Christophe Izard, father of children’s islanda flagship youth program of the 1970s, died on Sunday July 31, Pierre-Alek Beddiar, head of Osibo Productions, the host’s last production company, told AFP.
Aged 85, Christophe Izard is “left peacefully at home, this morning in the Paris region“. He joins in the stars other essential figures of Children’s Island… In recent years, the small screen had already mourned the disappearances of Régis Fassier (the puppeteer and lining of Casimir), Eliane Gauthier (Julie the candy seller) or even Patrick Bricard (François, student and balloon seller) .
The death of Christophe Izard has aroused a lot of reactions. “It accompanied and enchanted the childhood of several generations. Christophe Izard leaves us orphans of a happy country where it was spring every day“, reacted on Twitter the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak. Upset, the host Christophe Beaugrand also paid tribute to him: “Casimir (and many of our childhoods) are in mourning today. Goodbye Mr. Izard.“
How was The Children’s Island born?
After studying law, Christophe Izard, son of a renowned lawyer, began a journalistic career by chronicling the musical life of all of Paris. In 1968, he joined the ORTF, the first public television channel, before creating, developing and producing children’s island in 1974. He will write not only the first episodes, but will also sign the texts of the songs, including the famous Here comes the time, laughter and song… For almost 1,000 episodes, children’s island enchanted the ORTF, France 3, then TF1, before stopping in 1982.
From 1975, Christophe Izard also proposed another program, Wednesday visitorswhich was aimed at all child age groups, with cartoons such as Barbapapa and series like black Prince. To succeed children’s islandChristophe Izard will launch The village in the clouds, which will last until 1985 on TF1. In 1987, Christophe Izard will be ousted from the freshly privatized Une and will join Antenne 2. He will then create the cartoon Albert the Fifth Musketeer.