Léon Zitrone

Léon Zitrone 25 November 1914 25 November 1995 was a Russianborn French journalist and television presenter Zitrone was born in Petrograd Russia He arrived in France with his family fleeing communism at the age of six He graduated from the ESJ Paris He began by training in scientific studies but his mastership of Russian French English and German gave him entrance in 1948 to the radio foreign broadcasting services of RadiodiffusionTélévision Française RTF In 1959 he joined the television activity of RTF From 1961 he became news presenter function he occupied for nearly 20 years first until 1975 on the first French television channel now TF1 then also on Antenne 2 the other public service channel JeanPierre Elkabbach called him back in 1979 He then took charge of the news program during the weekend his contract was established until 1 February 1981 He would come back for those news programs also during the Easter and Pentecost weekends But Léon Zitrones celebrity is due to the programs he presented or copresented He was host of the televised program Intervilles French counterpart of Britains Its a Knockout with Guy Lux He commented 6 times the Tour de France and he is remembered for his prodigious memory for names of riders He presented the Olympics for 8 times commented the Eurovision Song Contest on 4 occasions and presented 16 Bastille Day military parades Above all he was the keycommenter for big events such as weddings burials or investitures of worlds key figures some thirty of them during the course of his career In 1978 following French singer Marie Myriams victory the previous year the Eurovision song contest took place in Paris Léon Zitrone copresented with Denise Fabre and made the presentation in English In 1984 Zitrone took a leading role in the movie American Dreamer He died from a cerebral hemorrhage on his 81st birthday 25 November 1995 at the ValdeGrâce hospital in Paris Source Article Léon Zitrone from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30