Events

• 8 January - Charles de Gaulle
  Charles de Gaulle
  Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
  
   inaugurated as the first president of French Fifth Republic
  French Fifth Republic
  The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
  
  .

• 2 December - Dam collapses at Malpasset
  Malpasset
  Malpasset was an arch dam on the Reyran River, constructed approximately 7 km north of Fréjus on the Côte d'Azur, southern France, in the Var département. It collapsed on December 2, 1959, killing 421 people in the resulting flood. Various sources indicate death numbers of 361, 400, 423, 429 or 510...
  
  , killing 421 people in the resultant flood.

Arts and literature

• 11 March - Eurovision Song Contest
  Eurovision Song Contest 1959
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Cannes, following the French victory the previous year....
  
   held in Cannes
  Cannes
  Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
  
  .

Sport

• 25 June - Tour de France
  1959 Tour de France
  The 1959 Tour de France was the 46th Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 18 July 1959. The race featured 120 riders, of which 65 finished. The Tour included 22 stages over 4,391 km, and the winner had an average speed of 35.474 km/h....
  
   begins.
• 18 July - Tour de France ends, won by Federico Bahamontes
  Federico Bahamontes
  Federico Martín Bahamontes is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist.-Biography:Bahamontes was born in Santo Domingo-Caudilla , of Cuban descent. His family was devastated during the Spanish civil war and Bahamontes' father, Julián, took the family to Madrid as refugees...
  
   of Spain
  Spain
  Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
  
  .

Births

• 7 February - Christine Angot
  Christine Angot
  Christine Angot is a French writer, novelist and playwright.-Life:Born Pierrette, Marie-Clotilde Schwartz in Châteauroux, Indre, she is perhaps best known for her 1999 novel L'Inceste which recounts an incestuous relationship with her father.It is a subject which appears in several of her...
  
  , novelist and playwright
  Playwright
  A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
  
  .
• 18 March - Luc Besson
  Luc Besson
  Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
  
  , film director, writer and producer.
• 14 May - Patrick Bruel
  Patrick Bruel
  Patrick Bruel is a French singer, actor, and professional poker player of Algerian Jewish descent.-Biography:...
  
  , singer and actor.
• 6 July - Richard Dacoury
  Richard Dacoury
  Richard Dacoury is a former French basketball player, and the French sportsman to have won the most trophies.-Career in clubs:*CRO Lyon *CSP Limoges *Paris BR -Club honours:...
  
  , basketball player.

Deaths

• 21 January - Yves Le Febvre
  Yves Le Febvre
  Yves Le Febvre, , was a leftist and anticlerical Breton writer and politician.-Life and work:Born in a middle-class family in Morlaix, Finistère, he studied law in Rennes then in Paris, becoming a Doctor of Law in 1901...
  
  , writer and politician (b.1874
  1874 in France
  See also:1873 in France,other events of 1874,1875 in France.----Events from the year 1874 in France.-Arts and literature:*23 January - Camille Saint-Saëns' composition Danse Macabre is premiered....
  
  ).
• 23 June - Boris Vian
  Boris Vian
  Boris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their...
  
  , writer, poet and musician (b.1920
  1920 in France
  See also:1919 in France,other events of 1920,1921 in France.----Events from the year 1920 in France.-Events:At the opening of the year 1920, France was in a stronger position than she had been in for several generations...
  
  ).

Full date unknown

• Paul Dujardin
  Paul Dujardin
  Paul L. Dujardin was a French water polo player who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics and in the 1928 Summer Olympics....
  
  , water polo
  Water polo
  Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
  
   player and Olympic medallist (b.1894
  1894 in France
  See also:1893 in France,other events of 1894,1895 in France.----Events from the year 1894 in France.-Events:* 15 February - 04:51 GMT, French anarchist Martial Bourdin attempts to destroy the Royal Greenwich Observatory, London, England with a bomb.* 14 May - Meteor shower in Southern France.* 22...
  
  ).