00:00Next now, it's time for Entre Nous on Paris Direct, and my guest today is a French
00:04maître d' who has made an impressive career for himself as a TV presenter in the UK.
00:10His name is Fred Syriacs, and British viewers know him best from the reality show First Dates.
00:15He's also come out with a book about all the places that he loves in the UK called
00:20Seriously British. Fred, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for spending some
00:24time with us here on France 24. How are you? Thank you very much for having me.
00:29Well, actually, you know, my book, Seriously British, is really about all the things that
00:34the French think about the Brits. So it's about our differences as two different countries,
00:38because we couldn't be further apart. You know, the Brits don't like to offend. They don't like
00:44to say anything that's going to put anybody in a situation that's going to embarrass them,
00:48whereas the French say whatever they think, whenever they want. It doesn't matter what
00:52it is. They just say it as it is. That is certainly true. And we're going to
00:55talk a bit more about your book and those cultural differences in just a minute. But
00:59just give us some background for those of our viewers who don't perhaps know you so well. How
01:03did a Frenchman from Limoges end up moving to the UK and having such a great career in TV?
01:09How did it happen? Well, I moved to start my career in hospitality. You know, I wanted to
01:14work in the Premier League of restaurants and work with the very best. And this is what I did
01:18at 20 years old. You know, I was an Anglophile. I loved everything Anglo-Saxon. And I crossed
01:24the channel on a one-way ticket and I never looked back. And television for me came as a result of
01:29the charity work I've done in Britain, helping disadvantaged kids get into training, education
01:34and full-time employment. My charity, The Right Course, what we do is we open restaurants in
01:40prisons so that offenders can train and learn the art of hospitality and the art of cooking and
01:46running a restaurant. So we currently have five restaurants within closed prisons in the UK,
01:51and we are hoping to open one in every single Britain prison.
01:55That's an incredible initiative. And again, it's so great to see someone who's not from
02:00a country have success within that country. France and the UK have always been frenemies,
02:04we could say. We often talk about this war between the frogs and les rose-bif as the French call the
02:09Brits. I mean, that's right. Just give us some context there. How far back does that clash of
02:13cultures go? And do you still feel that today? Well, it's historical. You know, I mean, people
02:18tell me about Agincourt. And Agincourt happened hundreds of years ago. But we have so much in
02:25common. For example, the Concorde was a Franco-British collaboration. And yet,
02:30when I was growing up in France, all I was hearing is that the Concorde was French.
02:34So we have been collaborating and partnering for years. And as a Frenchman who has been living in
02:39the UK for so long, I know that we are real friends. It just happens at a higher level.
02:45And I don't know why it carries on. But I think it comes from our differences. For example,
02:50in the book, I talk about our differences with our opinions with sex and love and relationships.
02:58And in fact, I am running a restaurant called The First Dates Restaurant, which is also a TV show,
03:04where daters come and hope to find love. And sometimes we can feel that the conversations
03:09can be quite cagey, but very soon they open up. You know, they are all people who are living in
03:15Britain, but they open up and you realize that there is not so much that divides us. We have
03:19so much more in common. No, indeed. And I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying.
03:23But still, there's always this kind of superficial sort of feeling each other out when you meet
03:27someone of a different culture, even someone like yourself who's lived there for so long.
03:31I mean, do you feel like your Frenchness is always the first thing people see or notice
03:35about you still or no? Well, obviously, I speak like that. So there is no mistaking where I come
03:42from, you know. But, you know, when I because I've been in the UK for 32 years now and, you know,
03:47in fact, you know, I left when I was 20. So I've been in the UK longer than I have been in France.
03:52And when I go to France, people sometimes tell me, well, you are not fully French anymore.
03:57But of course, when I'm in Britain, I'm definitely not fully British. I feel seriously British and
04:02I am very French. But what happens is after all these years, you kind of take on, you know,
04:07some of the nature and the characteristic of people. You know, for example, the Brits,
04:11you know, they apologize for everything all the time, whether they're responsible or not. And
04:15during the Olympics, I was walking on the Champs-Élysées. I was walking up, you know,
04:19my daughter was competing for Team GB, actually, in the diving. She subsequently won a medal.
