Pierre Giffard
| Pierre Giffard | |
|---|---|
Pierre Giffard
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| Born |
1 May 1853 Fontaine-le-Dun, Seine-Maritime, France |
| Died | 21 January 1922 (aged 68) Maisons-Laffitte |
| Residence | Paris |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names |
Arator at Le Vélo Jean-sans-Terre at Le Petit Journal |
| Occupation | Journalist, editor, historian, author, politician |
Pierre Giffard (1 May 1853 – 21 January 1922) was a French journalist, a pioneer of modern political reporting, a newspaper publisher and a prolific sports organiser. In 1892, he was appointed Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'Honneur and in 1900 he was appointed an Officier (Officer) of the Légion d'Honneur.
Parisian newspapers used sporting events as circulation aids, and Giffard created the Paris–Brest–Paris cycle race in 1891, the 380 kilometre Paris–Belfort running race in 1892, the world's first car race from Paris to Rouen in 1894, the Paris marathon in 1896, and a foot-race from Bordeaux to Paris in 1903.
Giffard served as the editor of Le Petit Journal and then the sports daily Le Vélo, where his passionate support for Alfred Dreyfus and thus his opposition to the car-maker Comte Jules-Albert de Dion over the whole Dreyfus affair led de Dion to create a rival daily, L'Auto, which in turn created the Tour de France cycle race.
Pierre Giffard's father was a lawyer and mayor in Fontaine-le-Dun. Pierre was taught from the age of six by Father Biville at Saint-Laurent-en-Caux and from eight at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen. He completed his schooling in Paris, at the Lycée Charlemagne in the Marais district. It was there that he developed his republican ideas.
The Franco-Prussian War started in 1870 and Giffard enrolled in the army, with his parents' reluctant permission, at Fontaine-le-Dun in Haute-Normandie. He joined the reserve army in November at Le Havre. There, following the custom of the time, he was made an officer. He became a lieutenant on 10 December 1870. At the end of the war he resumed his studies at Douai, where he gained a university degree in August 1871.
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