Paris - the Spring of 1968 May 68: A student hurls a cobblestone at a phalanx of blackhelmeted police. Tear gas eddies round the Quartier Latin. Slogans sprout: ' Power is on the streets ', ' Imagination has taken power'. Ten million on strike. De Gaulle's mighty monolith of power shudders. The General disappears. Everything seemed possible.
May 78: France has enjoyed a decade of stability and prosperity, and in March voted herself five more years of the status quo. To the students of today, 68 is folklore, ancient history. The institutions of De Gaulle's Fifth Republic remain serene, unchallenged.
So what did happen in 68? And what has happened to the men and women of that unforgettable spring? ' They are older, richer, fatter - and their children don't throw stones at the policemen any more,' says one of the old soldiers of the Paris barricades. David Jessel listens to the echoes, investigates the ghosts of the movement which, for a few heady weeks ten years ago, set the streets, the country, and the 60s on fire.
Produced by PETER CERESOLE
Executive producer FRANK SMITH