Bernard Pivot (; born 5 May 1935) is a French journalist, interviewer and host of cultural television programmes. He was chairman of the Académie Goncourt from 2014 to 2020. Biography Pivot was born in Lyon, the son of two grocers. During World War II, his father, Charles Pivot, was taken prisoner and his mother moved the family home to the village of Quincié-en-Beaujolais, where Bernard Pivot started school. In 1945, his father was released and the reunited family returned to Lyon. At age 10, Pivot went to a Catholic boarding school where he discovered a passion for sport, while he was more average at traditional school subjects, except French language and history. After starting law studies in Lyon, Pivot entered the Centre de formation des journalistes (CFJ) in Paris, where he met his future wife, Monique. He graduated second in his class. After an internship at Le Progrès in Lyon, he studied economic journalism for a full year, and then joined the Figaro Littéraire in 1958. In 1970, he hosted a humorous daily radio programme which often raised political issues and was not appreciated by President Georges Pompidou. In 1971, the Figaro Littéraire closed and Pivot joined Le Figaro. He left in 1974 after a disagreement with Jean d'Ormesson. Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber invited him to start a new project, which led to the creation of a new magazine, Lire, a year later. Meanwhile, he had begun hosting a television program in April 1973 called Ouvrez les Guillemets on France's first TV network. In 1974, the ORTF was dissolved and Pivot started his Apostrophes programme. Apostrophes was first broadcast on Antenne 2 on 10 January 1975, and ran until 1990. Pivot then created Bouillon de culture, with the aim of broadening people's interests beyond reading. However, he eventually returned to books. On 10 April 2008, Pivot was made an honorary member of the Order of Canada. In the month before the UK was due to leave the European Union in October 2019 after three years of fruitless public debate, Pivot tweeted (in translation): “I propose to insert the word “brexit” (without capital letter) into the French language. It will indicate a cacophonous and insoluble debate, a bloody shambolic reunion or assembly. Example: the meeting of the joint owners ended in brexit.” (The inclusion of the British expletive is supported two-fold by the Collins-Robert French Dictionary.) Spelling championships In 1985, Pivot created the