The greatest TV chef of all time has cancer

Before him food television was humdrum, beige and fustian. His panache and flair changed it forever…

Keith Floyd filming a television programme in the Orkneys, dressed for the opera. Photograph: John Garrett/Corbis

The news that Keith Floyd is fighting cancer is bad enough. The fact that it is bowel cancer has a certain – what shall we say? – ghastly resonance, because if any man can truly be said to have influenced the way we think about about food, see food, react to food, delight in food, it is Keith Floyd – the Floyd of Floyd on Food, Floyd on Fish, Floyd on France and any other country you care to name, Floyd Uncorked and any of the other 16 series the great man has presented since 1984. Delia, Nigella, Jamie, Gordon, Hugh and the host of others have simply trailed in his wake.

via Why we love Keith Floyd | Life and style | guardian.co.uk.

There’s scarcely a word I would add to Matthew Fort’s excellent article in praise of the greatest television chef there ever was, except to repeat his exhortations to the fates: Get well! The Jet-Set Hobo knows a great deal more about eating than he does about cooking, but he does know style and charisma when he sees it, and the ailing Mr. Floyd has always had truckloads of that. A couple of his works not mentioned in the article: I am proud owner of the slight but amusing tome, Floyd on Hangovers, and also avidly enjoyed Floyd on Wine, which was full-blooded wine appreciation, without a shred of pretension. The hobo’s best wishes for a speedy recovery.