See also: 2007 in France, other events of 2008, 2009 in France.
Events from the year 2008 in France.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- President - Nicolas Sarkozy
- Prime Minister - François Fillon
- Interior Minister - Michèle Alliot-Marie
- Finance Minister - Christine Lagarde
- Foreign Minister - Bernard Kouchner
[edit] Events
- 1 January - Smoking banned in all public places (including bars and restaurants) in France.
- 2 February - Wedding of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni. [1]
- 9 March and 16 March - Cantonal elections held. [2]
- 1 July - France assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
- 2 July - Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces.
- 13 July - First meeting of Mediterranean Union, in Paris
- 10 September - Activation of Large Hadron Collider, localized between France and Switzerland
- 4 October - 50th Anniversary of the French Constitution of 1958 (French Fifth Republic).
- October : Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier - the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
[edit] Arts and Literature
- Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis : best French box office in France.
- Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio : the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature
[edit] Sport
- 22 June - French Grand Prix.
- 5 July to 27 July - Tour de France. [3]
- Beach Soccer World Cup in Marseille [4]
[edit] Births
[edit] Deaths
[edit] January
- 3 January - Henri Chopin, avant-garde poet and musician (b.1922).
- 5 January - Raymond Forni, Socialist politician (b.1941).
- 5 January - Louis Hon, soccer player (b.1924).
- 7 January - Maryvonne Dupureur, Olympic athlete (b.1937).
- 7 January - Marcel Mouly, artist (b.1918).
- 7 January - Jean-Claude Vrinat, restaurateur (b.1936).
- 12 January - Louis Alexandre Raimon, hair stylist (b.1922).
- 16 January - Raymond Cambefort, one of the last three fully verified World War I veterans living in France (b.1900).
- 16 January - Pierre Lambert, Trotskyist leader (b.1920).
- 17 January - Carlos, singer, entertainer and actor (b.1943).
- 17 January - Madeleine Milhaud, actress (b.1902).
- 20 January - Louis de Cazenave, at the time of his death, the oldest French poilu still alive (b.1897).
- 29 January - Philippe Khorsand, actor (b.1948).
[edit] February
- 2 February - Roger Testu, cartoonist (b.1913).
- 6 February - Gwenc'hlan Le Scouëzec, writer and Grand Druid of Brittany (b.1929).
- 12 February - Jean Prouff, soccer player and manager (b.1919).
- 13 February - Henri Salvador, singer (b.1917).
- 13 February - Roger Voisin, trumpeter (b.1918).
- 18 February - Alain Robbe-Grillet, writer and filmmaker (b.1922).
- 19 February - Jean-Michel Bertrand, politician (b.1943).
- 28 February - Gérard Calvet, Roman Catholic abbot (b.1927).
[edit] March
- 12 March - Lazare Ponticelli, last surviving official French veteran of the First World War (b.1897).
- 17 March - Roland Arnall, businessman and diplomat in the United States (b.1939).
- 19 March - Chantal Sébire, teacher and euthanasia campaigner (b.1955).
- 25 March - Thierry Gilardi, football and rugby commentator (b.1958).
- 26 March - Christian Bergelin, politician (b.1945).
- 27 March - Jean-Marie Balestre, sports executive (b.1921).
- 30 March - Marie-Françoise Audollent, actress (b.1943).
[edit] April
- 9 April - Jacques Morel, actor (b.1922).
- 11 April - Claude Abbes, international soccer player (b.1927).
- 17 April - Aimé Césaire, poet, author and politician (b.1913).
- 19 April - Germaine Tillion, anthropologist (b.1907).
- 20 April - Farid Chopel, actor, comedian and singer (b.1952).
- 23 April - Jean-Daniel Cadinot, film director and producer (b.1944).
[edit] May
- 9 May - Pascal Sevran, TV presenter and author (b.1945).
- 10 May - Paul Haeberlin, chef and restaurateur (b.1923).
[edit] June
- 1 June - Yves Saint Laurent, fashion designer (b.1936).
- 6 June - Paul Tessier, surgeon (b.1917).
- 11 June - Jean Desailly, actor (b.1920).
- 18 June - Jean Delannoy, actor, screenwriter and film director (b.1908).
- 26 June - Lilyan Chauvin, actress and writer (b.1925).
- 27 June - Frédéric Botton, lyricist and composer (b. c1937).
- 27 June - Raymond Lefèvre, orchestra leader, arranger and composer (b.1929).
[edit] July
- 10 July - Bernard Cahier, Formula One photo-journalist (b.1927).
- 28 July - Pierre Berès, bookseller and antiquarian book collector (b.1913).