Celebrity chef Keith Floyd has died following a heart attack, aged 65.
He died at his partner’s Dorset home on Monday, said his autobiography ghost-writer, James Steen. Floyd had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in June.
From Faringdon in Oxfordshire, Floyd shot to fame in the 1980s in ground-breaking cookery shows, fronted with huge enthusiasm and wineglass in hand.
Chef Marco Pierre White described Floyd as a “natural cook” who had “inspired a nation” with his programmes.
Floyd’s idiosyncratic, often shambolic style of presentation endeared him to millions of viewers around the world. White said: “What he did to inspire a nation, I don’t know another man who has done what he has done.
“He had this great ability at the stove, great confidence. He was a natural cook.
“But his very special talent was he could articulate himself and deliver inspiration with words. He spoke in a way that everybody could understand.”
He added: “He enriched many people’s lives. It’s very sad.
“A little piece of Britain died yesterday which will never be replaced.
“He was an individual, he was a maverick, he was mercurial, he was magical, he was special, he was rare.”
Wine-fuelled flamboyance
Floyd opened his first restaurant, Floyd’s Bistro, in Bristol, at the age of 22, and its success quickly led to him running three establishments.
But a lack of business acumen that would plague him throughout his career soon forced him to sell up, after which a restaurant in France also proved a failure.
It was on his return to Bristol, running a new bistro near the BBC studios in the city, that Floyd was discovered by television producer David Pritchard.
Their 1985 series, Floyd on Fish, was an instant hit, and subsequent series took the chef all over the world.
The programmes were ground-breaking at the time for taking the cooking out of a studio, but it was Floyd’s wine-fuelled flamboyance that viewers loved.