EXCLUSIVE - Match of ZE Day: Meet 'France's Gary Lineker', Darren D'Angleterre who arrived in Paris with £400 and is now the most famous (English)man on French TV (… and his wife is a Sixties style queen)

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With his charming accent and cheeky smile an Englishman - almost completely unknown in the UK - has become the face of the European Championships in France.

Dubbed Darren d’Angleterre, the sports journalist has transformed the country’s often bland football analysis into an evening entertainment show that has the host nation giggling on the edge of their seats.

But the 51-year-old self-styled mod has no time for the fans who marred England’s opening match in Marseille and blasted his fellow countrymen for their violent behaviour.

Je suis Anglais: Darren Tulett went to France aged 23 just about able to order a baguette. Now a household name, he is loved for his irreverent TV presenting style and English accent while talking, almost fluent, French

Mr and Mrs Mod: It was his wife Magali Falconetti who made him focus on his future and chose where they would live after she decided to come to France when she fell pregnant with their first child

Darren studied French properly after being dumped by a French girlfriend and not understanding what she was saying. Now he counts David Beckham among the many stars he has interviewed as part of the day job

Go England! After his early French heartbreak, Darren returned to England to make a go of being a journalist but persuaded his boss to let him to go back to Paris to cover the 1998 World Cup - 18 months early

He was broadcasting live while fans fought running battles around the Mediterranean port and hit back against the ‘hooligan fringe’ that is ruining the reputation of England supporters.

‘I was horrified by what I saw in Marseille,’ Darren Tulett, anchor of beINSport’s hit l’Euro Show, told MailOnline.

‘I think 95 per cent of England fans came to France with good intentions. Sadly there a small fringe of people who ruin it for everyone else.

Magali Falconetti, who family is from Corsica but live in Paris, met Darren through friends long before he was famous

‘I was live on air from Marseille and there had been running battles in the streets and there was the violence in the stadium, a lot of that caused by some Russians.

‘Being the English guy on [French] TV – perhaps the only British guy on TV – I took it very personally. I don’t understand them.’

Darren Tullet could safely walk the streets of Britain without being approached. But across the Channel he is possibly France’s most favourite Englishman following a glittering TV career that has made him a household name across the country.

Bursting on to the French TV screens over a decade ago, his popularity made him an unofficial ambassador for all things British in Paris. 

He is a regular at the British Embassy summer garden party and pop-group Madness turned to him to promote their latest album in France.

‘I am known as Darren d’Angleterre by some people but it is play on words with the Queen of England – la reine d’Angleterre and I am “Da’rren d’Angleterre”.

‘I will always support England in a match against France. In fact my friends always call me up to talk about it.

‘England could meet France in the quarter final [of the Euros]. That will be very interesting.’

But the presenter’s rise can best be described as fortunate.

‘I just winged it,’ he laughed as he described how he talked his way into his first job in Paris almost 30 years ago.

‘That’s the story of my life.’ 

The name is Tulett, Darren Tulett: Hamming it up in Monaco is part of a very glamorous life and a regular on the party circuit

Sixties chick: 'Mrs Tulett' strikes a pose... She was key in getting Darren to sort out his life after she asked him 'Are you worth hanging around for?' 

Mods, cooking, family: The Tulett family enjoys a meal in their sixties style kitchen and stick to his English roots with tea, eggs and bacon for breakfast while his daughters adore Marmite

It's a hard life: Darren dons black tie for another party - this time the GQ France awards. Darren initially styled himself on the Beatles to make him stand out from the crowd and it worked

Behind thick-rimmed ‘young Michael Caine’ glasses and bespoke suits stands a determined chancer who has talked his way into a top job in French TV with little more than his razor-sharp wit and dogged determination.

Sitting at a terrace restaurant opposite his TV studio office in Paris the acclaimed presenter revealed how he had arrived in capital aged 23 with just £400 in his pocket and basic French but determined to have a laugh.

‘I thought if I go back to England after a couple of months at least I could say that I had spent the summer having a laugh in Paris,’ he regaled.

