Alexis Patri 4:00 p.m., November 13, 2021, modified at 4:05 p.m., November 13, 2021

In William Leymergie's program "Samedi en France", television host Michel Drucker recounts his childhood in Vire in Normandy, between wanting to take the train to Paris, happiness spent on the beaches of his native region, "bullshit" of youth and funfair memories.

INTERVIEW

Before becoming a TV star and installing his legendary red sofa in the Gabriel studio located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, Michel Drucker was the "little Michou", a child who grew up in the village of Vire, in Normandy. .

It is this period of his life that he recounts on Saturday in the program of William Leymergie 

Samedi in France. 

A sharing that is as much a confidence about the presenter's childhood as a travel guide for those who would like to spend a weekend in Calvados.

>> Find William Leymergie's shows every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Europe 1 as well as in podcast and replay here 

The dream of the train to Paris

Little Michou grew up not far from Vire station.

He even saw from his bedroom window pass the Granville-Paris.

"It is in the evening, at 6 pm, that the train which came from Granville and which went to Paris made me dream", recalls.

"I was thinking of getting on the train and only coming back when I had proven myself."

Ruins and beaches

"Vire is a city which suffered a lot and which was bombed. It was practically razed", continues the host of

Vivement Dimanche

.

"So I went through the reconstruction."

But little Michou also regularly escaped from the city under reconstruction for the surrounding beaches.

"It was Saint-Pair, Jullouville, Quiberon, Saint-Jean-de-Thomas ...", list Michel Drucker.

"If you go to the region, you will see, it's a pretty coast. And then, a little higher, there was the coast that went up towards Cherbourg, the Cotentin. And there, we approached Omaha Beach and the beaches of Landings dear to Gérard Lenorman. You have to go back there, because it's a region steeped in history. This is the France of my early childhood. "

Fun fair memories

Growing up, Michel Drucker also discovered the activities that animate Vire.

And in particular the Friday market on the Place du Château.

"In this square, there was what we call the Rogations. That is to say the big annual fun fair. And as my father was the doctor of the fairgrounds, to please him, they gave him the small tickets for bumper cars, ”he smiles.

"If I had worked well, I was entitled to free tickets to go fool around on bumper cars."

Youthful "bullshit"

"The fool", the young Michel Drucker also did it at the Porte-Horloge with his friends.

"We were doing bullshit," he admits mischievously.

"Summer time did not exist. Winter time either. But, when night came, we advanced or delayed the Porte-Horloge in the middle of the night, to see the faces of the bourgeoisie in the early morning. And it ended one day at the police station. "