Pernaut was born in
Amiens,
Somme, on 8 April 1950. The regular presenter of station
TF1's lunchtime news bulletin, the
13 Heures (1pm) between 1988 and 2020, Pernaut's combination of avuncular personality and authoritative delivery made him one of France's most popular news readers. Also
editor-in-chief of the
bulletin, Pernaut long promoted a deliberate policy of trivial content in each edition, usually running items about local culture and traditional crafts towards the end of the broadcast. The approach won a regular audience of between seven and eight million for the
13 Heures, a considerable figure for a lunchtime news programme. From 1991 to 2010 he was also the longtime presenter of
Combien ça coûte ? (
How much does that cost?), a monthly
consumer programme, again on
TF1. Furthermore, from 1988 until his death Pernaut served on the
board of directors of
TF1 Group as a representative of the firm's employees. Pernaut, partner of former
Miss France winner
Nathalie Marquay, published his best-selling memoirs,
Pour tout vous dire.... (
To tell you everything... ), in 2005. Shortly before that, he published two volumes of ''Les magnifiques métiers de l'artisanat
(Splendid trades of the craft industry''), which were glossy, but informative, tomes devoted to the subjects which have made his news bulletins so distinctive. Pernaut died from
lung cancer in
Paris on 2 March 2022, at the age of 71. == References ==