This journalist in love with theater and freedom was not afraid to give voice.
And, if necessary, to stage.
Throughout a career of five decades making newspapers and undoing reputations, commenting with an alert pen on Parisian plays like the political scene,
Philippe Tesson
, who died at the age of 94, had time to survey number of television trays.
Read alsoJournalist Philippe Tesson is dead
The INA refreshes our memory.
In January 1972 on the ORTF, we see him praising, and no matter if he preaches in the desert,
Ionesco 's
Macbett .
In 1975, on Antenne 2, he interviewed François Mitterrand, then first secretary of the Socialist Party.
During a debate on the same channel, he assured the editor-in-chief of
L'Humanité
that
"the difference between the number of communist voters and readers is due to the deep boredom emanating from the communist press"
.
Above all, don't be afraid to displease.
In 1993, he scrapped with Jacques Séguéla about the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Bernard Tapie.
The deputy was accused of misuse of corporate assets.
At Thierry Ardisson's
While
Le Quotidien de Paris
, a unique and vibrant newspaper born in 1974, began to falter, Philippe Tesson ventured further into television.
He launched a literary and cultural program on France 3 entitled “Ah!
What titles.
More measured as a host, he aims, with this weekly airtime, to desacralize the books to put them in as many hands as possible.
Renaud Matignon, critic at
Le Figaro
, praises Guy Debord and his prophetic
Société du Spectacle
, Dominique Fernandez goes there to talk about Pier Paolo Pasolini, Luc Ferry to talk about God.
The adventure will end in 1996.
Thierry Ardisson then made Tesson one of his columnists for “Rive droite / Rive gauche”.
They will meet again several times.
In “Everyone talks about it”, in 2000, Ardisson submits him to his questions.
If you were a flaw?
"It's not possible..."
, replies Philippe Tesson.
Vice ?
“Reading”
.
A torment ?
“A blank page”
.
A candid Kad Merad breathes:
“He's not stupid, him …”
Six years later, on this same set, the journalist battles with his former sidekick from the
New Literary Department
Jean-François Kahn.
“
He eternally harps on his populist, conservative and egalitarian discourse!”
, he says, about work and youth.
Philippe Tesson then intervenes in "Free Spirits" by Guillaume Durand on France 2, in "Langue de bois s'abstenir" on Direct 8 or in "Ça balance à Paris" on Paris Première.
The titles of these shows did not contradict his personality.
It was necessary to add humor, which he showed at the microphone of Laurent Ruquier.
In 2012, the dashing octogenarian rewound the thread of his career in “We are not lying”.
In the company of another journalism veteran who died in 2020, Pierre Bénichou, Philippe Tesson also went from time to time in "We're going to be embarrassed" on Europe 1.
Often invited in recent years with his son Sylvain, he continued to analyze the news on Radio Classique on his own.
“
Philippe Tesson does not have a formatted brain,
summed up Guillaume Durand in
Le Parisien
.
He adores Sarko but calls him a psychopath.
He finds Hollande very sympathetic, but really bad…
”
Less than six months ago, the nonagenarian went to the “Club Le Figaro Culture” to talk about the passion of his life, the theatre.
"
We must return to classical theater in its integrity, in its purity ,
"
he thundered.
Reactionary, Philippe Tesson?
“
A reactionary is someone who has known something else.
A privilege...
”
, he used to say.