‘I don’t remember it but apparently I had promised my friend Nick I would go with him to Paris during an end of university piss-up.

‘When I got here I could order a baguette in French and that was about it.

‘I was turned down for a job at McDonalds because I could not speak the language – even though I had experience - which I thought was a bit rich. How well do you need to speak French to flip burgers?’

But as has been the story of his life – good fortune shined down on Darren Tulett and within a couple of weeks he had a steady job teaching English.

The heart-break of being dumped by a French girlfriend – and not understanding what she was telling him – drove him to study the language in which he is now fluent, almost.

However the occasional lapse in tense, verb conjugation or grammar is overlooked by his legion of fans that simply can’t get enough of this one-man display of Cool Britannia. Others, including Darren, have compared his look to Austin Powers.

‘I get away with a lot because I’m English,’ he explained in between sips of chilled rose wine and mouthfuls of chicken salad.

‘My French is pretty good nowadays but I can’t hide my accent. In fact it has become a bit of an asset. I’m the English guy.’

He added: ‘The French take their sport very seriously. They have never managed to mix things up a bit and laugh at sports people – not just at them but with them.’

Following Nick to Paris he slept on floors and partied ‘almost every night’, before meeting his then-girlfriend now wife Magali through friends, who asked what he wanted to do with his life.

‘She effectively asked me if I was worth hanging around for,’ he said.

‘She asked me “what is your dream”.’

‘I had always dreamed of being a journalist.’

Returning to Brighton he got his first break writing about sport for US news agency Bloomberg that had recently opened a bureau in London.

Sports mad, he was in his element.

Go England: Darren has been so successful because of his witty presenting style: 'The French take their sport very seriously. They have never managed to mix things up a bit and laugh at sports people'

Margali the style icon - the perfect foil to her TV presenting husband who followed her to France when she fell pregnant and did not want to give birth in an English hospital

All the people: Darren rubs shoulders with Damon Albarn but it wasn't always this way - he arrived in Paris with £400 and no clue of what he wanted to do with his life

Darren's big break came while working for Bloomberg in Paris when France won the World Cup in 1998: 'It was a very proud moment for me when my [story] appeared in the New York Times'

But his now-wife’s pregnancy and her lack of faith in London hospitals lead Darren to demand a secondment to Bloomberg’s Paris office.

‘Bloomberg were great but Magali did not want to have the baby in England,’ he explained. ‘So I went to see the top man and explained that the 1998 world cup was only around the corner, well 18-months away, and could I go to work in the office in Paris.

‘To my surprise and gratitude he said “go and pack your bags son”.’

An amusing character among sports press pack in Paris Darren became increasingly liked as his French improved.

He was at the stadium in Paris when France won the world cup in 1998, filing news agency copy around the globe.

‘It was a very proud moment for me when my [story] appeared in the New York Times,’ he beamed.

And then came Darren’s big break, with the fledgling cable TV network Canal Plus, on the pan-Europe football analysis show l’Equipe du Dimanche, the Sunday team.

He explained: ‘A friend who works in radio put my name forward and they called me up. I thought they were joking at first. I knew it was important how I looked so I dressed up like the Beatles.

‘There was a guy talking about Italian football, another talking about Spanish football, and I was doing the Premier League.’

It wasn't long before Darren was promoted and given his own slot.

‘Before long I had my own show. I told the boss that because no one in France can pronounce ‘the’ we should call it ‘Match Of Ze Day’.

Horrified: Darren was broadcasting live when violence involving some English fans broke out on the streets of Marseille

Riots: Some English fans became caught up in street violence in Marseille after locals thugs attacked supporters 

Shameful: Darren slammed football fans who took to the streets in Marseille to cause mayhem

The English Premier League highlights show was an instant hit and propelled Darren to become a household name.

As we talk an old lady interrupts and asks politely if she can take his picture for her grandson. Darren obliges charmingly.

Happily settled in Paris with his wife and two daughters Darren remains proudly British.

‘It’s tea in the morning and eggs and bacon,’ he explains. ‘And my daughters love marmite. We have the black jars with the yellow labels.’