Bernard Pivot
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5 May 1935
Bernard Pivot | |
|---|---|
 Pivot in 1986 | |
| Born | Bernard Claude Pivot 5 May 1935 Lyon, France |
| Died | 6 May 2024 (aged 89) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Education | Lycée Ampère |
| Alma mater | University of Lyon Centre de formation des journalistes |
| Occupations | Journalist, television personality |
| Known for | TV host Apostrophes and Bouillon de culture |
Bernard Pivot (French: [bɛʁnaʁ pivo]; 5 May 1935 – 6 May 2024) was a French journalist, interviewer and host of cultural television programmes. He was chairman of the Académie Goncourt from 2014 to 2020.[1][2][3]
Pivot was born in Lyon on 5 May 1935,[citation needed] the son of two grocers. During World War II his father, Charles Pivot, was taken prisoner and his mother moved the family home to the village of Quincié-en-Beaujolais, where Bernard Pivot started school. In 1945 his father was released and the reunited family returned to Lyon. At age 10 Pivot went to a Catholic boarding school where he discovered a passion for sport, while he was more average at traditional school subjects, except French and history.[citation needed]
After starting law studies in Lyon, Pivot entered the Centre de formation des journalistes (CFJ) in Paris, where he met his future wife, Monique.[citation needed] He graduated second in his class. After an internship at Le Progrès in Lyon, he studied economic journalism for a full year, and then joined the Figaro Littéraire in 1958.[citation needed]
In 1970 he hosted a humorous daily radio programme . In 1971 the Figaro Littéraire closed and Pivot joined Le Figaro. He left in 1974 after a disagreement with Jean d'Ormesson. Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber invited him to start a new project, which led to the creation of a new magazine, Lire, a year later. Meanwhile, he had begun hosting a television programme in April 1973 called Ouvrez les guillemets on the First Channel of the ORTF. In 1974, the ORTF was dissolved and Pivot started his Apostrophes programme. Apostrophes was first broadcast on Antenne 2 on 10 January 1975, and ran until 1990.[4][5] Pivot then created Bouillon de culture, with the aim of broadening people's interests beyond reading. However, he eventually returned to books.[6]
Pivot died of cancer in Neuilly-sur-Seine, on 6 May 2024, at the age of 89.[7]
Spelling championships
In 1985, Pivot created the Championnats d'orthographe ("Spelling Championships") with linguist Micheline Sommant,[8] which in 1992 became Championnats mondiaux d'orthographe ("World Spelling Championships"), then the Dicos d'or ("Golden Dictionaries") in 1993.[citation needed]
Pivot and James Lipton
James Lipton was inspired to create Inside the Actors Studio by a chance viewing of a Pivot programme on cable TV. Lipton adapted Pivot's use of a Proust Questionnaire to one that he himself used at the end of each episode of Inside the Actors Studio.[9]
However, the question "If God exists, what would you like Him to tell you when you're dead?" was considered potentially offensive to US audiences and replaced by a more acceptable "If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?"[citation needed]
Pivot became aware that Lipton was inspired by his questionnaire and invited him to appear on the final episode of Bouillon de culture.[10]
Television work
- Ouvrez les guillemets (1973–1974)[11]
- Apostrophes (1975–1990)[11]
- Bouillon de culture (1991–2001)[11]
- Double je (2002–2006)[11]
