2 months ago
Journalism and media has been left with a great humble figure after the demise of Jimmy Giménez-Arnau on the 17th of September in the year 2024, three days after the anniversary of his 81st birthday. This updating journalist writer and television personality known popularly as Paco Giminez, was born on 14th September 1943 in Spain, with the birth name of Joaquín José Victor Bernardo Giménez-Arnau Puente.
Jimmy Giménez-Arnau would come into the public scene in the late 1970s when he started practicing journalism which did not take time for him to be infamous due to his blunt analysis and opinions. Jimmy Giménez-Arnau was not only a reporter: he was an artist who was telling stories and capturing Spanish society and politics in its entirety and with its dark sense of humour. Jimmy Giménez-Arnau was a rebel in a way which was completely acceptable because his work represented the voice of the unheard.
What can be considered as one of the most incredible facts of Jimmy Giménez-Arnau’s life was his connection with the Franco family. In 1977, Jimmy Giménez-Arnau married María del Mar Martínez-Bordiú y Franco whose grandfather was the former dictator of Spain Francisco Franco. Their marriage and subsequent separation in 1982 saw them enter the realm of tabloids where Jimmy Giménez-Arnau was to use his vantage point of the family that had defined modern Spain as a point of criticism. In his candid book, Yo, Jimmy: La vida entre los Franco, Jimmy Giménez-Arnau was not embarrassed to paint his family as multi- dimensional and to show a side of Franco’s family few could ever illuminate.
Before going into a brief analysis on his writing, it is worth to point out that Jimmy Giménez-Arnau was also a communication giant in the television in which he shared his loveliness through the television screen at the same time as he did it in the print media. Jimmy Giménez-Arnau was always ready for controversy and preferred to entertain the audience while delivering socially significant message. There is yet another quote from him where Jimmy Giménez-Arnau said, “If you can’t have a good laugh at your past, then you are bound to make the same mistakes over and over again and that too in front of the camera, preferably live!”
To say that Jimmy Giménez-Arnau had a colourful personal life would not be an overstatement. Jimmy Giménez-Arnau had another glamorous love affair after his marriage with María del Mar and then he met a journalist Sandra Salgado in 2013 with whom he got married despite the fact that she is 35 years younger than him. Jimmy Giménez-Arnau acknowledged that he had difficult relationships with them, but his two children was living proof of his existence and existence in future.
Thus, as I pay my respects to the memory of the remarkable man that has undergone such a sad incident, I think that it is only fair to focus on the fact that he has been an important figure who knew how to bring up controversial issues, tell amazing stories, and make people think. Jimmy Giménez-Arnau's accomplishments in journalism and media will remain copyright and his way of making humor out of complex issues in life. Atlast his voice in today’s divided world will be missed but his idea will keep on resonating among the next generations. RIP Jimmy, you really did leave your stamp on Radio 1 for all the right reasons.
Total Comments: 0