Sarkozy drops karaoke to spend time on his stamps

NICOLAS SARKOZY has become an obsessive stamp collector - and has his own stamp society in his palace, it emerged today.

Mr Sarkozy, 54, sponsors the Elysée Philatelist Club, named after the Paris palace where he lives with wife Carla Bruni - who says she is delighted he has given up "less appropriate" pastimes, including karaoke singing.

Pride of place in his stamp collection is a set issued by the Post Office in 2004 to celebrate the Entente Cordiale, a gift from the Queen when the Sarkozys stayed at Windsor Castle last year.

"Being French president is a perfect job for a keen philatelist," said an Elysée Philatelist Club source.