Sir Desmond John Britten (27 December 1937 – 13 February 2020) was a New Zealand

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

, radio broadcaster, television chef,

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

writer and Anglican priest. He served as Wellington City Missioner for 17 years, and was knighted in 2012.

Early life and family

Britten was born in

Ōtāne Ōtāne is a town in the Central Hawke's Bay (district), Central Hawke's Bay District and the Hawke's Bay region, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The small village, has a school, general store, cafe and pub, and is located just o ...

in Hawke's Bay on 27 December 1937. The son of a sheep farmer, he was educated at

Napier Boys' High School Napier Boys' High School is a secondary boys' school in, Napier, New Zealand. It currently has a school roll of approximately pupils. The school provides education from Year 9 to Year 13. Notable alumni Business *Rod Drury – chief executi ...

, but left without any qualifications and then worked for a few years on the family farm.

Career as broadcaster and restaurateur

Briten began his broadcasting career as a disc jockey in

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and then Hamilton. After two years in Australia, he joined the

NZBC The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

as an announcer on Wellington radio station

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. His dances for children at the Wellington Town Hall, known as the "Coca Cola Hi-Fi Club", proved popular. In 1964, Britten and his wife Lorraine opened their fine-dining restaurant, "The Coachman", in Courtenay Place, Wellington, which they ran for 28 years. In the 1970s, Britten presented two cooking shows on New Zealand television: ''Thyme for Cookery'' and ''Bon Appetit''. In 1995, Britten received the Restaurant Association of New Zealand's Hall of Fame award.

Priesthood

Britten was ordained an Anglican priest in 1983 and became the vicar of St Barnabas Roseneath, in Wellington.Knighthoods awarded for community work
National News, TVNZ, 31 December 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2013. He was then head of the Wellington City Mission from 1994 to 2011. Following his retirement, he was made a Canon Emeritus in the Wellington diocese and was named the 2011 "Wellingtonian of the Year". In the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Britten was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the community.

Later life and death

In 2018, Britten was predeceased by his wife, Lorraine, Lady Britten, after more than 50 years of marriage. He died in Wellington on 13 February 2020 at the age of 82.

Books

Britten wrote a number of cookbooks, including: * ''Cooking with Des Britten''. Wilson and Horton, Auckland (1971). * '' Thyme for cookery''. Hicks Smith, Wellington (1973). * ''The Des Britten cookbook''. Woolworths, Auckland (1977). * ''Gourmet cooking for babies''. Reed Methuen, Auckland (1987). * ''Des Britten's foodie fables & other just desserts''. Grantham House, Wellington (1996).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Britten, Des 1939 births 2020 deaths People from the Hawke's Bay Region People educated at Napier Boys' High School New Zealand restaurateurs Cookbook writers New Zealand television chefs New Zealand radio presenters New Zealand Anglican priests Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Deaths from cancer in New Zealand