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Keith Floyd (28 December 1943 – 14 September 2009) was a British celebrity

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

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 ...

, television personality and "gastronaut" who hosted cooking shows for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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and published many books combining cookery and travel. On television, his eccentric style of presentation – usually drinking wine as he cooked and talking to his crew – endeared him to millions of viewers worldwide.

Early life

Floyd was born in

Sulhamstead Sulhamstead is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Berkshire, England. It occupies an approximate rectangle of land south of the (Old) Bath, Somerset, Bath Road (A4 road (Great Britain), A4) between Reading, Berkshire, ...

,Paul Levy, "Floyd, Keith (1943–2009)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 201
available online
Retrieved 5 September 2020. near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, on 28 December 1943 to working-class parents Sydney and Winnifred Floyd. He was brought up in a council house in the small town of

Wiveliscombe Wiveliscombe (, ) is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The town has a population of 2,893. The Square, fronted by several listed structures, held the former ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. His family made financial sacrifices to enable him to be educated privately at Wellington School, Somerset. Floyd became a cub reporter on the ''

Bristol Evening Post The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It was ...

''. He claimed, perhaps jokingly, that he decided to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1963 after watching the film '' Zulu'', although the film was not released until 1964. He attained the rank of

Second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

serving on

Centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...

tanks, where he pestered the mess cook to produce gourmet dinners. After three years, finding that he and the Army were "mutually incompatible", Floyd found employment in several catering-related jobs including barman, dishwasher and vegetable peeler.

Career

By 1971 Floyd had acquired three restaurants in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

: Floyd's Bistro in Princess Victoria Street in

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

, Floyd's Restaurant in Alma Vale Road and Keith Floyd's Restaurant in Chandos Road, Redland. All three restaurants had financial problems. Floyd sold the restaurants and the rights to the name "Floyd's Restaurant" and moved to the

south of France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

, where again he opened a restaurant in

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (; oc, L'Illa de Sòrga or ) is a town and commune on the Sorgue river in Southeastern France. Politically, the commune is in the arrondissement of Avignon within the department of Vaucluse, in the région of Provence-Alpes ...

in the

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. With the help of loans from friends, he opened another restaurant, again in Chandos Road. The restaurant in Chandos Road was frequented by actors and others connected with television. Floyd's first cookery book, ''Floyd's Food'', published before he became a TV celebrity, had an introduction written by

Leonard Rossiter Leonard Rossiter (21 October 1926 – 5 October 1984) was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his highest profile for his television comedy roles starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series ''Rising Damp'' from ...

, star of British TV sitcoms ''

Rising Damp Structural dampness is the presence of unwanted moisture in the structure of a building, either the result of intrusion from outside or condensation from within the structure. A high proportion of damp problems in buildings are caused by ambient ...

'' and ''

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' is a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role. It is based on a series of novels written by David Nobbs and produced from 1976 to 1979. Nobbs adapted the screenplay for the first series ...

''. Floyd's first foray into the world of show business was as a radio chef on Radio West, an independent commercial radio station in Bristol. TV producer David Pritchard then offered him a slot on BBC West regional magazine show ''RPM'', presented by Andy Batten Foster. That led, in 1984, to his being offered his first BBC TV series ''Floyd on Fish'', which started his rapid rise to national popularity. Floyd never described himself as a chef since he was untrained. He became well known for cooking with a glass of wine in one hand, often in unusual locations such as a fishing boat in rough seas. He was regarded as a pioneer of taking cooking programmes out of the studio. The chef went on to present his shows from around the world, cooking on location in his unique chaotic style. He bought and ran the Maltsters Arms in

Tuckenhay Tuckenhay is a hamlet in the South Hams in Devon, England, south of Totnes. It lies on the south bank of Bow Creek, the estuary of the Harbourne River, which flows into the River Dart. The name is first recorded only from 1550, and possibly me ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

in the late 1980s. When Floyd was not running the kitchen, chefs included Jean Christophe Novelli. He was more often seen at the bar than in the kitchen. The failure of the Maltsters led to his bankruptcy. Despite TV success, Floyd continued to have financial problems and personal conflicts. He was declared bankrupt in 1996. The ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' claims that this happened after he personally guaranteed an order for £36,000 of drinks. He lived in

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, Ireland for a time in the mid-1990s. In April 2008 he travelled to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in pursuit of new business ventures in Southeast Asia. Until his death he was actively involved in his restaurant Floyd's Brasserie, located at the Burasari Resort on the popular Thai island of

Phuket Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...

. This was his first Asian restaurant and Phuket's first ever celebrity chef restaurant, drawing a large following of Floyd fans who remembered his many TV series and cookbooks. Floyd travelled widely to cook local dishes and entertain people around the world. His cooking shows were often marked by a tendency to consume wine during the preparation of the food. A documentary ''Keith Meets Keith'', featuring actor and comedian Keith Allen interviewing Floyd, was broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

on 14 September 2009 and watched by nearly one million people. In the programme, Floyd was severely critical of modern television chefs for promoting themselves more than the food. Floyd admitted that away from the cameras, he often drank too much out of loneliness. It later emerged that Floyd had collapsed and died a few hours before the broadcast. In 2020, Floyd was the subject of 'Keith Floyd's Bristol', a documentary presented by Xander Brett. It was produced by

Burst Radio Bristol University's Radio Station (Burst) is a radio station run by students of the University of Bristol, UK. Its studios are located within the University of Bristol Students’ Union building and it broadcasts online.BBC Radio Bristol BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving Bristol, Bath and North & North East Somerset. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Bristol. According to RAJAR, the stati ...

to mark eleven years since his death.

