英伦广角 Issue 115 安吉丽娜·朱莉喜得龙凤胎（在线收听）

It had to be the birth of the year, paparazzi photographers were at the ready in Nice in the south of France as news spread that Angelina Jolie had given birth to twins, one girl, one boy. Newspapers wasted no time announcing the happy news as their staff pitched outside the Lenval hospital building, scanning for any sight of happy father Brad Pitt or just about anyone else connected to the event.

Jolie aged 33 picked a hospital near the glamorous Promenade des Anglais for the birth. Pitt and Jolie, seen here during their recent visit to the Cannes film festival, named the twins Vivienne Marcheline, and Knox Leon. Marcheline was the name of Angelina’s actress mother who died of cancer last year. The paparazzi were finally rewarded when Jolie's doctor Michel Sussmann along with the mayor of Nice made an appearance on the hospital steps. Sussmann told Reuters both parents and babies were in "excellent health". He said the caesarean section birth had been brought forward for medical reasons.

The birth drew a mixed reaction in Nice. Some were caught up in the mood of the moment. “I'm happy for them. It must have been a wonderful occasion. It always is when you have a baby, isn't it?” Others kept a firm sense of proportion. “It's ridiculous. (It's ridiculous, right?) Yeah, absolutely, it’s just two people that had kids and that, just they make far too much out of it.” “Please take care of them, because, with so many children I don't know if you can do that.”

The twins bring the Pitt-Jolie brood to six. Local newspaper Nice-Matin reported that the couple had sold exclusive rights to the first photographs of the babies to an unnamed US magazine for $11 million and would give the money to charity. The celebrity couple, known in the media as "Brangelina", moved into a 17th century villa in Provence, France, earlier this year.

Penny Tweedie, Reuters