In the beginning
Frédéric François was born on 22nd October 1932 in Jette (Brussels). There was no reason to suppose that he would become a journalist. In 1950 after finishing secondary school (Notre Dame College and St George's in Brussels) he worked during his summer holidays with a Chartered Surveyor. One day everything changed because of a chance encounter with a member of the Jury for an inter-school eloquence contest that he had won who recommended him to the founder of a newspaper soon to be published: "La Cité". Thus it was that on 1st October 1950, Frédéric François entered the world of journalism with the publication of the first edition of "La Cité", a daily sponsored by the Christian Workers' Movement ('MOC'). He stayed with it for ten years. The "Boy", as the editor William Ugeux affectionately called him, was first employed in the Foreign Department where he summarised kilometres of telegrams concerning the Korean War. On 30th October 1950, just after his 18th birthday, he wrote and signed his first article entitled 'The World is hungry'. Two years later he was assigned to the General News Department where he wrote many articles on current affairs. In February 1953 he covered the floods in the Netherlands which killed nearly 2,000 people. In 1956 he was sent to Hungary where he witnessed the uprising in Budapest. His series of articles about Hungary earned him the Rotiers prize. In 1958 he covered the Universal Exhibition in Brussels. However Frédéric François, neither a militant union member nor as 'Christian' as "La Cité" would have liked, found the atmosphere at this militant newspaper rather stifling, particularly as he did not always share the political views of the editor. In 1960 he passed an examination for journalists at the RTB (Belgian Radio and Television) which replaced the 'INR' that same year. He explains: "Whereas some people speak on TV as though they were writing, they told me that I wrote as I spoke. So why not be content to speak…"
Radio and Television
Frédéric François started work with the Public Radio and Television organisation on 1st July 1960, the very day on which the Belgian Congo gained its independence. At first he worked for the radio and covered the big international events of the day for radio news broadcasts: the civil strife in Cyprus in the first years of the decade, the partition of Berlin in 1961, the Algerian civil war in 1962, and above all from 1960 to 1964 the conflicts in the Congo, previously a Belgian colony. He also reported on numerous occasions for a weekly radio program called: "Bruits du Monde" (Sounds from the World): the black power problem in the USA, the assassination of J F Kennedy in 1963 and of Martin Luther King in 1968. In 1962 he became Editorial Secretary and started a program on domestic politics. His last significant work for the radio in Belgium was in April 1964 when he covered the strike by the country's doctors and the negotiations at Val Duchesse which followed. In July of that year he returned to the Congo for the terrible rebellion lead by Pierre Mulele, which conquered 75% of the country, and the return of Tschombé as Prime Minister. He was seriously shocked by the death of his colleague cameraman, Francis Ponchaux, killed alongside him by a hail of bullets in Bukavu. He also commented on the fall of Stanleyville to rebel forces and its liberation in November 1964. On his return the Board of Directors moved him on to Television news, and he continued coverage of events in Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo for TV. From January 1966 in addition to Central Africa Frédéric François, or "Freddy" as he was called at the RTB, specialised in domestic Belgian politics, to which he gave new vigour with his penetrating interviews of politicians. It is moreover he who started the first domestic political program on television. It was at Val Duchesse that he made his name and gave a new tone to the RTB: that of a newspaper journalist who knows the precise importance of events and the Radio and TV reporter who uses his eyes and ears, who must above all record the crucial moment. It should also be noted that the RTB, at the time still somewhat influenced by attitudes of the old INR, was very apprehensive of anything to do with politics. Until then the RTB limited itself to the Reports and Chronicles of the Parliament which were highly prudent and obliged to remain neutral. Year after year politics took an increasingly important place on TV news, and when in 1968 the organisation of Television News was restructured into cells, Freddy constituted himself into the Political Cell. On 13th June 1966 he started a political program called "Faire le Point", in the form of a weekly debate, and in February 1969 "Face ? la Presse" (Face the Press), which was a round table of politicians and newspaper reporters. From 1970 he was in sole charge of these two political programs which were aired on Sunday, quite simply because of all the journalists involved in news broadcasts he was the most highly qualified. His independent style, his direct and incisive questions, sometimes almost impertinent, were disconcerting to the politicians he invited to take part. He was at pains to reveal not so much the political parties and ideas as the men and women themselves, politicians, cut off from ordinary citizens and largely unaware of the day to day problems of the people by the activity in Parliament, where they were surrounded by legal hurdles, trapped by linguistic difficulties and increasingly bogged down by the desires of the three communities which compose Belgium. "Faire le Point" became the most important program providing political information to Francophone Belgium. It remains so to this day under the new name of "Mise au Point".