Other television work

He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in 1991 when he was surprised by

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...

The Brazen Head The Brazen Head is a pub in Merchant's Quay, Dublin. It was built as a coaching inn in 1754, on the site of a merchant's dwelling dating back to at least 1613. Local tradition claims that the site has housed a tavern or alehouse since 1198, altho ...

pub in Dublin. Floyd can also be seen in a number of episodes of the children's television series ''

Balamory ''Balamory'' is a British live-action children's programme on BBC One, BBC Two and CBeebies for pre-school children, about a fictional small island community off the west coast of Scotland, named ''Balamory''. Four series were produced between ...

'', as a chef in Suzie Sweet's "Suzie's Cooking" song. In 2006, he also appeared on the ITV show ''

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), and b ...

'', demonstrating to the pair how to bake a cake for their Ant vs Dec challenge of cake decorating, resulting in Dec (Donnelly) winning the challenge.

Honours

Floyd had a bistro bar named after him in

on the island of

Koh Samui Ko Samui (or Koh Samui, also often locally shortened to Samui; th, เกาะสมุย, ) is an island off the east coast of Thailand. Geographically in the Chumphon Archipelago, it is part of Surat Thani Province, though as of 2012, Ko ...

, Floyd's Beach Bistro Restaurant; Floyd visited it while filming the series ''Far Flung Floyd'' in Thailand and developed a close relationship with the family who owned the resort.

Personal life

All four of Floyd's marriages ended in divorce; he had a son and daughter. Floyd spent many years in France. In 1974 he moved to

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, in the south-east of France, with Paddy Walker and her three young children. Together, they formed a company called Walker Floyd, buying wines in Vaucluse and then driving them back to Bristol to be sold to the city's bars and restaurants. They would then buy interesting, and carefully picked out, pieces of bric-a-brac to be driven back to Vaucluse for sale in the various markets. Paddy Walker and Floyd also ran a restaurant together in the village of

in the Vaucluse. In his autobiography, Floyd notes Walker's influence on him: "My approach to food, my style if you like, had developed as a result of my life in France with Paddy." In 1979, after five years together, Walker and Floyd's relationship broke down and they returned to Britain. In his last few years Floyd moved back to

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

in the Vaucluse department. Floyd was a big fan of rock group

the Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origina ...

: the tracks "Waltzinblack", an edited version of "

Peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fuz ...

", and an instrumental version of "Viva Vlad" were used as theme music for most of his TV programmes.

Illness and death

In October 2002 Floyd, a smoker and a heavy drinker, was reported to have suffered a mild stroke, although he denied this in his autobiography. In November 2004 he was banned from driving for 32 months and fined £1,500 after crashing his car into another vehicle while three-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit. He suspected he had

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

in early 2006, but was given the all-clear after a medical examination. In the summer of 2006 he was diagnosed as suffering from

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

. In August 2007, he was hospitalised in Thailand after collapsing in a restaurant. He collapsed at a pub in

Chesterton, Staffordshire Chesterton is a former mining village in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Chesterton is the second largest individual ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In the 2011 census, Chesterton's population stood ...

, on 29 January 2008 and was in a coma in hospital on a life-support machine. He was discharged on 22 February, travelling to his home in France to recuperate. He made a full recovery. On 14 September 2008, exactly a year before his death, he collapsed and was hospitalised for several days. Floyd died of a heart attack, aged 65, on 14 September 2009, at the

Dorset County Hospital Dorset County Hospital is a district general hospital in the town of Dorchester, Dorset, England. The hospital is managed by Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. History Plans were developed in the early 1980s for a modern facility ...

Dorchester, Dorset Dorchester ( ) is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route. A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the ...

, after being taken ill at the home of his partner Celia Martin (née Constanduros). The following day, chefs provided quotes for the media.

Antony Worrall Thompson Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson (born 1 May 1951) is an English restaurateur and celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster. Early life Worrall Thompson was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. His parents, Michae ...

said of him: "I think all of us modern TV chefs owe a living to him. He kind of spawned us all."

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...

said that Floyd "inspired a nation". White also said, "The thing which is very sad is a little piece of Britain today died which will never be replaced. He was a beautiful man, his ability to inspire people to cook just with his words and the way he did things was extraordinary. If you look at TV chefs today they don't have his magic." Floyd's

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

funeral took place on 30 September 2009 in Bristol.

Broadcast and writing output

References

External links

Official WebsiteFloyd Uncorked
nbsp;– Floyd's blog at blogspot.com
Floyd's Brasserie at Burasari Resort, Phuket
* Obituaries
''The Times''''The Guardian''

Reverse Engineering for Keith Floyd's RecipesKeith Floyd Memorial Project Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Floyd, Keith 1943 births 2009 deaths English expatriates in France English autobiographers English television chefs English television presenters People from Reading, Berkshire English restaurateurs Royal Tank Regiment officers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst People educated at Wellington School, Somerset 20th-century English businesspeople Military personnel from Berkshire British restaurateurs