Pierre Daninos

Daninos Pierre ( born May 26, 1913 in Paris, France, † January 7, 2005 in Paris) was a French journalist and writer.

Life

Daninos was born in Paris as a child of Greek parents, his grandfather was Ernest Daninos, his cousin was the engineer Adrian Daninos (1887-1976), the spiritual father and patron of the Aswan Dam .. His older brother was the aerospace and automotive engineer Jean Daninos (1906-2001), founder of the Facel works and the car maker Facel Vega.

Pierre Daninos studied journalism before he was in World War II French liaison officer to the British army. In the 1960s, he became depressed and underwent psychoanalysis, "The Black Couch" inspired him to write the work.

Work

In 1954, his worldwide success Major Thompson appeared discovered the French. The work was translated into 27 languages ​​and in France alone, nearly two million copies were sold. In the book, the manners and bad habits of the French from the point of view of a British officer are described. Daninos clarifies about who has the humanity taught table manners, namely the British. But he also admitted candidly that English can not make coffee. The good food, however, would have "us", the French taught. The work was filmed in 1955 by Preston Sturges and later as The French, They Are a Funny Race in the United States.

Pierre Daninos then wrote another similar humoristic critical of society and novels. The novel Monsieur Blot describes the fate of an " average Frenchman " and Daninos became the second most successful book. Charles de Gaulle wrote a laudatory letter to Daninos. In 1964 his snobbery Guide Snobissimo ( dt: Snobissimo or Craving for the license), in which he gives tips for a decadent life of the choice of the small car to the correct final resting place.

Pierre Daninos had the idea of ​​a karrossiertes Facel Ford Model " Comete " call and came to the brand name " Facel Vega " ( Facel stands for Forges et Ateliers de Construction d' Eure- et- Loir ).