Clement Freud
Encyclopedia
Sir
Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 192415 April 2009) was an English broadcaster, writer, politician and chef.
(an architect) and Lucie née Brasch. He was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
and the brother of artist Lucian Freud
. His family fled to Britain from Nazi Germany
and his given name was anglicised from the original "Clemens". He spent his later childhood in Hampstead
where he attended the The Hall
private preparatory school. He also attended two independent school
s: he boarded at Dartington Hall
, and also went to St Paul's School, London.
During the Second World War Freud joined the Royal Ulster Rifles
and served in the ranks. He acted as an aide to Field Marshal Montgomery. He worked at the Nuremberg Trials
and in 1947 was commissioned as an officer. He married June Flewett
(the inspiration for Lucy Pevensie
in C. S. Lewis
's children's series The Chronicles of Narnia
) in 1950, and the couple had five children. Flewett had taken the stage name Jill Raymond in 1944, and since Clement's knighthood has been Lady Freud.
s", having worked at the Dorchester Hotel
, and went on to run his own restaurant in Sloane Square
at a relatively young age. As well as this, he had various newspaper and magazine columns, and was later a familiar face on television for his appearance in a series of dog food commercials (at first for Minced Morsels, later Chunky Meat) in which he co-starred with a bloodhound
called Henry (played by a number of dogs) which shared his trademark "hangdog" expression. In 1968, he wrote the children's book Grimble
, followed by a sequel, Grimble at Christmas, six years later.
Whilst running a nightclub he met a newspaper editor who gave him a job as a sports journalist. From there he became an award-winning food and drink writer.
, which he won. He was Liberal Member of Parliament
for that constituency (later North East Cambridgeshire) from 1973 to 1987. On his election, he was hailed as the first Jewish Liberal MP for decades (though he had become Anglican at the time of his marriage). His departure from Parliament was marked by the award of a knighthood
.
In his column in Racing Post
, issue of 23 August 2006, he wrote about his election to Parliament in a by-election: "Politically, I was an anti-Conservative unable to join a Labour party hell-bent on nationalising everything that moved, so when a by-election occurred in East Anglia
, where I lived and live, I stood as a Liberal and was fortunate in getting in. Ladbrokes
quoted me at 33-1 in this three-horse contest, so Ladbrokes paid for me to have rather more secretarial and research staff than other MPs, which helped to keep me in for five parliaments."
His autobiography, Freud Ego, recalls his election win, and shortly after, when asked by his wife June, "Why aren't you looking happier?", he wrote "It suddenly occurred to me that after nine years of fame I now had something solid about which to be famous... and cheered up no end." During his time as a Member of Parliament, he visited China with a delegation of other MPs, including the grandson of the wartime prime minister Winston Churchill
. When Churchill was given the best room in the hotel, on account of his lineage, Freud (in a reference to his own famous forebear) declared it was the first time in his life that he had been "out-grandfathered".
show Just a Minute
, in which his deadpan delivery was popular with audiences. In one edition during his turn to speak he said: "There’s not much doubt but we are in a period of great inflation. As the farmer said to me the other day, 'Apples are going up,' to which I replied, 'This would come as a severe blow to Sir Isaac Newton.'" He allegedly also once reduced the audience, panel and chairman to hysterical laughter with the following (completely off-topic) joke: "This gentleman asked me, 'Why are you so fat?' To which I replied, 'It's because every time I sleep with your wife she gives me a biscuit.'" (A similar comment has been attributed to the cricketer Eddo Brandes
.) He was a contestant on the first episode of Just a Minute in 1967 and took part in every series until his death. Freud was known to be fiercely competitive. Fellow participant Paul Merton
reminisced, "Clement's way of playing the game was to win: that's what he cared about." Freud died without resolving a feud with his brother Lucian, thought to have dated back 70 years, over which of them was the rightful winner of a boyhood race.
