Laurent Broomhead (born 5 February 1954) is a French

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcaster and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, specialized in

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

. As a horse riding enthusiast, he owns and raises

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

Biography

Laurent Broomhead was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the

17th arrondissement The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignoll ...

. While he was a student in preparatory classes of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at the

Lycée Condorcet The Lycée Condorcet () is a school founded in 1803 in Paris, France, located at 8, rue du Havre, in the city's 9th arrondissement. It is one of the four oldest high schools in Paris and also one of the most prestigious. Since its inception, var ...

in Paris, he was noticed on 1 February 1972 as a brilliant candidate on the game show ''

Des chiffres et des lettres ''Des chiffres et des lettres'' (, "numbers and letters") is a French television programme. It was created by Armand Jammot and tests the numeracy skills and vocabulary of two contestants. It is one of the longest-running game shows in the world ...

'' broadcast on the second French channel.Patrice Laffont présente un jeune candidat de 17 ans, Laurent Broomhead, étudiant en mathématiques. Il s'agit de sa première télévision (ORTF - 01/02/1972)
He then studied electronic engineering at the

ENSEEIHT The École nationale supérieure d'électrotechnique, d'électronique, d'informatique, d'hydraulique et des télécommunications (ENSEEIHT) is a French engineering school (Grande École) which offers education in Electrical Engineering, Electron ...

(

École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, d'Électrotechnique, d'Informatique, d'Hydraulique et des Télécommunications The École nationale supérieure d'électrotechnique, d'électronique, d'informatique, d'hydraulique et des télécommunications (ENSEEIHT) is a French engineering school (Grande École) which offers education in Electrical Engineering, Electroni ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Career

Printing press

When he left school in 1976, he became a science journalist at ''Sciences et Avenir'' until 1985. He also wrote a number of books. He currently publishes a monthly chronicle in the magazine ''Profession vendeur''.

Television career

Patrice Laffont Patrice Laffont (born 21 August 1939 in Marseille) is a French television presenter, actor and entertainer. Career During the 1960s Laffont had a passion for acting, where he became a star on stage and screen with his friends Michel Fugain and M ...

took his young Count down wiz to ''Un sur cinq'', still on

Antenne 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 Ap ...

. The engineer was in charge of a science section. In 1978, upon

Jean-Pierre Elkabbach Jean-Pierre Elkabbach (born 29 September 1937) is a French journalist. Biography Elkabbach was born to an Algerian Jewish family in Oran in 1937, then the prefecture of the ''département d'Oran'' in French Algeria. He began his journalisti ...

's request, Laurent Broomhead presented the weather in

Patrick Poivre d'Arvor Patrick Poivre d'Arvor (PPDA; né Patrick Jean Marcel Poivre, ; born 20 September 1947) is a French TV journalist and writer. He is a household name in France, and nicknamed "PPDA". With over 30 years and in excess of 4,500 editions of televis ...

's news, a section he created. For four years, he popularized a more scientific approach to the weather forecast. From 1979 to 1983,Laurent Broomhead produced and broadcast scientific programs such as ''Objectif Demain'' and ''Planète Bleue''. He was then the youngest French TV producer. Again, he paved the way for future scientific programs such as

C'est pas sorcier ''C'est pas sorcier'' (literally ''It's Not Sorcery'', French for "it's not rocket science") was a popular France, French live-action, science education television program that originally aired from September 19, 1993, to February 1, 2014. In tota ...

. Laurent Broomhead was the first to show the cloning of calves embryos. He explained the

test tube babies In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) fr ...

in ''Les bébés de l'an 2000''. From 1991 to 2000, Laurent Broomhead returned to television to co-host the French version of ''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

'' with

and

Marie-Ange Nardi Marie-Ange Nardi (born 2 April 1961 in Marseille) is a French television presenter for TF1. She began in television as a continuity announcer for France 3 Marseille while studying psychology in university, later becoming a national announcer with ...

. The viewers elected the triplet best TV hosts, twice, at the septs d'or ceremony. Besides, Broomhead also won ''Questions pour un champions TV presenters' trophy. He commented the

Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

live from

Fécamp Fécamp () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography Fécamp is situated in the valley of the river Valmont, at the heart of the Pays de Caux, on the Alabaster Coast. It is around ...

. He also took part in the twelfth ''Nuit des Étoiles"". He regularly appeared in the charity event ''Téléthon''. In September 2000, he joined Martine Allain-Regnault to produce and present the health program ''Savoir Plus Santé'' on

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

. The program ended in 2006. From October 2007 to 2016, he presented the morning show on Equidia channel every other morning, hence fulfilling his passion for horse racing.

