Did you know? Claude Cagol 's family originated in Trentino-Alto Adige, northern Italy (an Austrian province before 1918). But his father, who had settled in France, chose French nationality. He thus obtained the right to share with France the four long years of the Great War of 1914-1918. As for Claude Cagol, he always felt French. A model pupil, young Claude was educated by the Jesuits before joining the ranks of the Lycée Ambroise Paré in Laval. Tempted for a time by business studies, this literary soul opted for law. "I imagined myself as a lawyer, but not a magistrate", he recalls. But that was not to be.