Those Crazy Gauls: Bobigny toasted Asterix
While explaining that someone had once told him that "any idiot" could be a scriptwriter for comic books, René Goscinny cheerfully admitted that that was when he knew he had found his calling! If the truth be told: Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny have never taken themselves too seriously - much to the delight of millions of readers!
And yet, on Wednesday, 15 October 2009, the University of Paris XIII in Bobigny awarded the two authors with honorary doctorates on the occasion of Asterix's fiftieth anniversary. A great tribute from a city that witnessed the birth of the world's most famous Gaul. It was, in fact, in the Albert Uderzo's very apartment back in August 1959 in Bobigny that these two friends came up with the names and first adventures of the characters renowned today throughout the world.
In tribute, the university invited Albert Uderzo and Anne Goscinny, René's daughter, to a ceremony in the main amphitheatre on Wednesday, 15 October, where it awarded them both with "honoris causa" degrees. The very same day, a plate commemorating the birth of Asterix took pride of place on the building where Albert Uderzo lived fifty years ago, and where the two friends found their inspiration one warm summer day in Bobigny.
An inspiration all the more intriguing since it wasn't until much later, in the 1990s, that the vestiges of an authentic Gaulish village was actually discovered in the very town of Bobigny! René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo obviously deserve this new distinction, having shown foresight worthy of Getafix the druid, himself!
Click on the photos to open up a slide show of Albert Uderzo and Anne Goscinny's day at Bobigny.
Our thanks go to Philippe Cauvin for the photographs.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