Freud performed a small monologue for the Wings
1973 album Band on the Run and appeared on the album's cover.
In 1974, he was elected Rector of the University of Dundee
and served two three-year terms.
A generation later, in 2002, he was elected Rector
of the University of St Andrews
, beating feminist and academic Germaine Greer
and local challenger Barry Joss, holding the position for one term.
He appeared as a panellist on the comedy game-shows Shooting Stars
(in 2002) and Have I Got News For You
(in 2001 and 2003).
was formerly married to Caroline Hutton, who was the second wife of Earl Spencer
; he then married media magnate Rupert Murdoch
's daughter Elisabeth
. Sir Clement Freud's daughter Emma Freud
, a broadcaster, is the partner of Richard Curtis
, scriptwriter of Blackadder
and Four Weddings and a Funeral
. His nieces (by his painter brother Lucian
) are fashion designer Bella Freud
and writer Esther Freud
. His brother, Stephen Freud, has closely guarded his privacy, with the exception of an interview he gave to The Daily Telegraph
. The Freud family live in Walberswick
in Suffolk
.
Freud was a columnist for the Racing Post
newspaper. Freud's enthusiasm for horse racing went as far as challenging Sir Hugh Fraser
, then chairman of Harrods
, to a horse race at Haydock
in 1972. Freud trained for three months and lost some five stones for the event. Although Fraser, a country gentlemen, was seen as a much better prospect, the two made a bet for £1,000-a-side. Freud used the long odds to his advantage, however, and shrewdly placed a large side bet on himself. Freud won the race and made a great deal of money. His horse, Winter Fair, went on to win the Waterloo Hurdle at Aintree
that same year.
Freud also wrote articles reviewing facilities for spectators at racecourses in Britain, especially catering. This led him to receive the nickname "Sir Clement Food".
where he had a holiday home and offering them drinks. Initially when he wrote offering assistance they thought it was a hoax.
in Fleet Street
and was attended by a host of personalities from the media and entertainment industry including Bono
, Richard Curtis
, Stephen Fry
, Paul Merton
, Nicholas Parsons
as well as several representatives from Westminster
, such as then-Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
, then-Shadow Chancellor George Osborne
and former Liberal party leader David Steel
. Freud had asked for his body to be cremated and his ashes scattered at his estate in Walberswick
, Suffolk
. He was survived by his wife of 59 years, Jill Freud, his five children, his 17 grandchildren and his two elder brothers, Stephen and noted painter Lucian.
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 192415 April 2009) was an English broadcaster, writer, politician and chef.
Early life
Freud was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig FreudErnst Ludwig Freud
Ernst Ludwig Freud was an Austrian architect and the youngest son of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and his German-born wife Martha Bernays....
(an architect) and Lucie née Brasch. He was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and the brother of artist Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
. His family fled to Britain from Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and his given name was anglicised from the original "Clemens". He spent his later childhood in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
where he attended the The Hall
Hall School (Hampstead)
The Hall School is an independent boys' preparatory school in Belsize Park, Hampstead, London, currently teaching boys from the age of four to thirteen.-Description:The school is known for high academic standards...
private preparatory school. He also attended two independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
s: he boarded at Dartington Hall
Dartington Hall
The Dartington Hall Trust, near Totnes, Devon, United Kingdom is a charity specialising in the arts, social justice and sustainability.The Trust currently runs 16 charitable programmes, including The Dartington International Summer School and Schumacher Environmental College...
, and also went to St Paul's School, London.
During the Second World War Freud joined the Royal Ulster Rifles
Royal Ulster Rifles
The Royal Ulster Rifles was a British Army infantry regiment. It saw service in the Second Boer War, Great War, the Second World War and the Korean War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968.-History:...
and served in the ranks. He acted as an aide to Field Marshal Montgomery. He worked at the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
and in 1947 was commissioned as an officer. He married June Flewett
June Flewett
June Beatrice Flewett is a British actress and theatre director who was married to Clement Freud. As a war-time teenager, she was evacuated to C.S...
