Ferdinand Lop
Ferdinand Samuel Lop, later Samuel Ferdinand-Lop, known as Ferdinand Lop was a French Jewish journalist, draughtsman, English language teacher, writer, poet, and humourist. He stood repeatedly as a satirical candidate for the French Presidency and for the Académie française.
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;
- 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 – 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 ;
- 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;
- the removal of the last coach from Paris métro trains.
He died and was buried at Saint-Sébastien-de-Morsent.