bild
Grenoble 24 aout 1960 / jacques brel au theatre de verdure. The French-speaking world is gearing up for a nostalgia fest for arguably its most famous troubadour Jacques Brel who died of lung cancer aged 49 on October 9, 1978 with films, books, an exhibition in Brussels and an auction in Paris. The auction has been described as the biggest ever for a Francophone singer and likened to the auction house's sales in London of Beatles memorabilia. Some 90 lots, worth an estimated half a million euros will go under the hammer, including records one signed by singer friend Serge Gainsbourg, posters from his debut, three of his guitars and manuscripts. Also on offer are aerial maps and pilot's licences belonging to Brel, an accomplished aviator. But the piece de resistance at between 50-70,000 euros is a small, yellowing school notebook containing the first version of one of his most famous works, Amsterdam, written in Bic Biro. The works belong to relations of Brel's former girlfriend, Sylvie Rivet, with whom he lived on and off from 1960-70 in Roquebrune-Cap Martin, southern France where he wrote some of his best-known titles. (KEYSTONE/MAXPPP/archives )