CURMUDGEONLY YOURS -- Richard Bonte

‘The Life of Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, the illustrious magistrate and defender of Louis XVI’ based on the book ‘Que ne vous ai-je écouté’ (“I should have listened to you”) by Luc Rentmeesters

Luc RENTMEESTERS is a writer of historical fiction but has spent most of his career as a business lawyer on the Paris Bar. He was a lawyer on the Brussels Bar and legal director of the Belgian subsidiary of a major American bank. He was also the head of the Legal and Tax Directorate of this same bank and a member of its board of directors. After "Que ne vous-ai je écouté," ("I should have listened to you"), in which he recounts the tragic fate of Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, the illustrious magistrate and defender of Louis XVI, Luc Rentmeesters published (‘Mémoires d’un Vas-y-Dire’) "The Memoirs of a Street Urchin Courier," his second historical novel.

‘The Life of Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, the illustrious magistrate and defender of Louis XVI’ based on the book ‘Que ne vous ai-je écouté’ (“I should have listened to you”) by Luc Rentmeesters

Luc RENTMEESTERS is a writer of historical fiction but has spent most of his career as a business lawyer on the Paris Bar. He was a lawyer on the Brussels Bar and legal director of the Belgian subsidiary of a major American bank. He was also the head of the Legal and Tax Directorate of this same bank and a member of its board of directors. After "Que ne vous-ai je écouté," ("I should have listened to you"), in which he recounts the tragic fate of Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, the illustrious magistrate and defender of Louis XVI, Luc Rentmeesters published (‘Mémoires d’un Vas-y-Dire’) "The Memoirs of a Street Urchin Courier," his second historical novel.

PLAYWRIGHT/PRODUCER JO MORELLO is a Philadelphia native and holds a B.S. from Villanova University and an M.S. from Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater. She has been a lifelong writer, having produced summer stock for three years. When she turned to drama, she won two national contests on her initial attempt. She also founded and was producing artistic director of Starlite Players in Sarasota, producing 61 new short plays in 15 months. She recently completed LIL & LOUIS, about Lil Hardin Armstrong and husband Louis Armstrong (starring Michael Kinsey as Louis and Renata Eastlick as his first (and I guess most important wife Lil Hardin Armstrong) along with two related short plays. She has had her work performed everywhere in North America and the UK. She has written extensively on American theater in the American Theatre magazine and in the Eugene O’Neill review. Today, and in addition to her writing, she operates Jo Morello, Inc., a small P.R. agency in Sarasota, Florida since 1986. It has served the Jazz Club of Sarasota for over two decades as well as other regional and international clients, including several Central Asian embassies.

Ettore Farinelli is an architect living in Rome, Italy. He is the managing director of his company, Silo Impianti. Ettore is an avid skier and loves to go boating in beautiful Sardinia. Art and architecture are his passions, but he can talk about any subject. We will be speaking to him today about European and especially Italian politics.

Jean-Paul Brayer is a very accomplished and semi-retired businessman who lives near Paris, France now but has lived in other parts of the world, especially Europe, for long periods of time. You’ve worked at and been the CEO of big companies including Heineken (Holland), Levi-Strauss (Japan), Quick (France), and Group Flo in the UK, just to name a few. You were a student in the US and you’re a graduate of the acclaimed Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Paris. You’re cited on page 394 of the most recent Who’s Who in France!

Thomas Pépin Le Halleur is a French national who has lived all his life in France. After passing his baccalaureate, he became a tennis instructor and First Aid specialist. Today, he is a first-class blogger and writer with definite ideas on French politics and economics

Stephen Harman is a retired social worker and lives in England, five miles outside central London in Kingston-upon-Thames in the county of Surrey. Steve has principally worked in or near London, especially in Wandsworth. Steve tells me that ‘had he been a man of leisure when he was younger, he would have been a poet,’ which is what he is today.