Ferdinand Lop

{{Short description|French politician (1891–1974)}}

File:Lop, Ferdinand Samuel 1939.jpg

Ferdinand Samuel Lop, later Samuel Ferdinand-Lop, known as Ferdinand Lop (10 October 1891 in Marseille – 29 October 1974 in Saint-Sébastien-de-Morsent) was a French Jewish journalist, draughtsman, English language teacher, writer, poet, and humourist.{{Cite web |title=Ferdinand Lop, bouffon égaré - Libération |url=http://www.liberation.fr/culture/0101647824-ferdinand-lopbouffon-egare#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |archive-url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http://www.liberation.fr/culture/0101647824-ferdinand-lopbouffon-egare#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-06-15 |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=archive.wikiwix.com}} He stood repeatedly as a satirical candidate for the French Presidency and for the Académie française.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mU0EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Ferdinand+Lop%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA2 |title=LIFE |date=1946-11-11 |publisher=Time Inc |volume=21 |pages=2–4 |language=en |issn=0024-3019 |issue=20}}

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;{{Cite book |last1=Felton |first1=Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aMFwfwNBLVYC |title=Felton & Fowler's Best, Worst, and Most Unusual |last2=Fowler |first2=Mark |date=March 1985 |publisher=Random House Value Publishing |isbn=978-0-517-46297-3 |language=en}}
• 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 (in both directions) – 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 [notorious for instigating political unrest];
• 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;{{Cite magazine |date=1946-05-13 |title=FRANCE: Le Front Lopulaire |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,776772,00.html |access-date=2023-01-09 |issn=0040-781X}}
• the removal of the last coach from Paris métro trains.

He authored numerous booklets, often with evocative titles, such as Thoughts and aphorisms (1951), Pétain and history: What I would have said in my inaugural speech at the Académie française if I had been elected (1957), History of the Latin Quarter (1960–1963), Where is France going? (1961) and Antimaxims (1973).

He died and was buried at Saint-Sébastien-de-Morsent.