Francis Claude

Stand-up comedian in Nice during the war, he created the famous duo humorous " Darrigade and Fouziquet ", two friends living in rural areas who comment on how caustic the news and through our society. In the post-war years he was a producer of radio broadcasts on Paris-Inter, and then founded with his friend Léo Ferré cabaret Quod Libet in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and then The Hole in the Quartier Latin. In 1949, he returned to the Cabaret Thermidor, located next to the Palais-Royal on the right bank, which he renamed the Lord's Arsouille and ran until 1963. It is the Lord of the Arsouille of Francis Claude reveals Serge Gainsbourg, encouraging him to get on the stage of his cabaret to interpret his songs. It also Jacques Brel, Guy Béart in their infancy. He has been married with the singer Michèle Arnaud, who has been made to him by Léo Ferré. With the latter he co-wrote the lyrics of several songs, such as "The Island of Saint-Louis" or "The Life of the artist" (the latter having become over time a classic from the repertoire of the Rail). From the 1960s to the 1980s, he has been an actor and his resemblance to the portraits that we know of king Henry IV of France was worth to him to embody it in several film productions and television. He died in 1989 in Villebéon, in Seine-et-Marne, where he owned a house.