Marcel Boulestin

By Maggiebaileyy

  • Birth

    Sometime in 1878. His birth was never recorded so there is not an exact date.

  • Military service

    Compulsory military service in 1899.

  • Move to Paris

    Boulestin moved to Paris and worked for Willy as a secretary and as one of the several ghostwriters he employed for his sensational and well-selling books, among them Curnonsky and Colette. After military service in 1899.

  • Moved to London

    Moved to London in 1906, and thereafter made his home and career there, though he never considered taking British citizenship.

  • Opening of Decoration Moderne

    In November 1911 Boulestin opened Decoration Moderne, an interior-design shop at 15 Elizabeth Street in the Belgravia district of London.

  • Book Sales Appealed to the Public

    In England at that time it was regarded as bad manners to talk about food, but to Boulestin, "Food which is worth eating is worth discussing".This appealed to the public and such were the sales of his book that it was reprinted six times between 1923 and 1930.

  • Simple French Cooking for English Homes

    Around 1923 Boulestin was contracted to write a French-cookery book by the director of the British publishing house Heinemann; called Simple French Cooking for English Homes, it was published in June 1923

  • The Restaurant Français

    In 1925, following on the popularity of his cookery books, Boulestin opened The Restaurant Français in Leicester Square in London. The restaurant was the work of the architect Clough Williams-Ellis and the interior decorator Allan Walton. Its chef was M. Bigorre, a Frenchman who had previously worked for Restaurant Paillard in Paris.

  • Move to Southampton Street

    In 1927 Boulestin moved to Southampton Street, Covent Garden, opening the eponymous Restaurant Boulestin on the site of the old Sherry's Restaurant.

  • France Invaded Germany

    In the summer of 1939, Boulestin and Adair were taking their customary holiday in a house that Boulestin had built in the Landes. When France was invaded by Germany, Adair was ill, and unable to escape; Boulestin remained with him.

  • Death

    Adair was interned as an enemy alien by the Germans, and held first in Bayonne and then nearer Paris. Boulestin moved to Paris to be close to him, and died there after a brief illness, aged 65.