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American author John Steinbeck lived here for five months in 1954 and described Parisians as “the luckiest people in the world”.

Here, in September 2001, the legendary Belgian mobster François Vanverbergh – godfather of the French Connection gang – fell victim to a drive-by assassin as he took his afternoon mineral water.

Having wowed Paris with her comeback performances, iconic German actress and singer Marlene Dietrich spent her reclusive final years in a luxury apartment here.

Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a tragic accident in the underpass here in 1997. Her unofficial monument nearby attracts thousands of visitors each year (see Liberty Flame).

A roll-call of rockers – from the Rolling Stones and Jim Morrison to J-Lo and Ricky Martin – have made this their regular Paris home-from-home.

Mata Hari, the Dutch spy and exotic dancer, set up her lair in Room 113 before finally being arrested outside 25 Avenue Montaigne.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and his new bride visited his aunt’s apartment here in 1905. He was later commemorated in the name of a nearby avenue.

Author Charles Dickens may well have had “the best of times and the worst of times” when he resided here from 1855–6. Ten years earlier he had also lived at 38 Rue de Courcelles.

Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont planned many of his amazing aeronautical feats – notably that of circling the Eiffel Tower in an airship in 1901 – from this address.

Hypochondriac author Marcel Proust lived in a soundproofed room here, turning memories into a masterwork.