Archives des People & Business Profiles

Emilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione, RIP 2026

There was a French man named Buffalo Bill whose mother was named Rosa! Yes really! OK, we admit it was his middle name, but Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione did exist. In fact he just passed away in March of 2026. His unusual name caused quite a stir when he went to vote and the officials called out “Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione a vote!”. So who was Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione? The Bouglione clan is the premier circus family of France. Perhaps you are familiar with their posters around Paris or have even been to the show at the Cirque d’Hiver. In the early days they were traveling circus performers. Before they became famous under their own name they tried various marketing strategies to draw crowds. One of them was capitalizing on another famous showman Buffalo Bill. After acquiring surplus posters from the 1905 French tour of Buffalo-Bill’s Wild West, the Bougliones launched the Stade Capitaine Buffalo-Bill in 1924. Despite the fact that their performance was hardly Wes…

French Entrepreneur Families

French entrepreneur families

Some of the most famous brands in France were initially and often still are family businesses. A few even headed by women! Meet six historic French entrepreneur families starting with Chaumet the creator of the 2024 Paris Olympics Medals.

Chaumet

Marie-Etienne Nitot was an 18th century creator. He started near the top apprenticing to Marie-Antoinette's personal jeweller. In 1780 he founded his own maison. He survived the trauma of the Revolution to thrive under Napoleon who had an ambition to re-make France a center for luxury and fashion. Beginning with Napoleon's coronation sword Nitot became an important creator for the Empire and one of the most sought after jewellers in Europe. His son took the reins in 1812 and set up on Place Vendome. Joseph Chaumet became the director in 1885. His signature in the time of the belle epoque was nature-inspired aigrettes and tiaras which were social symbols. Tiaras morph…

Robert Leroy, Priest and cyclist

Le Roy de la petite Reine

French Father Robert Leroy has an interesting way to relax and to connect with his parishioners. He's a priest and cyclist, and has a lovely a sense of humor. He has ridden 600,000km. That's the equivalent of 200 Tours de France, although he doesn't often compete since amateur races are most often scheduled... on Sunday mornings!

One competition he does participate in every year is the Clergy Championship which he has won more than once. Each year on the first of May this fraternal competition brings together anyone who is ordained for a short race of about 60km. About 50 clergy gathered in Brittany for the the 20th edition in 2019. Participation grew to 70 riders in 2025. Father Leroy is the only one to have competed in all the races.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcr5FtO1rj0

Father Leroy has been riding his bike for most of his life. He owns 7 or 8 bicycles. It was while riding one day in 1983 …

Christian Dior entrepreneur and innovator

Christian Dior, perhaps the most well-known French couturier, was born in Granville, Normandy in 1905. You can visit his childhood home still today. It overlooks the sea and has lovely gardens. His favorite colors of grey and very soft pink were inspired from the decor of this home. Dior’s timeless elegance in fashion draws its inspiration from Granville, the childhood home that shaped his creativity. Explore Villa Les Rhumbs, linger in its garden so as to take the first steps towards his creations and discover the very essence of his art. In 1910 the family moved to Paris, but kept the Granville home for summer escapades. During the roaring 20s, Christian Dior rubbed shoulders with the cultural milieu in Paris and making friends with the artists, painters, writers, musicians, and designers of the time. HIs first foray into business was to open an art gallery to show the works of his favorite painters which included Picasso, Braque, Matisse, and Dufy. The Golden Age ende…

Navigating the Tax Maze: U.S. Taxes for Americans Living in France

Navigating the Tax Maze: U.S. Taxes for Americans Living in France — FAQ Living the vie française comes with world-class healthcare, incredible food, and a high quality of life. However, it also comes with a unique set of administrative challenges. For American expats, the most complex of these is often the U.S. tax system. Because the U.S. is one of the only countries that taxes based on citizenship rather than residency, your tax obligations don’t end when you cross the Atlantic. Below are the most common questions Americans in France ask, with clear, practical answers to help you stay compliant. Do Americans living in France have to file U.S. taxes? Yes. The United States taxes its citizens and green card holders on worldwide income, regardless of where they live. If your income exceeds the IRS filing thresholds, you must file a U.S. tax return every year—even if you already pay tax in France and haven't earned a dollar in the States for years. Do I have to pa…

