Pas-de-Calais
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Pas-de-Calais in France
Coordinates: 50°57′N 1°51′E / 50.95°N 1.85°E / 50.95; 1.85Coordinates: 50°57′N 1°51′E / 50.95°N 1.85°E / 50.95; 1.85
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Prefecture	Arras
Subprefectures	Béthune Boulogne-sur-Mer Calais Lens Montreuil Saint-Omer
Government
• President of the General Council	Dominique Dupilet
Area1
• Total	6,671 km2 (2,576 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	1,453,387
• Rank	7th
• Density	220/km2 (560/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	62
Arrondissements	7
Cantons	77
Communes	894
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Pas-de-Calais (French pronunciation: [pɑ d(ə) kalɛ]) is a department in northern France. Its name is the French equivalent of the Strait of Dover, which it borders.

History[link]

Inhabited since prehistoric times, the Pas-de-Calais region was populated in turn by the Celtic Belgae, the Romans, the Germanic Franks and the Alemanni. During the fourth and fifth centuries, the Roman practice of coopting Germanic tribes to provide military and defense services along the route from Boulogne to Cologne created a Germanic-Romance linguistic border in the region that persisted until the eighth century.

Saxon colonization into the region from the fifth to the eighth centuries likely extended the linguistic border somewhat south and west so that by the ninth century most inhabitants north of the line between Béthune and Berck spoke a dialect of Middle Dutch, while the inhabitants to the south spoke Picard, a variety of Romance dialects.

This linguistic border is still evident today in the toponyms and patronyms of the region. Beginning in the ninth century, the linguistic border began a steady move to north and the east, and by the end of the 15th century Romance dialects had completely displaced those of Dutch.

Pas-de-Calais is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Calaisis, formerly English, Boulonnais, Ponthieu and Artois, this last formerly part of the Spanish Netherlands.

Some of the costliest battles of World War I were fought in the region. The Vimy Memorial commemorates the Battle of Vimy Ridge and is Canada's most important memorial to its fallen soldiers.

Pas-de-Calais was also the target of Operation Fortitude during World War II, which was an Allied plan to deceive the Germans that the invasion of Europe at D-Day was to occur here, rather than in Normandy.^[1]

Geography[link]

Cities > 10,000 inhabitants

Pas-de-Calais is in the current region of Nord-Pas de Calais and is surrounded by the departments of Nord and Somme, the English Channel, and the North Sea.

Its principal towns are, on the coast, Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, and in Artois, Lens, Liévin, Arras, and Saint-Omer.

The principal rivers are the following:

• Authie
• Canche
• Ternoise
• Liane
• Sensée
• Scarpe
• Deûle
• Lys
• Aa

Economy[link]

The economy of the department was long dependent on mining, primarily the coal mines. However, since World War II, the economy has become more diversified.

Demographics[link]

The inhabitants of the department are called Pas-de-Calaisiens.

Pas-de-Calais is one of the most heavily populated departments of France, and yet it has no large cities. Calais has only about 80,000 inhabitants, followed closely by Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Lens and Liévin. The remaining population is primarily concentrated along the border with the department of Nord in the mining district, where a string of small towns constitutes an urban area with a population of about 1.2 million. The center and south of the department are more rural, but still quite heavily populated, with many villages and small towns.

Although the department saw some of the heaviest fighting of World War I, its population rebounded quickly after both world wars. However, many of the mining towns have seen dramatic decreases in population, some up to half of their population.

Culture[link]

Although Pas-de-Calais is one of the most populous departments of France, it did not contain a university until 1992.

