Biography

Also famous for the "dictée de Pivot": each year in France, he writes a very difficult text to train French people to orthography, grammar... Lots of French-speaking persons like this challenge.

Became a member of the Académie Goncourt, the association that yearly awards the Prix Goncourt, France's top literary award. Although he never wrote a fiction book, members of the jury chose and elected him as "the man that has done the most these last decades for French books and literature", thanks to his TV shows.

Has his look-alike puppet in the French show "Guignols de l'info, Les" (1988).

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 and history.

On 10 April 2008 Pivot was made an honorary member of the Order of Canada.