(the inspiration for Lucy Pevensie
Lucy Pevensie
Lucy Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. She is the youngest of the four Pevensie children, and the first to find the Wardrobe entrance to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Of all the Pevensie children, Lucy is the closest to Aslan...
in C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
's children's series The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...
) in 1950, and the couple had five children. Flewett had taken the stage name Jill Raymond in 1944, and since Clement's knighthood has been Lady Freud.
Early career
Freud was one of Britain's first "celebrity chefCelebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...
s", having worked at the Dorchester Hotel
Dorchester Hotel
The Dorchester is a luxury hotel in London, opened on 18 April 1931. It is situated on Park Lane in Mayfair, overlooking Hyde Park.The Dorchester was created by the famous builder Sir Robert McAlpine and the managing director of Gordon Hotels Ltd, Sir Frances Towle, who shared a vision of creating...
, and went on to run his own restaurant in Sloane Square
Sloane Square
Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the fashionable London districts of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The square is part of the Hans Town area designed in 1771 by Henry...
at a relatively young age. As well as this, he had various newspaper and magazine columns, and was later a familiar face on television for his appearance in a series of dog food commercials (at first for Minced Morsels, later Chunky Meat) in which he co-starred with a bloodhound
Bloodhound
The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...
called Henry (played by a number of dogs) which shared his trademark "hangdog" expression. In 1968, he wrote the children's book Grimble
Grimble
Grimble is a children's book by Clement Freud, published by Collins in 1968. A sequel, Grimble at Christmas was published some years later. The book was illustrated by Frank Francis. In the 1970s, the two titles were published in a compendium volume by Puffin Books, with drawings by Quentin Blake...
, followed by a sequel, Grimble at Christmas, six years later.
Whilst running a nightclub he met a newspaper editor who gave him a job as a sports journalist. From there he became an award-winning food and drink writer.
Political career
Prior to politics, Freud longed for (given his background and ancestry) a distinct occupation by which he could be acclaimed, rather than just being "the man off the telly"; his chance came in the 1973 Isle of Ely Parliamentary by-electionIsle of Ely by-election, 1973
The Isle of Ely by-election, 1973 was a parliamentary by-election held on 26 July 1973 for the British House of Commons constituency of Isle of Ely....
, which he won. He was Liberal Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for that constituency (later North East Cambridgeshire) from 1973 to 1987. On his election, he was hailed as the first Jewish Liberal MP for decades (though he had become Anglican at the time of his marriage). His departure from Parliament was marked by the award of a knighthood
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
.
In his column in Racing Post
Racing Post
The Racing Post is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting newspaper, appearing in print form and online.From 30 May 2011 - 3 July 2011 it had a circulation of 56,507.-History:...
, issue of 23 August 2006, he wrote about his election to Parliament in a by-election: "Politically, I was an anti-Conservative unable to join a Labour party hell-bent on nationalising everything that moved, so when a by-election occurred in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, where I lived and live, I stood as a Liberal and was fortunate in getting in. Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes plc is a British based gambling company. It is based in Rayners Lane in Harrow, London owned by Bhavin Kakaiya. From 14 May 1999 to 23 February 2006, when it owned the Hilton hotel brand outside the United States, it was known as Hilton Group plc...
quoted me at 33-1 in this three-horse contest, so Ladbrokes paid for me to have rather more secretarial and research staff than other MPs, which helped to keep me in for five parliaments."
His autobiography, Freud Ego, recalls his election win, and shortly after, when asked by his wife June, "Why aren't you looking happier?", he wrote "It suddenly occurred to me that after nine years of fame I now had something solid about which to be famous... and cheered up no end." During his time as a Member of Parliament, he visited China with a delegation of other MPs, including the grandson of the wartime prime minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. When Churchill was given the best room in the hotel, on account of his lineage, Freud (in a reference to his own famous forebear) declared it was the first time in his life that he had been "out-grandfathered".
