Journalists are supposed to report the news rather than make it. But Patrick Poivre d’Arvor (pictured), who has been a legendary fixture of French television news for more than two decades, has long been an exception in his profession.

PPDA, as he is widely known, has regularly hit the headlines of the popular newspapers for his editorial rows, literary works, romantic liaisons, and increasingly improbable hair transplants. But the biggest splash of his television news career came at its apparent end earlier this month when he was brutally fired by his employer TF1 after 21 years of presenting its main evening news bulletin.