Keith Floyd Dead At 65

TV chef Keith Floyd has died from a heart attack, aged 65. He had been diagnosed with cancer and passed away at his partner's home in Dorset.

 

At the helm of a series of cookery shows for the BBC, he shot to fame in the 1980s thanks to his idiosyncratic personality, wild enthusiasm and perennial glass of wine in hand.

 

Keith Floyd was born December 28, 1943 in Somerset and educated at Wellington School. He started his career as a journalist before joining the army. His first foray into show business was as a radio chef, laying the groundwork for his hugely successful TV career.

 

Marco Pierre White led the tributes: "Originality is only original if you're the first and Keith Floyd was the first celebrity chef in my opinion. A little piece of Britain died yesterday which will never be replaced. What he did to inspire a nation. He had this great ability at the stove, great confidence. He was a natural cook. He was an individual, he was a maverick, he was mercurial, he was magical, he was special, he was rare."

 

How will you remember Keith Floyd? Share your memories here

 

Press Round-Up

Here is how the web is reacting to the news of the chef's death:

 

The BBC outlines how Floyd made the transition to television: "It was on his return to Bristol, running a new bistro near the BBC studios in the city, that Floyd was discovered by television producer David Pritchard.

 

Their 1985 series, Floyd on Fish, was an instant hit, and subsequent series took the chef all over the world. The programmes were ground-breaking at the time for taking the cooking out of a studio, but it was Floyd's wine-fuelled flamboyance that viewers loved."

 

The Press Association refers to his battle with alcohol: "He also wrote more than 20 books, many of which went straight into the best-seller lists. His latest autobiography Stirred But Not Shaken, in which he described his battles with the bottle, is due to be published next month."

 

 

The Guardian points to his uniqueness: "Talking to a lens while trying to fry fish on a rocking boat is a ludicrous business and he insisted on making sure everyone understood that. Yes, he drank on camera because he was an alcoholic – and at times it could be tiresome in the extreme. But I also think he drank on camera because he knew it was something you didn't do."

 

 

The Times outlines his life off the camera: "Divorced four times, he blamed his chaotic personal life on running restaurants, which he said were death to family life. 'It's remarkable how often my marriages and my restaurants seem to go down the pan at approximately the same time'," he wrote in his autobiography.

 

 

Keith Floyd born December 28, 1943 - died September 15, 2009

 

How will you remember Keith Floyd? Share your memories here