Going back for a moment to my last post, one of the front pages selected for reproduction by the IHT concerned the defeat in 1969 of General de Gaulle in a referendum leading to his retirement and withdrawal from public life. The newspaper devoted a lengthy article to the event but at no time deigned to tell us what the referendum was about! In a way, this was fair enough as the General considered it simply as a vote of confidence, or as it turned out, no confidence. Even so...
By 1969 de Gaulle was completely out of touch with modern French society, not that he could ever have been said to take much interest in it. On one occasion, he was introduced to Jacques Tati, the famous director of such famous films as Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, Jour de Fête and Mon Oncle. Seeing that de Gaulle hadn't the faintest idea who Jacques Tati was, his secretary whispered in his year: "vous savez, Monsieur le Président, Mon Oncle". Upon which de Gaulle shook Tati's hand and said "you must be very proud of your nephew, Monsieur Tati".
By 1969 de Gaulle was completely out of touch with modern French society, not that he could ever have been said to take much interest in it. On one occasion, he was introduced to Jacques Tati, the famous director of such famous films as Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, Jour de Fête and Mon Oncle. Seeing that de Gaulle hadn't the faintest idea who Jacques Tati was, his secretary whispered in his year: "vous savez, Monsieur le Président, Mon Oncle". Upon which de Gaulle shook Tati's hand and said "you must be very proud of your nephew, Monsieur Tati".
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