, the august body which decides what is and what isn't allowed in the French language. Druon was staunchly against the creeping Anglicisation of French, although he apparently approved the words "tweed" and "birdie" into French dictionaries. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann) When Druon died in 2009, it was these achievements on which obituarists focused, not his historical saga - which seems to have been as Druon wished. "Les Rois Maudits was written to make money very quickly," says the Independent's French correspondent John Lichfield. "He himself was not very proud of it." Lichfield knew Druon, who he describes as "a sweet, generous, humorous man" who was also an ardent Anglophile. "He was someone who you came across a lot in English receptions at the embassy." Denjean says that Les Rois Maudits passed from cult to mainstream success with a screen adaptation in the early 70s - a sort of French equivalent to I, Claudius. "It was a primetime TV show - these were the days when you had one or two channels and everyone would watch together." Druon was also among the approved list of French novelists approved in the USSR at that time. Later, Vladimir Putin was an admirer of Druon, meeting him several times. Druon's books have waned in popularity even in France in recent years, according to Lichfield. "I wonder how many French Game of Thrones fans have even heard of him," he says. But history may be coming full circle. The Accursed Kings sequence is being reissued in English translation, complete with Martin's introduction. It may be that Druon will find a whole new audience on the recommendation of the writer his books influenced.