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LEGION D'HONNEUR

Artist spurns Legion d’Honneur over integrity fears

One of France's best-known comic book creators, Jacques Tardi, has refused the country's highest honour saying he does not want to fall under any political influence.

Published: 2 January 2013 18:20 CET
Artist spurns Legion d'Honneur over integrity fears
Photo: Alain Julien/AFP (file)

Tardi, best known for his works on the horrors of war and his Adèle Blanc-Sec fantasy series, said he had learned this week that he was to receive the Legion d'Honneur medal.

"Being fiercely attached to my freedom of thought and creativity, I do not want to receive anything, neither from this government or from any other political power whatsoever," he said in a statement.

 "I am therefore refusing this medal with the greatest determination."

Tardi, 66, created one France's best-known heroines with Adèle Blanc-Sec, a paranormal investigator operating in Paris before and after World War I. The series has been translated into English and turned into a 2010 film by French director Luc Besson.

Tardi has been particularly lauded for his works on the daily brutality of war, with the 2011 translation of his "It Was the War of the Trenches" winning two Eisner Awards, the comic-book equivalent of the Oscars.

His latest work, "Moi René Tardi, prisonnier de guerre, Stalag II B", is based on his father's experiences as a prisoner of war of the Germans during World War II.

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LEGION D'HONNEUR

Macron to award London Legion d’Honneur for helping France fight Nazi Germany

France's Emmanuel Macron will head to London in June to present the city with his nation's highest accolade, the Legion d'Honneur, to cement cross-Channel ties even after Britain's exit from the EU.

Published: 1 February 2020 12:59 CET
Macron to award London Legion d'Honneur for helping France fight Nazi Germany
Photos: AFP

“Dear British friends, you are leaving the European Union but you are not leaving Europe,” the president wrote in an open letter published Saturday by The Times of London.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's dramatic June 18, 1940, appeal from London, where he had escaped with the remnants of France's army, for French citizens to resist while awaiting UK and US help in fighting Nazi Germany.

“The French know what they owe the British, who allowed our Republic to live. I am coming to London in June to award the city the Legion d'Honneur, in tribute to the immense courage of a whole country and people,” Macron wrote.

He also noted that “the UK has been a central player in the European project… a more influential player than the British have often themselves imagined.”

But Macron acknowledged that the uncertainties surrounding Brexit are far from settled, not least the fallout on trade relations.

“Ease of access to the European market will depend on the degree to which the European Union's rules are accepted, because we cannot allow any harmful competition to develop between us,” he said.

The French president was largely alone in acknowledging Britain's official departure from the EU as of midnight (2300 GMT) Friday, ending 47 years of participating in the Continent's project for an “ever-closer union among the
people's of Europe.”

In a television address Friday, he called Brexit a “historic warning sign” indicating that “we need more Europe.”

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