Television programs

*1978–82 : ''Météo'' (

) *1979–81 : ''Objectif Demain'' (Antenne 2) *1982–83 : ''Planète Bleue'' (Antenne 2) *1983 : ''Enquête publique'' (Antenne 2) *1991–2000 : '' Pyramide'' (Antenne 2 and

) *2000–06 : ''Savoir Plus Santé'' (France 2) *2002 : ''12^e Nuit des Étoiles'' (France 2) *2007–present : ''La Matinale'' (Equidia and Equidia Live)

Radio career

In 1983, he joined

France Inter France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...

where he produces and presents a number of scientific programs such as ''Les Récréatifs Associés''. In 1984, still on France Inter, he hosts a daily program with an intellectual game titled ''Et un raton-laveur''. From 2005 to 2007, he presents ''La science en livre'' on

France Info France Info (stylised as franceinfo:) is a French public broadcasting service produced in collaboration with France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel. The service includes a radio ...

, a weekly chronicle about scientific books.

Communication and multimedia

Laurent Broomhead is a communication consultant in industry, energy, environment, scientific and medical research. He prepares and presents several events, including conferences and awards. He was also the communication advisor of ''Entente radicale écologiste'' presented by members of the

Radical Party of the Left The Radical Party of the Left (french: Parti radical de gauche, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG was a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Socia ...

at the

Elections in the European Union Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

of 1984. Laurent Broomhead is the manager of the company LBC, which in addition to multimedia, produces the television program ''Sophie Club'' broadcast on Equidia, a weekly magazine hosted by

Sophie Thalmann Sophie Thalmann (born 7 May 1976) is a French TV host and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Lorraine 1997 and Miss France 1998. Early life and education Thalmann was born in Bar-le-Duc in the department of Meuse, the daughter of ...

and dedicated to young people interested in horseback riding. The company also produces some documentaries such as ''La Route du Poisson'' (2008) and ''Les chevaux du Puy-du-Fou'' (2009).

Passion of horses

His grandfather was a lad at

Maisons-Laffitte Maisons-Laffitte () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the northern Île-de-France Regions of France, region of France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of northwestern Paris, from its ...

and gave him the passion for horses. He discovered the

hippodrome The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used i ...

s at a very early age. It is also for the Hippodrome de La Cépière that he chose to study at the École d'Ingénieurs of

. He has been an owner and raiser of thoroughbreds for a number of years and was even elected member of the Committee of

France Galop France Galop is the governing body of flat and steeplechase horse racing in France. It was founded on May 3, 1995, as the result of the amalgamation of four different industry organizations. Prominent owner/breeder Jean-Luc Lagardère was elected ...

from 1999 to 2007, chaired by

Jean-Luc Lagardère Jean-Luc Lagardère (10 February 1928, Aubiet – 14 March 2003, Paris) was a major French businessman, CEO of the Lagardère Group, one of the largest French conglomerates. Jean-Luc Lagardère was a '' Supelec'' engineer. He began his caree ...

and then by

Édouard de Rothschild Édouard Étienne Alphonse de Rothschild (; born 27 December 1957) is a businessman and part of the French branch of the Rothschild family. Early life and education Édouard de Rothschild was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. He is the s ...

. He produced 700 short programs titled ''À cheval !'' with his company LBC for

from 1996 to 1998.

Bibliography

*''Voyage dans les étoiles'' (

Casterman Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Brussels, Belgium. History The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller or ...

, 1974) *''Je découvre la météorologie'' (A. Leson, 1978) *''Éviter les pièges de la hi-fi'' (

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

, 1979) *''La télévision déchaînée'' (co-written with Pierre Kohler, published in 1980 at Hachette) *''Objectif Demain'' (co-written with Pierre Kohler, Presses de la Renaissance, 1980) *''La Nature'' (Hachette Jeunesse, 1982) *''La Préhistoire'' (Hachette, 1982) *''Robots, ordinateurs et micro-électronique'' (France Loisirs, 1983) *''L'Univers'' (Hachette Jeunesse, 1984) *''À la conquête de l'espace'' (Fernand Nathan, 1991)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Broomhead, Laurent 1954 births Living people French science journalists French television producers French television presenters French science writers Television weather presenters French racehorse owners and breeders Mass media people from Paris French male non-fiction writers Radio France people