35 years ago, Coluche launched the Restos du coeur on Europe 1

From an improvised call 35 years ago was born the great adventure of Restos du coeur.

We are on Europe 1, this September 26, 1985 when Coluche, the host of the program "Y will be for everyone" launches into an improvised tirade.

"If, sometimes, there are brands that hear me, if there are people who are interested in sponsoring a free canteen that we could start doing in Paris and then that we would display in the big cities of France, we are ready to help a company like that, which would set up a restaurant which would initially have the ambition of having 2,000 or 3,000 meals a day for free ".

"I throw the idea like that ..."

 "We are ready to receive donations from all over France. When there is a surplus of food and we destroy it to maintain the prices on the market, we might be able to recover them. We will try to do that one day. a large canteen, perhaps this winter, free. I throw the idea like that. If there are those who listen to us and are interested, they write to us ", continues Coluche on the antenna of Europe 1.

And nothing was really planned, recalled at the end of 2017 on our antenna Philippe Gildas, a great friend of the comedian.

"Coluche did not leave with the exact idea of ​​the Restaurants, we must do justice to those who had it, but whom we do not know: these are the people, the listeners of Europe 1 at the time, who kept saying that something had to be done, "remembered at the time the former director of the station, who died in October 2018.

"Coluche has shown himself to be of great generosity and incredible charity"

Laurent Cabrol abounds.

"It was downright improvised. Suddenly, it crossed the minds of the Coluche team. They said: 'Hey, look at all these unsold goods! Something should be done with it'", recalls the famous weather presenter, Coluche's office neighbor at the time.

“At the same time, there was a huge campaign for Ethiopia. There were constant calls, including on Europe 1, to say that there were food problems also in France,” adds Philippe Gildas.

"In this affair, Coluche revealed himself as a great person, of great generosity and incredible charity, which meant that in any case he did not even listen to the critics. We have no idea of ​​everything. what he got personally from Europe, in Brussels, ”explained the journalist.

"His strength is that he was incredibly stubborn."

Inauguration in Gennevilliers, Goldman called to write the song

The appeal is immediately heard.

In December 1985, TF1 thus broadcasts live a special program bringing together artists, politicians and sportsmen: the first Restos du Cœur see the light of day.

From the association's first campaign, which ended in spring 1986, 5,000 volunteers distributed no less than 8.5 million meals.

At Coluche's request, Jean-Jacques Goldman wrote the

in express

 initially performed by Yves Montand, Michel Drucker or Nathalie Baye, then taken over by dozens of artists over the years. 

The inauguration of the Restaurants took place in Gennevilliers, in the Parisian suburbs "because Jacques Chirac (then mayor of the capital) had said no for Paris. It was not a quiet road, do not believe!" remembers Laurent Cabrol.

"Coluche came to pick me up at 7 in the morning in his candy-pink car. He said: 'come with me, motherfucker, we're going to Gennevilliers!'

In the middle of the road, we stop in a Prisunic. He picks up all the stuff for the kids, whole crates. He puts everything in the car. We arrive there, we see a military tent, in the middle of a vacant lot, in the rain. There was a camera. We told Michel [Coluche, editor's note]: 'carry the crate on your shoulder, we will film you'. He distributed the cakes and toys, it lasted half an hour. It was the first Resto du cœur. "