The ‘King Lire’ is no more, Bernard Pivot has given up the ghost at the age of 89

There was also a host of rare and prestigious guests, such as Yourcenar, Soljenitsyn, Nabokov, Simenon, Kundera, Duras, Eco, the Dalai Lama, Bourdieu, Brassens, Levi-Strauss Mohammed Ali, Truffaut… “I missed Voltaire, Rousseau, Sartre, Camus… I arrived too late, it’s a shame” will he confide in 2021

Even John Le Carré, despite his notable aversion to TV, spoke there, taking lessons beforehand to consolidate his knowledge of French (this meeting and this thoughtfulness on the part of the Briton being one of the strongest moments in the career of Pivot, according to the TV man himself).