Education
In addition to his work as a journalist in the civil service, Frédéric François tried to impart his fervour for the profession to, and share his experience with, young would-be journalists. From 1964 to 1967 he taught at the Institute for Belgian Journalists alongside Messrs. Cordier and Recht of 'Les Nouvelles de la Presse', and from 1969 to 1982 he directed a seminar on journalism and news reporting at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) as well as supervising practical exercises in Radio and Television.
A political interlude
1974 came a radical change of direction: the journalist-reporter took up a political career. "I had behind me nearly 25 years of political reporting and had become rather bored. I wanted to see things from inside. I said to myself: 'Since politics occupy me, why shouldn't I occupy myself with politics?' On the spur of the moment I replied 'Yes' to the offer of Nothomb and Henri-François Van Aal, both Social Christians." Thus it was that he resigned from the Television and was elected on the list of the PSC to sit in the Senate as provincial Senator for Li?ge from 1974 to 1977. He participated in the Commissions for Economic Affairs, Communications and Post Office, Telephone and Telegraph as well as that concerned with the naturalisation of foreigners. During this period he was also Secretary (1974-1975) and Vice President (1975-1977) of the Walloon Regional Council. In 1977 he was elected as Member of Parliament for the circumscription of Huy-Waremme. As a member of the Walloon Regional Economic Council, he was particularly interested in economic expansion as well as by the difficulties faced by the self-employed and middle management staff. Regionalisation and foreign trade were also amongst his centres of interest. Other matters which concerned Frédéric François included: Energy, Communications, Public Transport, the Environment and problems of water management. In February 1981 he was named Parliamentary Administrator and became a member of the Commission for Foreign Trade and the Economy. His time as a Member of Parliament came to an end in October of that year and in November he was re-elected Provincial Senator for Li?ge. In 1985 however he left Parliament as he was unable to bear the discipline of the PSC and considered the ten years consecrated actively to politics as disappointing. "I quit journalism because I was curious and thought I could bring something new to the politics I thought I knew so well. I wanted to go and see what was happening on the other side, thinking I could do better than what I observed being done. But I found it very difficult to put up with the burdens of politicians. Twenty-five years as a journalist had taught me always to try to be objective which does not fit easily into the political mould. In addition I had serious ethical differences with the leaders of the Party. Whereas the PSC was only beginning to come to terms with the idea of separation from religion, I was already vigorously defending the right to legal abortions for women." His period in politics did however convince him of one thing: he was a journalist through and through. Politicians are not allowed to broadcast for two years after leaving politics, so Freddy went into the restaurant business at the Auberge des Ma?eurs in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. This convinced him of something else: he was not a businessman either!
Return to the first love
In 1987 Pierre Delrock, then Editor of news broadcasting, asked Freddy to return to the RTBF (French speaking Radio and Television in Belgium). He accepted immediately and started work there again on 1st November. He had to restart his carer all over again from zero as a trainee. On 31st December however he returned to "La Cité" for one day as Editor for the very last edition of the daily where he had started thirty-seven years earlier.
On television he was now solely employed on foreign politics, particularly in Central Africa, because, in view of his period in domestic politics, he could no longer be involved in that. The young-old foreign correspondent travelled the World. He returned to Rwanda and Burundi where he had been in the sixties and seventies but was also to be found wherever in the World major events were occurring in the nineties: the Gulf war, Irak, the genocide in Rwanda, the assassination of ten Belgian UN soldiers in 1994, Zaire in 1997 when Kabila seized power. Considered as THE authority on questions concerning Congo/Zaire, he was always careful to give even-handed and intelligible commentary of the news as it really was. In 1992 Freddy was awarded the Léon Thoorens prize for his remarkable career. In the same year he was given the responsibility for the International and European Departments.
