Not as clever answer as Gaz, but I do all my foreign characters using microsoft word by inserting symbol and then cutting and pasting. Not elegant but it works.
Tell you what... If you're using Windows, go to search (or find or whatever), and look for Charmap.exe Select the font you're using and it'll display all the characters available. If there's a short cut, it'll display as 'Keystroke Alt+ [INSERT NUMBER}' at bottom right hand corner. If there isn't one, simply copy and paste it. Makes sure the font displayed in Charmap is the one you're using in the document though.
kind of... if you go into the control panel settings, somewhere in there there's an option to change your keyboard language, changes some of the keys so that when you hit them, it gives you a 'foreign' character... I used to use it when I wanted some Norwegian letters..</p> it's a bit of a game of hide and seek though 'cos the keyboard obviously doesn't change to reflect the change of characters! it can be done though, just takes a few seconds of searching... </p>