RIP Keith Floyd The man who taught a generation that a fine glass of claret is a must have requisite when you are cooking. Keith Floyd died yesterday at home in Dorset of a heart attack, he was aged 65.

Way before television chefs took over the airwaves Keith Floyd led the way with a wonderful and purposefully amatuerish and scruffy BBC series called Floyd on Fish in 1985. His wine fuelled flamboyance and ability to get out and about to talk to normal people dragging good cooking and fancy restaurants into the real world was a real success and he followed this show up with many varieties of Floyd on shows and wrote over 20 books making him a millionaire. Unfortunately he lost the lot on his dream pub and restaurant called The Maltsters Arms in Devon and the snotty nosed arseholes at modern television had no time for the man whom Jamie Oliver called "the best television chef" any more and cancelled further shows in preference for fancy pancy young chefs. His one remaining restaurant is in Phuket.

I am sad to see Floyd go as his shows were more inspirational and watchable than most of the 'celebrity chef' dross served up today. One of the greatest ever chefs Marco Pierre White said: "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."

I will raise a glass tonight in his memory. RIP Keith Floyd.
Sept 16th from The Times: His last supper.  ¶ 09:50