Can I have 2 iTunes accounts - 1 in France and 1 in UK. Currently I live in France but have (and want to keep) a UK account but I need a French account to download French apps that are not available in the UK store

You can, but you can only use the France account whilst in France (and similarly the UK account only when in the UK). Anything that you download on an account is permanently tied to that account, so only that account can download updates to its app, do in-app purchases in them, potentially redownload them, and authorise them on a new computer's iTunes

You can create a new account via http://appleid.apple.com

Or Accounts > Sign In menu option on a computer's iTunes (if currently signed into an account log out via Account > Sign Out to then get the Sign In option) - you will then get a popup with a 'create new apple id' option on it

Or Settings > iTunes & App Store on an iOS device (if currently logged into an account tap on it to log out of it first)

Or to create an account without giving payment details follow these instructions : Create or use your Apple ID without a payment method - Apple Support