Back to you Clive - Keith Floyd RIP
Yesterday witnessed the death of another great fore-bearer of modern popular culture in the guise of one Mr. Keith Floyd. While I don’t want to become the obituary guy I do deem his passing as a great loss. Floyd was the pioneer for the modern TV chef with his flamboyant presenting style, interplay with his crew and off-site, out of the kitchen, locations.
An avid rugby fan and player in his youth Floyd turned his back on a career in the Army to pursue a career in cookery. He had limited success with his own restaurants until a fateful meeting with David Pritchard, a producer with BBC Plymouth with whom Floyd developed the style of cookery programme that would make him famous. Between 1985 and 2000 Floyd produced 19 series for the BBC and Channel 5 from every corner of the globe, and wrote more than 20 cookbooks to accompany his programmes. His programs are still being sydicated in dozens of countries.
Floyd’s off-the-cuff presenting style in his programmes made life incredibly difficult on both and the crew and presenter. They had very little in the way of a prepared script and often made things up as the went along. Many of the stars of current television cookery owe Keith Floyd an obvious debt. Several, including Rick Stein and Gary Rhodes, made their first television appearances on his shows.
I loved to watch his shows. His genuine love for trying far-flung foods and the exotic and varied locations he visited made his shows must-sees in my house. I’d like to raise a glass, as the great man himself was so fond of doing, and offer a toast to a TV legend. Cheers.
About the Author
Niall The proverbial man lost in La Mancha. Sports aficionado and all-round scoundrel. Über-geek to boot. I run the movie website Scannain.com and can usually be found twittering away as @niallxmurphy.
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This is such a loss, not only for the cooking world, but for humanity in general. He and so many others bring light to the kitchen (sounds sappy, but true). From Keith Floyd to Cat Cora — People Who Make TV Tasty