He was an inescapable face of the weather. Alain Gillot-Pétré, born June 16, 1950 in Versailles, was one of the figures of the media world. From his history and geography studies, the Parisian followed a career in journalism and made his debut in the 1970s on television.
In 1981, Alain Gillot-Pétré was revealed to viewers by presenting the weather report on Antenne 2. Unlike his colleagues, the presenter uses his humor and his light tone to bring rain and shine every day to television. At the same time, he was a literary critic on France Inter, but also a weather columnist for the newspaper Liberation until 1986.
At the same time, Monsieur Météo changed channels and arrived on La Cinq, a channel founded by Silvio Berlusconi, who died on June 12, 2023, where he held the reins of C’est beau la vie, a game inspired by the Italian version of A gold family. Alas, the public is not at the rendezvous and the weather darkens for the host. After this parenthesis, Alain Gillot-Pétré left the public service to join the private group TF1 in 1987.
The presenter finds the weather maps and gives his news bulletin always with panache in front of millions of faithful. During his long career on the front page, Alain Gillot-Pétré has known happy days, like his 25 years on the air in 1997. But also more serious moments like this terrible discomfort live, on June 1, 1998. “I can’t more”, he apologizes to the French before returning the antenna.
Suffering in silence for several months, presenter Alain Gillot-Pétré prefers to continue his work. When he returns, he appears weaker and has a shaved head. At the dawn of the third millennium, the journalist died suddenly on December 31, 1999 at the age of 49. The public then learns that he had been battling terrible cancer for several years.
It was the presenter Claire Chazal who announced her disappearance at the start of the 20 Hours newspaper on TF1. “He should have been on the air at this very minute to present to you the last weather report of the year. Because despite the disease against which he had been fighting with great courage for two years, he had wanted to be there. And tonight we miss him.”
In his last wishes, the favorite weatherman of the French wanted his ashes to be carried away in a force 5 cyclone in Guadeloupe. A sublime island that the animator loved so much to spend his retirement there with his wife Marie-Claude. With France Sunday, the widow of the animator slipped this anecdote. “The ballot box is still there at a friend’s house. Alain has set the bar a little high”. 24 years later, his wish is still not granted.