04:24And I was walking up and somebody bumped into me. I turned around. I went, so sorry.
04:28And this lady just walked past me. I went, and I just I mean, the irony wasn't lost on me. You
04:34know, I was just publishing my new book, Seriously British, about the differences and the quirks
04:38between the French and the Brits. And here I am acting very British in France, in my own country.
04:43Your third culture, as we say these days. So you have described your book,
04:47Seriously British, as being a Frenchman's love letter to the UK. And it is funny because,
04:52you know, many of the things you talk about in the book, like British food and wine are usually
04:55things that the French make fun of. I mean, your mission is to debunk these French myths
05:00about the Brits. So what for you is the biggest myth, would you say, to start?
05:06Well, the biggest myth is that we are not friends. You know, this is not true. I mean,
05:10it may be that we have opinions, we have views, you know, which are very superficial. But when
05:15people, whether they are Brits or French, go to each other's countries or houses,
05:19people invariably get on and people like each other. I think that we have to get past
05:26these differences, you know, the historical differences, really. But I think it takes time.
05:30And I think that what happened with my book and people come to me and they say, Fred, you know,
05:35I love your book because I can recognize myself in it. British people recognize themselves and
05:40they can see themselves and therefore they can see what they do right and what they do wrong.
05:44And the same for me. And there's not just things that are about personality types. I mean,
05:48just the weather. The French are always complaining about how it's always so
05:52rainy and gray in the UK. But I don't know if you've been following,
05:55but the weather we've had here in France these last few days, I'd say actually the opposite is
05:59true. Do you think that the weather has any kind of effect on the British type?
06:04Well, I was on the phone with my mom yesterday and, you know, she's retired. She's 76. And she
06:09says, Fred, I couldn't get out today. It was raining all day. It was awful. It was so gray.
06:14Me and your dad, we just stayed in front of the TV. So I think that at the moment,
06:18weather is changing. You know, when the very fact that, for example, in Britain,
06:21we are making better and better wine, you know, the sparkling wines, for example, are winning a
06:26lot of blind tasting competitions, even ahead of champagnes or cavas or sparkling Italian wines.
06:33So things are changing. And what's happening in terms of the food in Britain, you know,
06:38is that there is a rebirth or a renaissance, if you like, of a produce because it's all about
06:45produce. And it's about, you know, the fish. It's about the larder. It's about all the beautiful
06:49meat. And we've got a lot of people who are championing this produce. And as a result,
06:53you know, the standards are going up and people are eating better and better.
06:58Which is good to hear, because the really the touchy subject seems to be between the French
07:01and the British is the cuisine. So given that, Fred, and given how you have a foot in each
07:06country, so to speak, we've prepared for you a series of comparisons. I'm going to give them
07:10to you and I want you to pick the one you like the best and very quickly why. OK, OK, here we go.
07:16Fish and chips or steak frites? Oh, I like them both. You can't do that to me. I'm sorry.
07:23I like them both because they are so typically French and British. I like them both.
07:28OK, here's another one. Poulet rôti, so roast chicken or Sunday roast.
07:33I like a poulet rôti, but the poulet rôti can be a Sunday roast. The thing is, in France,
07:38I remember when I was growing up, I could have a poulet rôti on Monday or Wednesday or maybe
07:42on Sunday. But the Sunday roast, of course, is typically British. It's on Sunday. It could be
07:47beef, pork. It could be lamb. It could be so many different things. But a Sunday roast on Sunday is
07:53beautiful, I have to say. Yes. OK, one last comparison just to wrap up. This might be
07:57a tricky one. Croissant or bacon sandwich? Oh, what are you asking me all these difficult
08:05questions? Have you ever had a delicious bacon sandwich on a Friday morning with beautiful white
08:10bread, some butter, lots of pepper and some brown sauce? This is so delicious. And if you're a
08:15French person and you've never had it, you've got to have it. Of course, I don't have to sell the
08:19croissant. Everybody loves a croissant, never mind the day of the week. But yeah, I mean,
08:24a bacon sandwich. This is beautiful. Fred Syriacs, thank you so much for sharing this Franco-British
08:30comparison with us today here on Paris Direct. Your new book is called Seriously British,
08:34and it's out now. Thank you so much. Thank you.
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