Radio, music, academia
For many, Freud was best known as a panellist on the long-running Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
show Just a Minute
Just a Minute
Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003....
, in which his deadpan delivery was popular with audiences. In one edition during his turn to speak he said: "There’s not much doubt but we are in a period of great inflation. As the farmer said to me the other day, 'Apples are going up,' to which I replied, 'This would come as a severe blow to Sir Isaac Newton.'" He allegedly also once reduced the audience, panel and chairman to hysterical laughter with the following (completely off-topic) joke: "This gentleman asked me, 'Why are you so fat?' To which I replied, 'It's because every time I sleep with your wife she gives me a biscuit.'" (A similar comment has been attributed to the cricketer Eddo Brandes
Eddo Brandes
Eddo André Brandes is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who played in 10 Tests and 59 ODIs from 1987 to 1999, spanning four World Cups...
.) He was a contestant on the first episode of Just a Minute in 1967 and took part in every series until his death. Freud was known to be fiercely competitive. Fellow participant Paul Merton
Paul Merton
Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
reminisced, "Clement's way of playing the game was to win: that's what he cared about." Freud died without resolving a feud with his brother Lucian, thought to have dated back 70 years, over which of them was the rightful winner of a boyhood race.
Freud performed a small monologue for the Wings
Wings (band)
Wings were a British-American rock group formed in 1971 by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney that remained active until 1981....
1973 album Band on the Run and appeared on the album's cover.
In 1974, he was elected Rector of the University of Dundee
Rector of the University of Dundee
The Rector of the University of Dundee is elected by the matriculated students of the University. From 1967 to 2010 the Rector was automatically a full member of the University Court...
and served two three-year terms.
A generation later, in 2002, he was elected Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
, beating feminist and academic Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
and local challenger Barry Joss, holding the position for one term.
He appeared as a panellist on the comedy game-shows Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two as a pilot in 1993, then as 3 full series from 1995 to 1997, then on BBC Choice from January to December 2002 with 2 series before returning to BBC Two for another 3 series from 2008 until its axing in 2011...
(in 2002) and Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
(in 2001 and 2003).
Family and hobbies
His son Matthew FreudMatthew Freud
Matthew Freud is head of Freud Communications, an international public relations firm in the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
was formerly married to Caroline Hutton, who was the second wife of Earl Spencer
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer
Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, DL , styled Viscount Althorp between 1975 and 1992, is a British peer and brother of Diana, Princess of Wales...
; he then married media magnate Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's daughter Elisabeth
Elisabeth Murdoch (businesswoman)
Elisabeth Murdoch is an executive in the British television industry and a daughter of international media mogul Rupert Murdoch...
. Sir Clement Freud's daughter Emma Freud
Emma Freud
Emma Vallencey Freud OBE is an English broadcaster and cultural commentator.-Early life:Emma Freud was born on 25 January 1962 and is the daughter of politician and broadcaster Sir Clement Freud and June Flewett. She is the great-granddaughter of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud...
, a broadcaster, is the partner of Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
, scriptwriter of Blackadder
Blackadder
Blackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
and Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...
. His nieces (by his painter brother Lucian
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
) are fashion designer Bella Freud
Bella Freud
Bella Freud is a London-based fashion designer with a number of celebrity clients.-Life and career:Freud was born in London, England. She is the daughter of Bernardine Coverley and artist Lucian Freud and great granddaughter of the inventor of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud. Her father Lucian Freud...
and writer Esther Freud
Esther Freud
Esther Freud is a British novelist.-Life and career:Born in London, Freud is the daughter of painter Lucian Freud and Bernadine Coverley and is a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. She travelled extensively with her mother as a child, and returned to London at the age of sixteen to train as an...
