Major John Whitby "Johnnie" Cradock (17 May 1904 – 30 January 1987) was an English cook, writer and broadcaster and the fourth husband of television cook and writer
Fanny Cradock
Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey (26 February 1909 – 27 December 1994), better known as Fanny Cradock, was an English restaurant critic, television chef and writer. She frequently appeared on television, at cookery demonstrations and in print with h ...
.
Biography
Craddock was born in
Lambeth, London, on 17 May 1904.
He attended
Harrow School. At the age of twenty, he played rugby for
Beckenham RFC during the 1924/5 season alongside a seventeen-year-old
James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the '' Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Greg ...
who would later become an actor.
On 26 June 1923, Cradock was commissioned from the
Inns of Court Officers' Training Corps into the
Territorial Army, as a second lieutenant in the
52nd (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was promoted to lieutenant on 26 June 1925, captain on 30 October 1930, and major on 30 October 1935. In 1943 he was awarded the
Efficiency Decoration
The Efficiency Decoration, post-nominal letters TD for recipients serving in the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom or ED for those serving in the Auxiliary Military Forces, was instituted in 1930 for award to part-time officers after twe ...
for twenty years' service. He remained on the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers until 27 November 1954.
He is best remembered as being the long-suffering stooge for his wife in their popular British cooking programmes which were shown from the 1950s to the 1970s. Wearing a traditional
blazer
A blazer is a type of jacket resembling a suit jacket, but cut more casually. A blazer is generally distinguished from a sport coat as a more formal garment and tailored from solid colour fabrics. Blazers often have naval-style metal buttons ...
and sporting a
monocle
A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...
, he would remain around the back of Fanny's studio sets awaiting her imperious commands which, when they came, often resulted in his being berated for being too slow.
With his wife, he wrote a number of popular cookery books. Johnnie and Fanny also wrote the "Bon Viveur" restaurant column for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' newspaper from 1950 to 1955. This was one of Britain's first restaurant columns and led to their first television series in 1955.
At first they presented 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. ...
...
's first cooking programme, which they presented as ''Fanny & Johnnie''.
At that time Johnnie and Fanny were not married. Fanny adopted his name for their writing and television work and they eventually married in 1977. The marriage was in fact bigamous as Fanny was still married to her second husband, and she had lied about her age on the marriage certificate.
He died, in
*''Chez Bon Viveur''
*''Cradock Cooks for Christmas''
*''Dinner Party''
*''Fanny Cradock Invites''
*''Fanny's Kitchen''
*''The Cradocks''
* ''Something's Burning: The Autobiography of Two Cooks'' (1960)
* ''The Daily Telegraph Cook's Book'' by Bon Viveur (1964)
* ''Fanny & Johnnie Cradock's Cook Hostess' Book'' (1970)
* ''Fanny & Johnnie Cradock's Freezer Book'' (1978)
* ''Fanny & Johnnie's Cook's Essential Alphabet'' (1979)
Johnnie Cradock's style of dress, his love of wine, and the on-screen "hen-pecked" relationship he shared with Fanny were all ripe for mimicry. Both Fanny and Johnnie were parodied by ''
as an invariably drunk Johnnie serving as a foil to Hill's portrayal of Fanny.
''Fear of Fanny'', a television drama on the career of the Cradocks, based on the stage show by Brian Fillis was broadcast in October 2006 on
as one of a series of culinary-themed dramas. Johnnie Cradock was portrayed by
.