An active pensioner
On 31st October 1997, having reached retirement age, Freddy announced his retirement to the surprise of everyone on Television News. Thus ended a career which lasted 47 years, first in the written press and then in Radio and Television, where his clear narration earned him the affection and esteem of viewers, politicians and colleagues alike. That day the RTBF lost one of its pillars, a real journalist, a prudent globe-trotter, a reliable correspondent and a popular figure. But Frédéric François lived for his profession and was not able to disappear completely. In 1998 he wrote a book about the problems of the PSC and participated in writing another on how Kabila seized power. In 2006 he wrote a partial autobiography: "Frédéric François, le journalisme dérangeant", in which he recounts the great moments in his career. Today he still sometimes gives conferences about journalism.
Private life and more
Freddy is a child of the war. He was brought up in Brussels with his sister. At the age of 18 he was unable to go to university for lack of money. When he began his long career as a journalist Freddy used to supplement his income by singing in a few Brussels bistros. Frédéric François, the singer, regularly won competitions with his renditions of Trenet, Montand and other popular singers. He also earned some pocket money helping his uncle, Albert Van Cleemput, put on firework displays.
During his professional life Freddy struck up many unlikely and varied friendships such as those with André Cools (PSB), Vanden Boeynants (PSC), Pierre Descamps (PLP), Jean Gol (PRL) and André Wynen.
Now aged eighty, Freddy is married for the third time. With his first wife, Flore, he had four children: Joëlle, Dominique, Alain and Fabienne. Frédéric, junior, was born to his second wife, Gaby. No children were born of his third marriage to Ania, but he helped her bring up her son Daniel, who he considers as his 6th child. He has 14 grand-children and one great grand-child, a son. When not cooking sumptuous food, he looks after his fish pond, his garden and his two dogs. He reads the press assiduously, in particular articles about Belgian and foreign politics and doesn't hesitate to express his opinion…
This short biography is drawn almost exclusively from a series of articles written as a mini-thesis in 1999 and 2000 by Madame Martine Pauwels, then studying journalism at the Free University of Brussels. Some additions and corrections were made by Frédéric François (jr), and a translation into the Dutch language was made by Zandbergen & Co in August 2012.
English translation - Johnny Nevall
Frédéric François was born on 22nd October 1932 in Jette (Brussels). There was no reason to suppose that he would become a journalist. In 1950 after finishing secondary school (Notre Dame College and St George's in Brussels) he worked during his summer holidays with a Chartered Surveyor. One day everything changed because of a chance encounter with a member of the Jury for an inter-school eloquence contest that he had won who recommended him to the founder of a newspaper soon to be published: "La Cité". Thus it was that on 1st October 1950, Frédéric François entered the world of journalism with the publication of the first edition of "La Cité", a daily sponsored by the Christian Workers' Movement ('MOC'). He stayed with it for ten years. The "Boy", as the editor William Ugeux affectionately called him, was first employed in the Foreign Department where he summarised kilometres of telegrams concerning the Korean War. On 30th October 1950, just after his 18th birthday, he wrote and signed his first article entitled 'The World is hungry'. Two years later he was assigned to the General News Department where he wrote many articles on current affairs. In February 1953 he covered the floods in the Netherlands which killed nearly 2,000 people. In 1956 he was sent to Hungary where he witnessed the uprising in Budapest. His series of articles about Hungary earned him the Rotiers prize. In 1958 he covered the Universal Exhibition in Brussels. However Frédéric François, neither a militant union member nor as 'Christian' as "La Cité" would have liked, found the atmosphere at this militant newspaper rather stifling, particularly as he did not always share the political views of the editor. In 1960 he passed an examination for journalists at the RTB (Belgian Radio and Television) which replaced the 'INR' that same year. He explains: "Whereas some people speak on TV as though they were writing, they told me that I wrote as I spoke. So why not be content to speak…"
Radio and Television
Frédéric François started work with the Public Radio and Television organisation on 1st July 1960, the very day on which the Belgian Congo gained its independence. At first he worked for the radio and covered the big international events of the day for radio news broadcasts: the civil strife in Cyprus in the first years of the decade, the partition of Berlin in 1961, the Algerian civil war in 1962, and above all from 1960 to 1964 the conflicts in the Congo, previously a Belgian colony. He also reported on numerous occasions for a weekly radio program called: "Bruits du Monde" (Sounds from the World): the black power problem in the USA, the assassination of J F Kennedy in 1963 and of Martin Luther King in 1968. In 1962 he became Editorial Secretary and started a program on domestic politics. His last significant work for the radio in Belgium was in April 1964 when he covered the strike by the country's doctors and the negotiations at Val Duchesse which followed. In July of that year he returned to the Congo for the terrible rebellion lead by Pierre Mulele, which conquered 75% of the country, and the return of Tschombé as Prime Minister. He was seriously shocked by the death of his colleague cameraman, Francis Ponchaux, killed alongside him by a hail of bullets in Bukavu. He also commented