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Out of the Frying Pan: Scenes from My Life
Keith Floyd’s exuberant personality, as much as his cooking skills, has made him a favourite both as bestselling author and as television presenter. But here, for the first time, he tells his own story – and it is full of surprises.
The stories from his childhood in Somerset are vivid and moving: his grandfather with his tin leg, his mother at the mills, and his uncle, the ferret keeper, and the black sheep of the family for ‘carrying on’ with married women.
Keith Floyd spent a short spell on a local newspaper, and then, in a hilarious episode, joined the army. After he and the Ministry of Defence decided that they did not suit each other, he took his first cooking job as an assistant vegetable cook in a Bristol hotel. The great period of bistros and cafes had dawned and Keith Floyd was in the forefront, cooking in an open kitchen, with Pink Floyd blaring from the speakers.
What is wonderful about this book is the vividness of the scenes he paints and the deftness with which he draws the characters – including his several wives. Those who have admired Keith Floyd’s way with a whisk will now be impressed to discover and enjoy his remarkable skill with words.
The stories from his childhood in Somerset are vivid and moving: his grandfather with his tin leg, his mother at the mills, and his uncle, the ferret keeper, and the black sheep of the family for ‘carrying on’ with married women.
Keith Floyd spent a short spell on a local newspaper, and then, in a hilarious episode, joined the army. After he and the Ministry of Defence decided that they did not suit each other, he took his first cooking job as an assistant vegetable cook in a Bristol hotel. The great period of bistros and cafes had dawned and Keith Floyd was in the forefront, cooking in an open kitchen, with Pink Floyd blaring from the speakers.
What is wonderful about this book is the vividness of the scenes he paints and the deftness with which he draws the characters – including his several wives. Those who have admired Keith Floyd’s way with a whisk will now be impressed to discover and enjoy his remarkable skill with words.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Gillian Clark
31 books5 followersGillian Clark is a Professor of Ancient History at the University of Bristol.
Professor Clark’s research field is the relationship of inherited classical culture and late antique Christianity. She works especially on Augustine and on the late Platonist philosophers Porphyry and Iamblichus, and also has a longstanding interest in women’s history and the history of gender. She directs an international collaborative and interdisciplinary project, funded for its first five years by the AHRC, for a commentary on Augustine City of God (De Civitate Dei) to be published in print and electronic versions. Professor Clark is co-editor, with Professor Andrew Louth (Durham), of the monograph series Oxford Early Christian Studies and Oxford Early Christian Texts (OUP). She is also a co-editor of Translated Texts for Historians 300-800 (Liverpool UP) and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Roman Studies. She is Chair of Directors for the Oxford Patristic Conference 2011.
Professor Clark’s research field is the relationship of inherited classical culture and late antique Christianity. She works especially on Augustine and on the late Platonist philosophers Porphyry and Iamblichus, and also has a longstanding interest in women’s history and the history of gender. She directs an international collaborative and interdisciplinary project, funded for its first five years by the AHRC, for a commentary on Augustine City of God (De Civitate Dei) to be published in print and electronic versions. Professor Clark is co-editor, with Professor Andrew Louth (Durham), of the monograph series Oxford Early Christian Studies and Oxford Early Christian Texts (OUP). She is also a co-editor of Translated Texts for Historians 300-800 (Liverpool UP) and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Roman Studies. She is Chair of Directors for the Oxford Patristic Conference 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 12, 2023
( Format : Audiobook )
"Scenes from my life."
Keith Floyd, the iconic TV celebrity chef, who cooked, as he travelled, talked as if spontaneously to a friend not from an in studio prepared script. And he was funny, and took swings of wine: the very opposite of those other, occasional formal and uptight cookery demonstrators. Refreshing and eccentric, wearer of a bow tie, it was fun to watch even by those not necessarily wanting to reproduce his menu and clips from his series are still shown today in programmes like the BBC's Saturday Kitchen.
I have bought and enjoyed a couple of his cook books and was excited to read this, a brief autobiography, but was sadly disappointed. Written in the style of a school boy's 'What I did in my holiday,' essay, although this is mitigated by Floyd's delicious enthusiasm as he reads, it briefly tells of hi beginnings in Somerset, schooling and army training before moving into the culinary work which.brought both fame and failure. Too short, lacking detail other than coatings of financial losses and a bit bitter.
Not how I personally wish to remember this very vibrant TV personality.
"Scenes from my life."
Keith Floyd, the iconic TV celebrity chef, who cooked, as he travelled, talked as if spontaneously to a friend not from an in studio prepared script. And he was funny, and took swings of wine: the very opposite of those other, occasional formal and uptight cookery demonstrators. Refreshing and eccentric, wearer of a bow tie, it was fun to watch even by those not necessarily wanting to reproduce his menu and clips from his series are still shown today in programmes like the BBC's Saturday Kitchen.
I have bought and enjoyed a couple of his cook books and was excited to read this, a brief autobiography, but was sadly disappointed. Written in the style of a school boy's 'What I did in my holiday,' essay, although this is mitigated by Floyd's delicious enthusiasm as he reads, it briefly tells of hi beginnings in Somerset, schooling and army training before moving into the culinary work which.brought both fame and failure. Too short, lacking detail other than coatings of financial losses and a bit bitter.
Not how I personally wish to remember this very vibrant TV personality.
July 23, 2023
Another account of his shallow life. I hope he enjoyed himself.
June 23, 2025
A roller coaster jaunt through the life of Floyd. Fame, food and drink with financial and relationship issues throughout.
February 8, 2011
Floyd was in inspiration to me while I was an ex-pat in Spain. RIP, Keith
July 30, 2012
An interesting (and probably very irritating) man. It's astonishing that he managed to make it past 40.
September 19, 2015
Floyd always fascinates. And this story of his rise from rural Somerset to become the most famous and charismatic tv chef of them all is recalled with charismatic brio.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews