Falling for Françoise - BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 10:30 Saturday 21 May 2011

Falling for Françoise

John Andrew returns to Paris where he lost his heart to 60s icon Françoise Hardy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/schedules/fm/2011/05/21

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0118bgw

Hello Warren, Thank you very much. Thanks also for your splendid website. It is nice to hear of other fans on this side of the Channel. Did you ever see FH in concert? I was lucky enough to see her at Southampton on the Universities Tour. And of course welcome to this excellent and friendly website.

No, I never saw Françoise in concert - unfortunately, at the time, my music scene was limited to the radio and my records.

I was at Leeds University between 1966 and 1969, and would not be surprised to learn that I missed seeing her there.

Thank you Warren.

Don't feel too bad-You didn't miss Francoise in Leeds. The concerts were at Sussex,Cambridge,Liverpool,Durham, Southampton and Birmingham. It was quite a radical departure for Sot'on to have someone like this as Tyrannosaurus Rex, ,Julie Driscoll,the Equals, Moody Blues etc were more typical of the acts performing under the auspices of the Student Union in my time. Not that Francoise performed in the union itself, but in Southampton Guildhall. I still have my ticket which Francoise autographed afterwards.From memory it set me back the princely sum of 15/-. I wonder what the tickets for the Savoy shows cost,more I expect but it would have been worth it to see the glamourous outfits. At Southampton Francoise wore her beautifully simple and elegant white Courreges trousers and top.

Thank you so much, Warren!

John Andrew who presents the programme has written a blog for the BBC website -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/2011/05/falling_for_francoise.html

Merci Warren, super ce blog.

Merci Warrren pour tout

My Internet connection kept going out as I was trying to listen and record. I got about 20 min. of the 30 minute program. It was so wonderful to hear her speak in English. It was mainly information we already know, familiar stories, etc. but it was delightful. Hearing the British fans, such as Warren, also added a nice dimension to the piece. It is too bad that being so admired makes Françoise uncomfortable, but that is just another aspect of her appeal - the fact that she does not see just how spectacular she is. I hope she understands that we cannot help it...

Falling for Françoise est dispo en podcast.

Finalement assez peu d’intérêt si ce n'est de l'écouter s'exprimer en anglais (elle a plus d'aisance que j'imaginais je dois dire).
Toujours les sempiternelles questions sur "Tous les garçons et les filles" , "Bob Dylan qui ne veut pas remonter sur scène", "le transistor ou la guitare pour le bac" , "sa gène face au statut d'icone"...bla bla bla

Aucune question sur sa carrière anglaise, sur les Savoy, sur la tournée des universités ou sur sa carrière dans les pays du Commonwealth comme on aurait pu espérer d'une interview british

[quote][quote="Romain"]Aucune question sur sa carrière anglaise, sur les Savoy, sur la tournée des universités ou sur sa carrière dans les pays du Commonwealth comme on aurait pu espérer d'une interview british :? [/quote]

Yes, very disappointing, all these cliché questions. His trip to Paris wasn't really necessary. But it was nice to hear Françoise talking english. And she is rather good in it.

Today I've looked at the CD-bestsellerlist of Amazon UK. What one simple radio broadcast at BBC4 can do: two CD's are since two days in the top 100: 50th place The Voque Years, 91th Les chansons d'amour. Amazing. There's still a market for Françoise in the UK.

On ose toujours rêver à une nouvelle rencontre genre BLUR, Perry Blake ou Ben Christophers... Visiblement, elle réserve désormais toujours une petite place anglosaxone dans ses albums. Alors peut-être dans le prochain?

This was very good promotion for Françoise, even if the interview did cover information that was familiar to her avid fans. Thanks for that info, Dick.

Effectivement

It was a lovely programme-thank you to every one involved. I do agree that so much more could have been said about Francoise's Anglo Saxon career. However she does not say much about it in her autobiography and of course it was towards the end of her live performances so I suppose she may wish to forget it as she felt so uncomfortable performing in public. So many stars from the 1960s denigrate their early careers but without the 1960s they would not be the stars they have been and still are today.

Having only just joined the forum, I had not heard about Falling for Francoise. I was upset to have missed it but tried the original link anyway. It is still working.
Loved hearing Francoise speaking in English. Only if she had said "oranges" could it have been better.

It's amazing that the programme is still available on lign.

Un grand merci à toi, Warren, pour ces liens ! Il semblerait que FH ait laissé, encore aujourd'hui, une belle empreinte de ses passages en Angleterre !


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"...m'effacer et me fondre
dans la nuit
fuir d'ici
sans faire de bruit..."