on the fall of Stanleyville to rebel forces and its liberation in November 1964. On his return the Board of Directors moved him on to Television news, and he continued coverage of events in Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo for TV. From January 1966 in addition to Central Africa Frédéric François, or "Freddy" as he was called at the RTB, specialised in domestic Belgian politics, to which he gave new vigour with his penetrating interviews of politicians. It is moreover he who started the first domestic political program on television. It was at Val Duchesse that he made his name and gave a new tone to the RTB: that of a newspaper journalist who knows the precise importance of events and the Radio and TV reporter who uses his eyes and ears, who must above all record the crucial moment. It should also be noted that the RTB, at the time still somewhat influenced by attitudes of the old INR, was very apprehensive of anything to do with politics. Until then the RTB limited itself to the Reports and Chronicles of the Parliament which were highly prudent and obliged to remain neutral. Year after year politics took an increasingly important place on TV news, and when in 1968 the organisation of Television News was restructured into cells, Freddy constituted himself into the Political Cell. On 13th June 1966 he started a political program called "Faire le Point", in the form of a weekly debate, and in February 1969 "Face ? la Presse" (Face the Press), which was a round table of politicians and newspaper reporters. From 1970 he was in sole charge of these two political programs which were aired on Sunday, quite simply because of all the journalists involved in news broadcasts he was the most highly qualified. His independent style, his direct and incisive questions, sometimes almost impertinent, were disconcerting to the politicians he invited to take part. He was at pains to reveal not so much the political parties and ideas as the men and women themselves, politicians, cut off from ordinary citizens and largely unaware of the day to day problems of the people by the activity in Parliament, where they were surrounded by legal hurdles, trapped by linguistic difficulties and increasingly bogged down by the desires of the three communities which compose Belgium. "Faire le Point" became the most important program providing political information to Francophone Belgium. It remains so to this day under the new name of "Mise au Point".
Education
In addition to his work as a journalist in the civil service, Frédéric François tried to impart his fervour for the profession to, and share his experience with, young would-be journalists. From 1964 to 1967 he taught at the Institute for Belgian Journalists alongside Messrs. Cordier and Recht of 'Les Nouvelles de la Presse', and from 1969 to 1982 he directed a seminar on journalism and news reporting at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) as well as supervising practical exercises in Radio and Television.
A political interlude
1974 came a radical change of direction: the journalist-reporter took up a political career. "I had behind me nearly 25 years of political reporting and had become rather bored. I wanted to see things from inside. I said to myself: 'Since politics occupy me, why shouldn't I occupy myself with politics?' On the spur of the moment I replied 'Yes' to the offer of Nothomb and Henri-François Van Aal, both Social Christians." Thus it was that he resigned from the Television and was elected on the list of the PSC to sit in the Senate as provincial Senator for Li?ge from 1974 to 1977. He participated in the Commissions for Economic Affairs, Communications and Post Office, Telephone and Telegraph as well as that concerned with the naturalisation of foreigners. During this period he was also Secretary (1974-1975) and Vice President (1975-1977) of the Walloon Regional Council. In 1977 he was elected as Member of Parliament for the circumscription of Huy-Waremme. As a member of the Walloon Regional Economic Council, he was particularly interested in economic expansion as well as by the difficulties faced by the self-employed and middle management staff. Regionalisation and foreign trade were also amongst his centres of interest. Other matters which concerned Frédéric François included: Energy, Communications, Public Transport, the Environment and problems of water management. In February 1981 he was named Parliamentary Administrator and became a member of the Commission for Foreign Trade and the Economy. His time as a Member of Parliament came to an end in October of that year and in November he was re-elected Provincial Senator for Li?ge. In 1985 however he left Parliament as he was unable to bear the discipline of the PSC and considered the ten years consecrated actively to politics as disappointing. "I quit journalism because I was curious and thought I could bring something new to the politics I thought I knew so well. I wanted to go and see what was happening on the other side, thinking I could do better than what I observed being done. But I found it very difficult to put up with the burdens of politicians. Twenty-five years as a journalist had taught me always to try to be objective which does not fit easily into the political mould. In addition I had serious ethical differences with the leaders of the Party. Whereas the PSC was only beginning to come to terms with the idea of separation from religion, I was already vigorously defending the right to legal abortions for women." His period in politics did however convince him of one thing: he was a journalist through and through. Politicians are not allowed to broadcast for two years after leaving politics, so Freddy went into the restaurant business at the Auberge des Ma?eurs in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. This convinced him of something else: he was not a businessman either!
