Loir-et-Cher (French pronunciation: [lwa.ʁ‿e.ʃɛʁ]) is a département in north-central France named after the rivers Loir and Cher.

Loir-et-Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and Touraine.

Loir-et-Cher is part of the modern region of Centre. Adjacent departments are Eure-et-Loir to the north, Loiret to the north-east, Cher to the south-east, Indre to the south, Indre-et-Loire to the south-west, and Sarthe to the west.

The department comprises 6,314 km², which makes it the 31st largest of the French departments in terms of area. The line of the river Loire traverses the land, ensuring easy communication between its own capital, Blois, and the vibrant cultural and commercial centres of Tours to the west and the fringes of the Seine-Paris basin at Orléans to the east.

Its main rivers are the Loire, on which its prefecture (capital) Blois is situated, the Loir and the Cher.

Jean-Michel Delpech, known as Michel Delpech, (born in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine, France) on 26 January 1946) is a French singer-songwriter.

In 1963, he had his debut release hit "Anatole" on Disques Vogue. In 1964, Michel Delpech met Roland Vincent, and a long singing songwriting partnership ensued with Delpech being signed to Festival French record label.

In 1965, he took part in music comedy Copains Clopant that had a 6-month run and made him very popular, particularly through his interpretation "Chez Laurette". He was the opening acts for Jacques Brel's goodbye concert at the Paris Olympia. In 1967, he collaborated with Johnny Stark. In 1968, he won "Grand Prix du Disque award for "Il y a des jours où on ferait mieux de rester au lit".

Then he left Vogue to sign with Barclay Records. At the peak of his success, he recorded Wight Is Wight in tribute of Isle of Wight Festival, a famous rock festival on the Isle of Wight that became his best known song.

The early 1970s brought separations from Johnny Stark and two years, and stopping of long collaboration with Roland Vincent, his first-ever writer. He had some new releases but with limited success. In the 1980s, he enjoyed a comeback and released the album Loin d'ici. A compilation album followed in 1989. He continued releasing albums and making concerts. In December 2006, he released an album of duets Michel Delpech & that topped the French Albums Chart for 1 week (week of 21–27 January 2007). He also engaged on a French tour.

Joël de Rosnay (born 1937), Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a Mauritian-born French futurist, science writer, and molecular biologist.

Former research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the field of biology and computer graphics, he was successively science attaché to the French Embassy in the United States, and Scientific Director of European Enterprises Development Company (a venture capital group) from 1971 to 1975. From 1975 to 1985 he was Director of Research Applications at l'Institut Pasteur (the Pasteur Institute in Paris). Until 2002, he was Director of Forecasting and Assessment at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris, where he remains a special adviser. He is presently President of Biotics International, a consulting company specialized in the impact of new technologies on industries.

De Rosnay has written many popular books and essays on molecular biology, the sciences of complexity, emerging information technology, and their implications for the future evolution of humanity. Most of these are listed on his webpage, "Crossroads to the future". He was one of the first to understand the role of the Internet in promoting the emergence of a global brain. Some of his books, such as The Macroscope and The Symbiotic Man (1995) (ISBN 0071357440), have been translated into English. He regularly appears on French TV and is interviewed by the media as a specialist in explaining complex new scientific developments to a lay audience.