About this episode

Francois Pierron shares his journey from homelessness to finding solace and identity through music at a public piano in London.

While Francois Pierron was homeless in London he taught himself to play a public piano at St Pancras train station – from scratch. His mastery of music helped change his future. Francois had a difficult start in life. He was abandoned as a newborn on the streets of Dakar, Senegal, shortly after his birth in 1994, but was found by police and taken to an orphanage. He was soon adopted by a French couple and grew up in a rural area near Calais in northern France. It was a happy childhood, but Francois says he struggled with issues of identity in the largely white community, and always felt he was looking for something beyond himself. He was still a teenager when he started travelling around Europe, eventually arriving in London where he was almost immediately targeted by thieves who took his passport and all his money. This triggered a spiral into homelessness that spanned five long years. Francois spent a lot of this time in the crowds at train stations, one of the few places he felt safe, and one day came across a public piano in St Pancras station – the kind that is put in the concourse for anyone to play. He'd never touched a piano before, but says that something drew him to it…

People in this episode

Guest: Francois Pierron

Topics covered

• homelessness
• music
• identity
• personal journey
• self-discovery

Mentioned in this episode

Places: London, St Pancras train station, Dakar, France, Calais

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