. His brother, Stephen Freud, has closely guarded his privacy, with the exception of an interview he gave to The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. The Freud family live in Walberswick
Walberswick
Walberswick is a village on the Suffolk coast in England, across the River Blyth from Southwold. Coastal erosion and the shifting of the mouth of the River Blyth meant that the neighbouring town of Dunwich was lost as a port in the last years of the 13th century...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.
Freud was a columnist for the Racing Post
Racing Post
The Racing Post is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting newspaper, appearing in print form and online.From 30 May 2011 - 3 July 2011 it had a circulation of 56,507.-History:...
newspaper. Freud's enthusiasm for horse racing went as far as challenging Sir Hugh Fraser
Sir Hugh Fraser, 2nd Baronet
-Career:Fraser was educated at Kelvinside Academy, and was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Stirling, where one of the student residences is now named Fraser of Allander after him. In 1981 he gifted the Mugdock Castle estate to the regional council as a country park. In 1960, he...
, then chairman of Harrods
Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...
, to a horse race at Haydock
Haydock Park Racecourse
Haydock Park Racecourse is a racecourse in Haydock, Merseyside, England. The track is a mostly flat left-handed oval of around 1 mile 5 furlongs with a very slight rise on the run-in. There are courses for flat racing and National Hunt racing...
in 1972. Freud trained for three months and lost some five stones for the event. Although Fraser, a country gentlemen, was seen as a much better prospect, the two made a bet for £1,000-a-side. Freud used the long odds to his advantage, however, and shrewdly placed a large side bet on himself. Freud won the race and made a great deal of money. His horse, Winter Fair, went on to win the Waterloo Hurdle at Aintree
Aintree
Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside. It lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, about north of Liverpool city centre, in North West England....
that same year.
Freud also wrote articles reviewing facilities for spectators at racecourses in Britain, especially catering. This led him to receive the nickname "Sir Clement Food".
Friendship with Kate and Gerry McCann
After Freud's death it emerged that in July 2007 he had helped the parents of missing child Madeleine McCann by cooking them dinners in Praia da LuzPraia da Luz
Praia da Luz , officially Luz, is a civil parish, village and resort located about 6 km from the municipality of Lagos in the Algarve, Portugal. Also known as Luz de Lagos or Vila da Luz, "Praia da Luz", which means Beach of the Light, is used to refer to both the village and the beach...
where he had a holiday home and offering them drinks. Initially when he wrote offering assistance they thought it was a hoax.
Death and funeral
Freud died at his home on 15 April 2009, nine days before his 85th birthday. His funeral service was held at St Bride's ChurchSt Bride's Church
St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 on Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire during the London Blitz in 1940. Due to its location on...
in Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
and was attended by a host of personalities from the media and entertainment industry including Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
, Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
, Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, Paul Merton
Paul Merton
Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
, Nicholas Parsons
Nicholas Parsons
Nicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...
as well as several representatives from Westminster
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, such as then-Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, then-Shadow Chancellor George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
and former Liberal party leader David Steel
David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats...
. Freud had asked for his body to be cremated and his ashes scattered at his estate in Walberswick
Walberswick
Walberswick is a village on the Suffolk coast in England, across the River Blyth from Southwold. Coastal erosion and the shifting of the mouth of the River Blyth meant that the neighbouring town of Dunwich was lost as a port in the last years of the 13th century...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. He was survived by his wife of 59 years, Jill Freud, his five children, his 17 grandchildren and his two elder brothers, Stephen and noted painter Lucian.
Further reading
- Crewe, Daniel. "One of Nature’s Liberals: the career of Sir Clement Freud, artist, journalist, chef, bon-viveur – and Liberal MP, 1973-87" in Journal of Liberal History, Issue 43, Summer 2004.
External links
- Video: Sir Clement Freud dies aged 84 - Times Online
- NYTimes obit.
- Sir Clement Freud dies aged 84 - guardian.co.uk
- AP Obituary in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Gallery of pictures at guardian.co.uk