Ferdinand Lop

Ferdinand Samuel Lop, later Samuel Ferdinand-Lop, known as Ferdinand Lop (10 October 1891 in Marseille – 29 October 1974 in Saint-Sébastien-de-Morsent) was a French Jewish journalist, draughtsman, English language teacher, writer, poet, and humourist.^[1] He stood repeatedly as a satirical candidate for the French Presidency and for the Académie française.^[2]

He married Sonia Seligman on 18 January 1923 in Paris.

During the French Fourth Republic, Lop stood on an electoral platform which consisted of:

• the elimination of poverty after 10 pm;^[3]
• the construction of a bridge 300 m wide, to shelter vagrants;
• the extension of the roadstead of Brest to Montmartre and of the Boulevard Saint-Michel to the sea (in both directions) – a policy reprised from an earlier satirical candidate, Paul Duconnaud;
• the installation of a slide in the Place de la Sorbonne, for students of the University of Paris [notorious for instigating political unrest];
• the nationalization of brothels, to give prostitutes the benefits of public servant status;
• the reduction of pregnancy from nine to seven months;
• the installation of moving pavements, to make life easier for wanderers;
• providing a pension to the widow of the unknown soldier;
• the relocation of Paris to the countryside, for fresh air;^[4]
• the removal of the last coach from Paris métro trains.

He authored numerous booklets, often with evocative titles, such as Thoughts and aphorisms (1951), Pétain and history: What I would have said in my inaugural speech at the Académie française if I had been elected (1957), History of the Latin Quarter (1960–1963), Where is France going? (1961) and Antimaxims (1973).

He died and was buried at Saint-Sébastien-de-Morsent.

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