Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the Berliner Philharmonie (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of organic and expressionist architecture.
Gérard Blitz (28 February 1912 – 3 March 1990) was a Belgian entrepreneur and Yogi.
Born in Antwerp, he was the son of Maurice Blitz and nephew of Gérard Blitz, both members of the Belgian water polo national team who won Olympic medals. Taking a Bronze in Water Polo, his Uncle Gerard, was one of only around eight Jewish athletes to win a medal in the 1936 Berlin Summer Games hosted by Nazi Germany.He was apolitical during the 1930s, but joined the French Resistance in World War II and showing a rebellious streak and strong anti-Fascist sentiments was briefly a member of the Communist Party, ending the association when he felt the organization's structure became more important than the individual. After the war, he founded Club Med.
On 27 April 1950, Gérard Blitz officially founded the Club Méditerranée association, having submitted the statues to the Paris Police Prefecture earlier in February. In the same year, he created Club Med as a non-profit, bringing the first group of vacationers to Alcudia on the Northern Coast of Majorca in the Baleric Islands South of Spain.Ironically, Blitz's first idea for what would become a luxurious resort for vacationers may have come in 1945, when he opened a village to rehabilitate Belgian survivors of Nazi concentration camps.Following in his father's footsteps, the Belgian-born Mr. Blitz initially found work as a diamond cutter.
In the beginning, vacationers led a somewhat Spartan lifestyle in tents, but the concept evolved as resort members later occupied straw huts, eventually enjoying a degree of luxury in modern hotels. Club Med found success with prepaid vacations that eliminated tipping, using beads for souvenirs or bar drinks, which relaxed guests by eliminating the need to carry much cash. Other resorts copied the concept.Featuring relaxing adventures in the sand and sun, the resort became one of the world's largest tourism groups, with a collection of hotels and ski lodges that featured over 87,000 beds. A great deal of credit for the resorts's success belongs to Gilbert Trigano who took over as president in 1963, and supplied the tents for the company in its early years. Blitz remained Honorary President throughout his life.Blitz was married twice and had four children.Gérard Blitz was also a promoter of yoga practice. He was secretary and then president of the European Union of Yoga from 1974 to his death in 1990 at the Cochin Hospital in Paris.
Philippe Geluck (born 7 May 1954 in Belgium) is a Belgian comedian, humorist, television writer and cartoonist, who sold more than 14 million albums worldwide. He studied at the INSAS (Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle, National Higher Institute of the Arts of Spectacle). His best-known work is the comic strip Le Chat (Le Cat in English-language editions), which is one of the ten bestselling Franco-Belgian comics series.Geluck created Le Chat in 1983, for publication in the daily newspaper Le Soir. By 1987, the strip is published in multiple newspapers and the first album in what will become a long series is put in print. In the 2000s, Le Chat went global, being translated into several languages and reproduced beyond French-speaking regions, such as the United States and Iran.While drawing Le Chat, Geluck also published other albums and series: Le Fils du Chat, Docteur G, Encyclopédies Universelles, Les Aventures de Scott Leblanc, Geluck se lâche.Geluck is also a theatre actor, and well known to the French-speaking public as a television personality, with his own shows (Lollipop, L’esprit de famille, La Semaine infernale, Le Jeu des dictionnaire) and as co-host with Laurent Ruquier and Michel Drucker.In addition to having received other honours, King Albert II of Belgium made him a Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) in 2009.
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach (29 September 1937 – 3 October 2023) was a French journalist.
Robert Haillet (26 September 1931 – 26 September 2011) was a French international tennis player. He competed in the Davis Cup a number of times, from 1952 to 1960.The iconic tennis shoe adidas Stan Smith was initially named "adidas Robert Haillet" when introduced in 1965, but was changed in 1971 after Haillet's retirement from tennis.Haillet staged a remarkable comeback in his fourth round match against Budge Patty at the 1958 French Championships. Patty was leading 5–0, 40–0 in the fifth set but could not convert his match points and Haillet won seven consecutive games to win the final set 7–5. Haillet reached the semi-finals of the French championships in 1960 (beating Neale Fraser before losing to Nicola Pietrangeli).].Haillet turned professional in mid 1960 when he joined the pro tour of Jack Kramer.His son Jean-Louis Haillet was also a tennis player.
Michel Demaret (18 January 1940 – 9 November 2000) was a Belgian politician.
Marie Marthe Augustine Lemaitre Brémont (née Mesange; 25 April 1886 – 6 June 2001) was a French supercentenarian and the oldest recognized person in the world from November 2000 until her death at age 115 years 42 days. Brémont is the fifth oldest French person to have ever lived, after longevity world record holder Jeanne Calment, Lucile Randon, Jeanne Bot, and Valentine Ligny.
Émile Fabre (24 March 1869 in Metz, France – 25 September 1955 in Paris) was a French playwright and general administrator of the Comédie-Française from 1915 to
1936.:227 He was greatly influenced by Balzac as a young man, and most of his best-known plays deal with the sacrifice of personal happiness to the pursuit of wealth. He also wrote the libretto for Xavier Leroux's opera Les cadeaux de Noël (The Christmas Gifts) which was a great success when it premiered in Paris in 1915.
Jean Galia (born 20 March 1905 in Ille-sur-Têt, Pyrénées-Orientales, died 17 January 1949 in Toulouse) was a French rugby union and rugby league footballer and champion boxer. He is credited with establishing the sport of rugby league in France in 1934, where it is known as rugby à treize ("rugby 13s").
Playing in the forwards, Galia made his international debut for the France national rugby union team in a 1927 test against England in Paris. After 20 internationals, He later played in France's first ever rugby league international, also against England in Paris, on 15 April 1934 and was captain of the France national rugby league team in its early days. Following France's tour of Northern England, Galia arranged a series of demonstration matches around France.The Courtney Goodwill Trophy, international rugby league's first, was presented for the first time in 1936 and depicted Galia, along with other pioneering greats of the code, James Lomas (Britain), Albert Baskiville (New Zealand) and Dally Messenger (Australia).In 1988 Galia was inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame.
Sir David Rowat Barclay (27 October 1934 – 10 January 2021) and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay (born 27 October 1934), commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaires. They were identical twin brothers and, until the death of David in 2021, had joint business interests primarily in media, retail and property.
The Sunday Times Rich List of 2020 estimated their wealth at £7 billion. They earned a reputation for avoiding publicity and have often been described as reclusive.
David's son, Aidan, manages their UK businesses. Their businesses have been accused of tax avoidance, by placing assets under ownership of companies registered abroad and controlled through trusts. Their Press Holdings company owns Apollo and The Spectator magazines and, through a wholly owned subsidiary (Press Acquisitions Limited), they also own Telegraph Group Limited, parent company of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.In 1993, the brothers bought the lease of the island of Brecqhou, one of the smallest of the Channel Islands, just off the coast of Sark.