France, March 3 -- Khomeini, the original spiritual guide of Iran's modern theocracy, spent barely 120 days ensconced in a villa in the village 40 kilometres west of the French capital, before returning in a blaze of publicity to complete the ousting of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in the Iranian Revolution in early 1979.

Andre, an 86-year-old neighbour of the house that was briefly Khomeini's headquarters, recalled the sudden storm that hit sleepy Neauphle-le-Chateau in the Yvelines department.

"One evening on the television, they announced that an ayatollah had set up home in a comfortable district in the Yvelines," said the retired engineer, who declined to give his family name but has lived in the village since 1974.

"From the ...