WOULD YOU LIKE to stand next to David Beckham and tell him how much you admire his skills as a footballer? Perhaps you would like to meet Elton John and tell him what you think of his songs. There is a famous French woman who can arrange both these meetings, if you wish. Her name is Marie Tussaud and she is as famous as the celebrities she has gathered in her special residences in Amsterdam, New York, Hong Kong, London and Las Vegas.
Madam Tussaud - her more famous and formal title - is the founder of the world's greatest waxworks show. Every year millions of tourists visit her exhibitions to stand next to life-like effigies of their favourite pop and film stars or have their photo taken with movers and shakers from world history.
'Madame Tussaud's' is unique. Nowhere else will you find Madonna under the same roof as Elvis Presley or Eddie Murphy standing next to Luciano Pavarotti. At Madame Tussaud's, film stars mingle with murderers and sports personalities mix with politicians. They are all there, the famous and the infamous, staring blankly into space with their glassy eyes and their waxy expressions.
Tussaud was born in the French city of Strasbourg in 1761. Her father, a professional soldier, died in battle two months before Marie was born and her mother had to bring up her baby daughter alone.
Little Marie's mother worked as housekeeper for Phillippe Curtius, a doctor whose hobby was making wax figures of famous people. Marie became fascinated with Curtius' skill at making life-like masks and models and, when she was old enough, the talented doctor took her on as his assistant and trainee.
In 1770, Curtius opened a wax museum in Paris and Marie helped him make the figures that went on display. Whilst she was still in her teens, Marie was allowed to make wax masks of King Louis XVI and American statesman Benjamin Franklin. The king was so impressed by her artistic skills that he invited her to move to his court at Versailles to take up the job of art tutor to his young sister.