Book description
Clement Freud, who died suddenly in April 2009, was a man of many
parts. His life embraced a variety of careers, including TV chef,
gambler, owner of a night club and several racehorses, radio
broadcaster, adventurer and - not least - Member of Parliament. Yet,
as his son Matthew declared at his funeral, it was Freud's writing
that brought us closest to the man.
In addition to several books - notably the children's book
Grimble (1968), Freud on Food (1978), The Book of
Hangovers (1981) and a volume of autobiography, Freud Ego
(2001) - he wrote on a vast range of subjects for newspapers and
magazines, including the Observer, Sun, Financial
Times, Sporting Life, Daily Mail, Tatler,
Guardian, New Yorker and Racing Post.
A Feast of Freud presents a generous helping of Clement Freud's
best and most humorous writing on a broad sweep of topics, including
his consuming passions of food, sport, politics and the absurdity of
the human condition, reflecting his extraordinarily varied life
through the prism of his distinctive deadpan humour.
From the pen of the man who once joked of being 'out-grandfathered'
by the younger Winston Churchill comes this richly stocked volume that
every Freud fan, no matter in which of his many lives they encountered
him, will treasure.
Sir Clement Freud, grandson of Sigmund, was born in Berlin,
1924. His varied career began in Britain as one of our first
'celebrity chefs', and then as a familiar face on TV in a series of
dog food adverts. In 1973 he became the liberal MP for Ely and
retained his seat for 14 years, subsequently being awarded a
knighthood. He was a much-loved regular panellist on long-running
Radio 4 show Just a Minute.
Emma Freud, Clement's younger daughter, has worked as a TV
presenter for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 and a radio broadcaster on
BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4. She is a trustee and director of Comic Relief
and helped to run the Make Poverty History campaign and Live 8
concerts. She is also credited as script editor in many of her partner
Richard Curtis's films, including Four Weddings and A Funeral,
Bridget Jones' Diary and Love Actually. Emma and
Richard have four children together.
