Television news · 1975-1983
IT1 Nuit et les journaux de TF1
(IT1 Nuit and the TF1 news)
On 6 January 1975 TF1 took over from the ORTF's first channel. I anchored IT1 Nuit, the last bulletin of the evening, summing up the day for the night owls.
On 6 January 1975 the ORTF was no more. The first channel was now called TF1, and its newsroom, IT1, was headed by Henri Marque, with Christian Bernadac as editor-in-chief. The parts were handed out: Yves Mourousi at 1 pm, Roger Gicquel at 8 pm, Jean-Claude Bourret at weekends. The night was mine.
IT1 Nuit was the last news programme of the evening. You went back over the day, put it in order and said what was worth remembering before bed. The Larousse yearbook for 1975 noted that I offered night owls a digest of the day. That is exactly what it was.
From the arts desk to Rome, and back
In 1976 I took charge of the arts desk: the Cannes Festival, Gene Wilder, Johnny Hallyday, and a summer series filmed in Hollywood. In 1977 TF1 appointed me permanent correspondent in Rome. I stayed six years, with the occasional trip back to Paris. In December 1981, for instance, I presented the Splendid troupe in "Papy fait de la Résistance" for the arts magazine "Pleins feux".
I came home in 1983. As a senior reporter I also returned to the late-night news: on 24 July 1983 I was the one presenting it. I left TF1 in 1987, the year it was privatised, after eighteen years in television, from the ORTF's second channel to the first channel that became TF1.
Key facts
- 6 January 1975: TF1 is born. I anchor IT1 Nuit.
- 1976: head of TF1's arts desk.
- 1977-1983: permanent correspondent in Rome. 1983-1987: senior reporter.
- 24 July 1983: I present TF1's late-night news.