The presenter and writer Bernard Pivot, who got millions of French people reading thanks to his show “Apostrophes”, died Monday in Neuilly-sur-Seine at the age of 89, his daughter Cécile Pivot announced to AFP .
A book in one hand, his pair of glasses in the other, Bernard Pivot also presented the program “Bouillon de culture” and organized from 1985 the Dicos d’or, a spelling championship which quickly became international.
The man who made the French read ended up being better known to the general public than many of the writers he interviewed or won awards with the Goncourt. “Apostrophes” lasted fifteen years, from 1975 to 1990, followed by millions of viewers. And certain extracts still have great success on the internet.
Born in Lyon on May 5, 1935, into a family of small traders, he spent his childhood in Beaujolais and was known to be an enlightened lover of the wines of this region. We owe him a “Wine Lovers’ Dictionary” (Plon, 2006). In football, he was a loyal fan of AS Saint-Etienne and the French team.
He defined himself above all as a journalist, a profession of which he experienced all facets. After starting out as an intern at Progrès de Lyon, he joined Le Figaro littéraire in 1958. Head of department at Le Figaro in 1971, he resigned in 1974 after a disagreement with Jean d’Ormesson (who would become his most frequent TV guest). He goes through Lire, Le Point, Le Journal du Dimanche.
