The writer and presenter Bernard Pivot died at the age of 89 following an illness. He had transmitted his passion for words to the whole of France for decades.
The essential
- The writer, host and journalist Bernard Pivot died this Monday, May 6, 2024 at the age of 89 following an illness.
- Creator of the program “Apostrophe” on Antenne 2 and president of the Académie Goncourt, he also presented the program “Bouillon de culture” and organized from 1985, the Dicos d’or, a spelling championship which became international.
- A lover of letters, sport and wine, he wrote numerous works on his different passions.
- “I left Goncourt in December 2019. My health problems started immediately afterwards, in January 2020” he explains in an interview with JDD in April 2023.
- “I remained silent because the illness struck me in the head, the seat of the brain and speech. It is better to remain silent while waiting for memory to recharge and for thoughts to flower again,” he confided, with all restraint.
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16:28 – A “gigantic bridge” for Alain Mackambou
For his part, the writer Alain Mackambou pays tribute to a “gigantic bridge”, “one of those mediators for whom I would say that in Europe also an old man who dies is a library which burns”.
16:27 – “He made us intelligent” confides Jean-Pierre Foucault
“He knew how to make us love books, writers! The joy of watching him on television… He made us intelligent, put us within his reach. Thank you Bernard Pivot!” writes host Jean-Pierre Foucault on X.
16:25 – “A rock star of reading” for Patrice Duhamel
“He was a rock star of reading, of literature. His popularity went beyond reading. He did not only love great literature, whether classic or contemporary” continues the former director general of France Télévisions , Patrice Duhamel on BFMTV.
16:20 – “An old remorse, become a very close friend”, the tribute by Régis Debray
In the columns of Le Figaro, the philosopher and writer Régis Debray, who had once fallen out with Bernard Pivot, did not hesitate to pay him a vibrant tribute. The two men were. “An old remorse, become a very close friend. To have him, one day, after a television program in Quebec, the microphone remaining open without my knowledge, decked out, with a drink in his nose, with names like birds (monopolist, dictator , smother-Christian, etc.) without even remembering it the next morning, a reputation came to me: the bitter resentment of a little bastard of a careerist attacking the smiling apostle of literature What. abandon the “cultural” interim at the Élysée, to embrace the “third world” he confides.
16:17 – For Valérie Hayer, “Bernard Pivot will have left his mark on French culture”
“Grouped, pressed against each other, books have the stability and perseverance of menhirs.” To the one who transmitted the love of words, of literature (and dictations!) to so many French people. Bernard Pivot will have marked French culture. Thoughts of those close to him” writes on X, Valérie Hayer, head of the Macronie list for Europeans.
16:16 – “The academy was a bit like his property. It was his family” confides Pascal Bruckner
“It’s a great sadness. He was feeling bad, but we didn’t know exactly how fatal this illness was going to be. And so Pivot came to see us a year and a half ago for lunch, and he didn’t have much of an appetite, which was a bad sign. He was thin. But the Academy was a bit like his property, his thing. It was his family. And he wanted to make sure that people got along well, that the literary choices were good, that understanding reigned between us. He had his place and we hoped to invite him back this year before the summer. And unfortunately, it’s surprising. I never thought he was going to leave so quickly…” confides Pascal Bruckner, philosopher and academician Goncourt to BFMTV.
16:12 – Yaël Braun-Pivet salutes a “lover of the word”
“From Bouillon de culture to Apostrophes via the Académie Goncourt, Bernard Pivot was a lover of the word. Journalist and writer, he devoted his life to literature with humor and spontaneity. The king of “reading” is gone . My thoughts to his family and loved ones” wrote this Monday the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet in tribute to the former director of the Goncourt academy.
16:08 – What illness did Bernard Pivot suffer from?
Disappeared this Monday, May 6, the writer and presenter Bernard Pivot died “after months of fighting cancer” announced his daughter, Cécile Pivot to AFP, comments relayed in Le Parisien. “Ex-journalist, I would like to die at home, in my armchair, reading L’Equipe or Le Journal du Dimanche. Or, better, in my bed, rereading Montaigne or Proust. But I never read in bed” confided -he at JDD, almost a year ago to the day.
15:58 – He reluctantly leaves the presidency of the Goncourt academy
Through this interview given to JDD in April 2023, Bernard Pivot had in some ways come out of his media retirement. “I left Goncourt in December 2019, my health problems started immediately afterwards, in January 2020” he explained. It was reluctantly that he had to give up his role as member and president of the Goncourt Academy. He also expressed his regrets regarding the Gabriel Matzneff affair, after accusations of complacency.
15:52 – “Ill, disabled, I could no longer write as I did”
“At 84, I resigned from Goncourt to give my place to a younger writer” conceded Bernard Pivot in the columns of the Journal du Dimanche in April 2023. He had, in fact, given way to Didier Decoin. He also confides that, to his “deep regret”, he abandoned his review in the JDD because “I was ill, disabled, and I could no longer write as I did for your readers, for our readers, if you allow me, for more than a quarter of a century.
Bernard Pivot is no more. This Monday, May 6, 2024, his family announced his death following an illness to AFP. The former presenter and writer died at the age of 89 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Creator of the show “Apostrophe” on Antenne 2, he made millions of French people love books. A former journalist and president of the Académie Goncourt, he also presented the program “Bouillon de culture” and organized, from 1985, the Discos d’or, a spelling championship which has become international.
Journalist, writer, presenter…
Born on May 5, 1935 in Lyon, this lover of the French language first studied law in the capital of Gaul, then journalism in Paris. Graduated from the Journalists’ Training Center (CFJ) in 1957, he joined Le Figaro littéraire in 1958, then became head of the literary department of Le Figaro. He started on television in 1973 by hosting the literary magazine “Ouvrez les guillemets”. Since then, “Apostrophe”, “Bouillon de culture”… We can no longer count the successes in which Bernard Pivot has participated. He notably received great writers like Marguerite Duras as well as musicians and actors. Brassens and Ferré paraded on its sets. Bernard Pivot was a major player in the rich days of French television. He also chaired the Goncourt academy from 2004 to 2019.
A whole life dedicated to words
Bernard Pivot has also written numerous works on his passions, literature and words, but also football and wine. “But life goes on”, his latest work published in 2021, which looked like an autobiography, spoke in particular about growing old. His glasses fixed on the tip of his nose have made him an essential man on the small screen.
In recent years, he has been very active on Twitter, as if to extend a lifetime dedicated to words. He shared his moods with more than a million subscribers. In an interview given to JDD in April 2023, he indicated the reasons which pushed him to withdraw from the Académie Goncourt and the media: “I remained silent because evil struck me in the head, seat of brain and speech. It is better to remain silent while waiting for memory to recharge and thoughts to flourish again. A characteristic discretion of the character. In 1992, he refused the Legion of Honor.
