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Keith Floyd

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Keith Floyd
Websitehttp://www.floydonline.co.uk

Keith Floyd (born 28 December 1943 - 15 September 2009) is a chef who has produced numerous cooking shows for the BBC and Channel 5, and has published many books combining cookery and travel. Keith Floyd has died of a heart attack aged 65, reported BBC news 15/9/9. His last appearance was at the Piotrish Food Guide on Wednesday

Early life

After being educated at Wellington School, Somerset, Floyd became a cub reporter on the Bristol Evening Post and after watching the film Zulu decided to join the British army, attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Royal Tank Regiment.[1] After leaving the army, Floyd found employment in several catering-related jobs including barman, dishwasher and vegetable peeler.

Career

His taste for wine and fine food developed by leaps and bounds and by 1971 he had acquired three restaurants in Bristol.[1] However 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, where again he opened a restaurant. After this again ended in financial problems, he moved back to England. With the help of loans from friends, he opened another restaurant in Chandos Road in Redland in Bristol. Unable to use his name, Floyd, which he had sold, the establishment had a sign saying simply "Restaurant".

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, the star of the TV shows Rising Damp and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

Keith's first foray into the world of show business was as a radio chef on Radio West, an independent commercial radio station in Bristol. When he was offered a role as a presenter on BBC television, he rapidly gained popularity, and became famous as a TV chef.

Despite TV success, Floyd continued to have financial problems and personal conflicts. All his four marriages ended in divorce, his most recent divorce, from Tess, happened last year. He was declared bankrupt in 1996. The Daily Mirror claims that this happened after he personally guaranteed an order for £36,000 of drinks.[2] In 2002 he suffered a small stroke, and in November 2004 he was banned from driving for 32 months and fined £1500 after crashing his car into another vehicle while three-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit.[3]

He collapsed at a pub in Chesterton, Staffordshire on 29 January 2008 and was admitted to hospital. He was released on 22 February, travelling to his home in France to recuperate. [4]

Floyd made a full recovery and was back on his feet shortly afterwards. In April 2008 he travelled to Singapore and Thailand in pursuit of new business ventures in Southeast Asia. He is currently actively involved in his restaurant Floyd’s Brasserie, located at the Burasari Resort in the popular Thai island of Phuket.[1] This is his first Asian restaurant and is Phuket’s first ever celebrity chef restaurant, drawing a large following of Floyd fans who remember his many TV series and cookbooks.

Floyd also has a Bistro bar named after him on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand: Floyds Bistro!: the resort is within The Tong Sai Bay Hotel and is among the most exotic of those on the island. Floyd visited it while filming the series "Far Flung Floyd" in Thailand and developed a close relationshp with the family who owned the resort.[5]

Floyd has travelled widely to cook local dishes and entertain people around the world. His cooking shows are marked by a tendency to consume too much wine during the preparation of the food.[1]

Floyd is a big fan of rock group The Stranglers - the tracks "Waltzinblack" an edited version of "Peaches" also an instrumental version of "Viva Vlad" were used as theme music for most of his TV programmes.[1] Former Stranglers guitarist and vocalist Hugh Cornwell used to play guitar at Keith's restaurant during his student days in Bristol and the two have remained friends since.

Floyd can also be seen in a number of episodes of the children's television series Balamory. He makes an appearance in Suzie Sweet's 'Suzie's Cooking' song, which was subsequently featured a number of times in the series: he has also featured in three episodes of The Demon Headmaster.

A few years ago, he also appeared on the award-winning ITV show Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, demonstrating to the boys how to bake a cake for their Ant vs Dec challenge of cake decorating, resulting in Dec (Donnelly) winning the challenge.

Floyd lived in the South of France.

Cancer

It was revealed on 29 July 2009 that Floyd was diagnosed with bowel cancer in mid-June. He has undergone five serious operations, which removed 90% of the cancer; he subsequently underwent a course of chemotherapy at Nimes Hospital.[6]

Cookery shows

Bibliography

  • Floyd's Food (1981)
  • Floyd on Fish (1985)
  • Floyd on Fire: Cooking Outdoors (1986)
  • Floyd on France: Learn to Cook the Keith Floyd (1987)
  • Floyd on Britain and Ireland (1988)
  • Floyd in the Soup (1988)
  • A Feast of Floyd (1989)
  • Floyd's American Pie (1989)
  • Floyd on Oz (1991)
  • Floyd on Hangovers (1993)
  • A Pinch of Rosemary (1993)
  • Floyd on France (1993)
  • Floyd on Spain/Keith Floyd's Guide to Spanish Cooking (1993)
  • Far Flung Floyd: Keith Floyd's Guide to Southeast-Asia Cooking (1994)
  • Floyd on Fire: Barbecue the Floyd Way (1994)
  • Floyd on Italy (1995)
  • Hot and Spicy Floyd (1996)
  • Floyd on Africa (1996)
  • Cognac Cookery (1996)
  • Keith Floyd Cooks Barbies (1997)
  • The Best of Floyd (1997)
  • Floyd Uncorked (1998)
  • Floyds Fjord Fiesta (1998)
  • Out of the Frying Pan: Scenes from My Life (2000)
  • Floyd Around the Med (2000)
  • Flash Floyd (2002)
  • Floyd's India (2003)
  • 100 Great Curries (2004)
  • Floyd's Great Curries (2004)
  • Floyd's China (2005)
  • Floyd's Thai Food (2006)
  • A Splash and a Dash: Cooking with Keith Floyd (2006)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Rushton, Susie (11 October 2007). "Floyd uncorked: A vintage encounter with TV's booziest". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  2. ^ "Floyd chefs off". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  3. ^ "TV chef banned for drink-driving". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  4. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Chef Floyd recuperates in France
  5. ^ "Tongsai Bay hotel Koh Samui Island". Asia Rooms. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  6. ^ Daily Mail: Keith Floyd reveals battle against bowel cancer

floyd on fibre 1999

External links

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