Le Plus Grand Français

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Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps (The Greatest Frenchman of all Time) was a France 2 show of early 2005, based on an original series of Great Britons on the BBC. The show asked the French viewers who they thought was the Greatest Frenchman or Frenchwoman. It was presented by Michel Drucker and Thierry Ardisson, and the final episode was broadcast at the French Senate.

The winner was the former president and leader of the Free French movement, Charles de Gaulle.[1]

The show was criticized by some historians in that it focused only on personalities of recent French history. Key figures of French history who contributed to the founding of the French nation, such as the national heroine Joan of Arc, the kings Philip Augustus, Saint Louis, and Louis XIV or French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte were largely ignored.

The Greatest Frenchmen of All Time

  1. Charles de Gaulle – Political leader, French President and Statesman
  2. Louis Pasteur – Scientist
  3. Abbé Pierre – Priest and Humanitarian
  4. Marie Skłodowska Curie – Scientist
  5. Coluche – Comic and Humanitarian
  6. Victor Hugo – Author, Poet and Playwright
  7. Bourvil - Actor and Comic
  8. Molière – Playwright
  9. Jacques-Yves Cousteau – Oceanologist
  10. Édith Piaf - Singer
  11. Marcel Pagnol - Author and Filmmaker
  12. Georges Brassens - Singer and Songwriter
  13. Fernandel - Actor and Comic
  14. Jean de la Fontaine - Poet and fabulist
  15. Jules Verne – Science Fiction Author
  16. Napoleon Bonaparte – Military, political leader and Emperor
  17. Louis de Funès - Actor and Comic
  18. Jean Gabin - Actor
  19. Daniel Balavoine - Singer, Songwriter and Musician
  20. Serge Gainsbourg - Singer and Songwriter
  21. Zinedine Zidane - Footballer
  22. Charlemagne – Middle Ages Emperor
  23. Lino Ventura - Actor
  24. François Mitterrand – French President
  25. Gustave Eiffel – Architect
  26. Émile Zola - Author
  27. Sœur Emmanuelle - Nun and Humanitarian
  28. Jean Moulin - Leader of French resistance to the occupying Nazis in France during WWII
  29. Charles Aznavour - Singer, Songwriter and Actor
  30. Yves Montand - Actor and Singer
  31. Jeanne d’Arc – Military leader, Saint
  32. Général Leclerc - Military leader
  33. Voltaire – Political author
  34. Johnny Hallyday - Singer
  35. Antoine de Saint Exupéry - Aviator, Author and Poet
  36. Claude Francois - Singer
  37. Christian Cabrol - Cardiologist and surgeon
  38. Jean-Paul Belmondo - Actor
  39. Jules Ferry - Politician
  40. Louis Lumière - Cinema inventor
  41. Michel Platini - Footballer
  42. Jacques Chirac – French President and Prime Minister
  43. Charles Trenet - Singer and Songwriter
  44. Georges Pompidou – French President
  45. Michel Sardou - Singer
  46. Simone Signoret - Actress
  47. Haroun Tazieff - Vulcanologist
  48. Jacques Prévert - Poet
  49. Éric Tabarly - Sailor
  50. Louis XIV – French King
  51. David Douillet - Judoka
  52. Henri Salvador - Singer and Comic
  53. Jean-Jacques Goldman - Singer, Songwriter and Musician
  54. Jean Jaurès - Politician
  55. Jean Marais - Actor and Comedian
  56. Yannick Noah - Tennis player
  57. Albert Camus – Author
  58. Dalida - Singer
  59. Léon Zitrone - Journalist
  60. Nicolas Hulot - Journalist
  61. Simone Veil - Politician
  62. Alain Delon - Actor
  63. Patrick Poivre d'Arvor - Journalist
  64. Aimé Jacquet - Footballer
  65. Francis Cabrel - Singer and Songwriter
  66. Brigitte Bardot - Actress
  67. Guy de Maupassant - Author
  68. Alexandre Dumas, père – Author and Playwright
  69. Honoré de Balzac – Author
  70. Paul Verlaine - Poet
  71. Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Political author
  72. Robespierre – Political leader
  73. Renaud - Singer and Songwriter
  74. Bernard Kouchner - Politician and humanitarian
  75. Claude Monet – Artist
  76. Michel Serrault - Actor
  77. Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Artist
  78. Michel Drucker - Journalist
  79. Raimu - Actor and Comedian
  80. Vercingetorix - Gallic leader
  81. Raymond Poulidor - Racing cyclist
  82. Charles Baudelaire – Poet
  83. Pierre Corneille - Playwright
  84. Arthur Rimbaud - Poet
  85. Georges Clemenceau – Political leader, Chief of the French Governmemt and Journalist
  86. Gilbert Bécaud - Singer, Songwriter and Musician
  87. José Bové - Syndicalist
  88. Jean Ferrat - Singer and Songwriter
  89. Lionel Jospin - Politician and French Prime Minister
  90. Jean Cocteau - Dramatist, Poet, Playwright and Filmmaker
  91. Luc Besson - Filmmaker
  92. Tino Rossi - Singer
  93. Pierre de Coubertin - Pedagogue and founder of the modern Olympic Games.
  94. Jean Renoir – Film director
  95. Gérard Philipe - Actor and Comedian
  96. Jean-Paul Sartre – Author
  97. Catherine Deneuve - Actress
  98. Serge Reggiani - Actor, Singer and Comedian
  99. Gérard Depardieu - Actor
  100. Françoise Dolto - Psychoanalyst

See also

Source

References

  1. ^ "De Gaulle plus grand Français de tous les temps - Culture - Nouvelobs.com". Tempsreel.nouvelobs.com. http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualites/20050405.OBS3037/?xtmc=&xtcr=1. Retrieved 2011-11-05. 

External links