Return to the first love
In 1987 Pierre Delrock, then Editor of news broadcasting, asked Freddy to return to the RTBF (French speaking Radio and Television in Belgium). He accepted immediately and started work there again on 1st November. He had to restart his carer all over again from zero as a trainee. On 31st December however he returned to "La Cité" for one day as Editor for the very last edition of the daily where he had started thirty-seven years earlier.
On television he was now solely employed on foreign politics, particularly in Central Africa, because, in view of his period in domestic politics, he could no longer be involved in that. The young-old foreign correspondent travelled the World. He returned to Rwanda and Burundi where he had been in the sixties and seventies but was also to be found wherever in the World major events were occurring in the nineties: the Gulf war, Irak, the genocide in Rwanda, the assassination of ten Belgian UN soldiers in 1994, Zaire in 1997 when Kabila seized power. Considered as THE authority on questions concerning Congo/Zaire, he was always careful to give even-handed and intelligible commentary of the news as it really was. In 1992 Freddy was awarded the Léon Thoorens prize for his remarkable career. In the same year he was given the responsibility for the International and European Departments.
An active pensioner
On 31st October 1997, having reached retirement age, Freddy announced his retirement to the surprise of everyone on Television News. Thus ended a career which lasted 47 years, first in the written press and then in Radio and Television, where his clear narration earned him the affection and esteem of viewers, politicians and colleagues alike. That day the RTBF lost one of its pillars, a real journalist, a prudent globe-trotter, a reliable correspondent and a popular figure. But Frédéric François lived for his profession and was not able to disappear completely. In 1998 he wrote a book about the problems of the PSC and participated in writing another on how Kabila seized power. In 2006 he wrote a partial autobiography: "Frédéric François, le journalisme dérangeant", in which he recounts the great moments in his career. Today he still sometimes gives conferences about journalism.
Private life and more
Freddy is a child of the war. He was brought up in Brussels with his sister. At the age of 18 he was unable to go to university for lack of money. When he began his long career as a journalist Freddy used to supplement his income by singing in a few Brussels bistros. Frédéric François, the singer, regularly won competitions with his renditions of Trenet, Montand and other popular singers. He also earned some pocket money helping his uncle, Albert Van Cleemput, put on firework displays.
During his professional life Freddy struck up many unlikely and varied friendships such as those with André Cools (PSB), Vanden Boeynants (PSC), Pierre Descamps (PLP), Jean Gol (PRL) and André Wynen.
Now aged eighty, Freddy is married for the third time. With his first wife, Flore, he had four children: Joëlle, Dominique, Alain and Fabienne. Frédéric, junior, was born to his second wife, Gaby. No children were born of his third marriage to Ania, but he helped her bring up her son Daniel, who he considers as his 6th child. He has 14 grand-children and one great grand-child, a son. When not cooking sumptuous food, he looks after his fish pond, his garden and his two dogs. He reads the press assiduously, in particular articles about Belgian and foreign politics and doesn't hesitate to express his opinion…
This short biography is drawn almost exclusively from a series of articles written as a mini-thesis in 1999 and 2000 by Madame Martine Pauwels, then studying journalism at the Free University of Brussels. Some additions and corrections were made by Frédéric François (jr), and a translation into the Dutch language was made by Zandbergen & Co in August 2012.
English translation - Johnny Nevall
biography