I was adapting one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories, The Crime of the Brigadier, or, How Brigadier Gerard Slew the Fox for Graphic Classics©, and as usual I was trying to find a face suitable for the hero, Etienne Gerard, Hussar of Napoleon’s Cavalry; I need to visualise the character so that I can “see” how the story will look. I do this even though the artist who draws the strip often has his own ideas about how a character will look. In this case, I chose Gerard Depardieu as the model for the Brigadier; I love the actor and I think he is the epitome of Frenchness.

I also wanted to give the reader a flavour of the sharp humour Conan Doyle used to underline the weirdness of French manners as seen from the English point of view. I thought that dotting Gerard’s dialogue here and there with short French phrases might be a good way of emphasising his character, but there was a problem; I don’t know any more French than “Oui”. I tried using translator programs found on the Internet, but the results were unsatisfactory. Then I realised that I had an ace up my sleeve: my next door neighbour was born and bred a FRENCHMAN!

So I approached Professor Ronan de Kervenoael and asked if he would help me translate a couple of idiomatic sentences for the script. And I couldn’t have found a better helper. During the couple of years we were neighbours, I often enjoyed watching the friendly but sharp cut and thrust between him and my partner Nick; I realised that the endless wars between England and France are far from being over, although at least these days they are fought with words! I have to admit that, even though I had to support Nick because he is my partner, I had to acknowledge the sharpness of the wit coming from the French side of the garden fence. Although there is also an endless quarrel going on between the French and Italians about the supremacy and quality of food and wine, sometimes I found my point of view was nearer to that of my transalpine cousin than with the Brit!

Some choice French phrases supplied by Ronan. He also helped us with the script...

Soon after Professor De Kervenoael left England for Turkey, where he teaches marketing at Ankara University, but we still keep in touch.

I asked if he would be willing to answer a few questions. Here’s what he sent back. Talk about French wit…

Tin Tin or Asterix?
Asterix of course .... the multiplicity of actors and the less serious  plots are better I think

What was the first book you ever read?

Gaston Lagaffe  then asterix then tintin and milou

If your life were a book, who wrote it?

Someone that do not have any concept of backward or forwards, in multiple language as an adventure story that never finishes and with the cynical humour of Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear presenter)

What do you prefer to read at the dentist?

Nothing just never go to dentist got very good teeth

What do you wish you had bought but never got around to it?

A classic car probably Italian

It's a waste of time... to try to understand women

When you do research, do you trust the Internet or do you prefer to 
consult books?

Neither I talk to real people and look at real  'practices' including practionners ( all stakeholders), practices (the doing and actions in situ) and praxis (time and intensity)

Instead of sleeping pills, you would read a couple of pages of...

Not sure of that one what about
1- Taking care of my kid best insurance to be tired at any time really
2- sex
3- sex again
4- Margaret Thatcher bibliography

Why buy books?

So if you have a wobbly table you can fix it

Never give up... running after the life and dreams that one day you may have time to do

Sunday, June 22, 2008 4:15:49 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0]