See also[link]

• Cantons of the Pas-de-Calais department
• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department
• Arrondissements of the Pas-de-Calais department

References[link]

External links[link]

• (French) A whole wiki about the Pas-de-Calais
• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (English) Official Tourist website
• (English) Short regional tourism guide
• (English) Pas-de-Calais Tourism Guide
• (English) Coats of arms of the municipalities in Pas-de-Calais

Neighbouring English counties and French departments

	North Sea Kent, United Kingdom	Nord	Nord
	English Channel		Nord
		Pas-de-Calais    East
	Somme	Somme	Somme

Dany Boon
Boon on the set of Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, 2007.
Born	Daniel Hamidou (1966-06-26) 26 June 1966 (age 46) Armentières, France
Occupation	actor, screenwriter, director, producer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Judith Godrèche (divorced) Yael Harris
Website
http://www.danyboon.com

Dany Boon (French pronunciation: [dani bun]; born Daniel Hamidou; 26 June 1966) is a French comedian who has acted both on the stage and the screen. He takes his stage name from the television show Daniel Boone.^[1]

Life and career[link]

Dany Boon, born to an Algerian Kabyle father and a French mother from the north of the country，^[2] first started his career dubbing cartoons and performing as a mime in the street. In 1992, he was given his first chance as a comedian by French television personality Patrick Sébastien, who invited him on his show. ^[3] From then on Boon began to achieve notoriety with his sketches and his one-man shows.

He was then offered several roles in movies, notably in the film Joyeux Noël that made it on the international scene in 2005.

Boon is deeply attached to his native region, Nord-Pas-de-Calais. In 2003, he made a whole show in the local dialect of ch'ti, also known as Picard. Despite the use of dialectal language, 600,000 copies of the DVD (which included French subtitles) were sold. No previous DVD featuring a one-man show had sold as well in France.^{[citation needed]}In February 2008, he released a film called Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, a comedy based on prejudices held about the region, which went on to break French box-office records. Two weeks after its release the film had already been seen by five million people. After its fourth week this figure had risen to 15 million, and by 11 April, the film had surpassed the viewing audience of La Grande Vadrouille, having been watched by more than 17.4 million people.

He has four sons and a daughter from three different unions. With his first wife, he had Mehdi, his eldest son, born in 1997. With his second wife, Judith Godrèche, he had Noé, born on September 4, 1999. With his third wife, Yael Harris, for whom he converted to Judaism in 2002^[4], he had Eytan, born June 23, 2005, Elia, born December 20, 2006 and Sarah, born March 1, 2010.^[5]

In 2008, Boon was the highest-paid actor in European film history, netting 26 million Euro (c. 33 million dollars).^[6]

One-man shows[link]

• Je vais bien, tout va bien (1992)
• Chaud mais pas fatigué ( Café de la Gare, 1993)
• Dany Boon Fou ? (Théâtre Tristan-Bernard, Paris, 1994)
• Dany Boon au Palais des glaces (1995–1996)
• Les Zacros de la télé (1996)
• Tout entier (1997)
• Nouveau spétak (1998).
• Au Bataclan (1998)
• A french comedian lost in L.A. ( Melrose Theatre, Los Angeles) (2000)
• En parfait état (2001)
• A s'baraque et en ch'ti (2003)
• Waïka (novembre 2006)
• Trop stylé (novembre 2009)

Plays[link]

• La Vie de chantier (2003)
• Le Dîner de Cons (2007, théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin)

Filmography[link]

• Sans queue ni tête by Jean-Henri Meunier (1993)
• Le Déménagement by Olivier Doran (1997)
• Parole d'homme by Philippe Le Dem (1997)
• Bimboland by Ariel Zeitoun (1998); Boon met his ex-wife Judith Godrèche during the making of the movie
• Pédale dure by Gabriel Aghion (2004)
• The Magic Roundabout by Dave Borthwick (2005) (French version)
• La Doublure by Francis Veber (2005)
• Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion (2005), nominated for an Oscar
• La Maison du Bonheur by Dany Boon (2006) with Michèle Laroque; the film attracted 1.5 million people
• Mon Meilleur Ami (My best friend) by Patrice Leconte (2006)
• Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis by Dany Boon (2008)
• De l'autre côté du lit by Pascale Pouzadoux (2008)
• Le code a changé by Danièle Thompson (2008)
• Micmacs by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2009)
• Benvenuti al Sud by Luca Miniero (2010)
• Nothing to Declare by Dany Bon (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dany Boon at the Internet Movie Database
• Official site