Independent Bookstore Day – 26 April

Saint George is the patron of booksellers thus his day was chosen as Independent Bookstore Day, an initiative of Association Verbes, which aims to promote independent bookstores and to maintain the special status they have in France in the face of ever more present threats, such as e-books. This initiative was started twenty-three years ago and today, Independent Bookstore Day is celebrated in 80 countries. Each year, the association publishes 23,000 copies of a book whose purpose is to acquaint people with publishing and with the demands of running a bookstore. This year's book, on sale for just 3€, is a compilation of reading lists that ispired 50 French authors. Each author also has a page to describe the view from their writing space. This year, to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day, we thought you'd like to meet a French libraire. Libraires are important people in French social fabric. The French have a close relationship and follow closely the suggestions of their li…

Tribute to Michel Fehrenbach

Tribute to Michel Fehrenbach, a personage in the international community of Paris, who passed away in October 2024. Many in the English speaking community, especially those of the "FUSAC Generation" knew Michel (and Daria his wife who was rarely seen but the backbone of the back office) as he helped us to get our French driving license. For more than 30 years his Fehrenbach Driving School advertised in FUSAC offering his services to English speakers. In fact Michel was one of our first clients. And we thank him for believing in us at our beginnings. The Driving School, now run by Axelle and Charles, his daughter and son, is still a client, making the Fehrenbach Driving School our longest client of all. To prepare that first ad I remember carefully scanning the horizontal logo with our hand scanner. It must have been about 1989. The logo on paper was wider than the scanner and so we had to go over it in two sections then piece them together. You had to be at just the right…

Rio Soléy Design

Rio Soléy is the designer behind the hand drawn Paris map that helps people see that Bill & Rosa's Book Room is not far at all from Paris center. We love her work which is both elegant and whimsical at the same time. Her journey in lettering started at the age of 5 when her parents enrolled her in a calligraphy class. Since then, she's been captivated by the intricacies of letterforms and the artistry involved in evoking diverse emotions through them. She tells us a bit more about herself and her art, including her beautifully thought out and crafted IRO print collection. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Hello! I’m Rio Soléy, a digital artist & designer specialised in lettering. I create and sell art prints that evoke optimism, simplicity, and tranquility. I’m from Japan, but I’ve lived in Canada, the UK, Germany, and now in France. When I’m not creating art prints, I’m painting letters on store signs and vitrines to help shop owners in Paris stand out …

Interview with Fiona Sze-Lorrain

Fiona Sze-Lorrain is a poet, literary translator and musician. She writes and translates in English, French, and Chinese and is the author of several poetry collections and most recently a novel in stories, Dear Chrysathemums, published by Scribner in 2023. Longlisted for the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the novel celebrates diversity and women and features deeply compelling Asian women who reckon with the past, violence, and exile—set in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Paris, and New York. Fiona lives in Paris and we were thrilled to welcome her in February to the Book Room, where she talked about her novel. If you missed her event, you can read the questions we asked and Fiona’s answers below: Bill & Rosa: You are a musician and a poet, you have published several collections of poems, I was wondering what was the determining factor in your decision to write a novel? Was it a character, or a story that you felt needed to be told? Fiona Sze-…

Merde! Stephen Clarke, Interview with a Paris author

"Not one of the other Stephen Clarkes you might have read about, who include an Olympic swimmer, a world-record-holding pumpkin sculptor and various criminals. I'm just the author whose new novel, Merde at the Paris Olympics, is now out." -- Stephen Clarke

If you are an expat in Paris (or not!) you must know the adventures of Paul West, The hero of A Year in the Merde and its sequels depicting French lifestyle from his personal perspective as an English man. The books became incredibly famous as many people could relate to the story. Who never had problems adapting to a new country? The language, the workplace, meeting people... many subjects tackled in the books with a great sense of humour. As a French girl, I was very amused by those books. Even if Stephen Clarke gently points out some of our weird traits, it is obvious that deep down he really loves France. As a matter of fact, I found out he lives in France! I spent a few years in…

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