CELEBRITY chef Keith Floyd died in Bridport on Monday after sharing a birthday meal with the woman he loved.
Celia Martin, 65, of South Street, who has been friends with Keith for 40 years, said he had a wonderful last day after hearing good news about the bowel cancer diagnosed in June.
She said: âWe went to have lunch at Hixâs Fish House in Lyme Regis for my birthday treat. He was feeling marvellous, saying âI havenât felt this well for agesâ.â
Aftewards Keith had a siesta but woke up with a headache, said Mrs Martin.
He fell asleep in front of TV but his breathing became erratic and she phoned 999. Medics spent an hour trying to revive him before taking him to Dorset County Hospital.
âI am still in a state of shock. I donât feel heâs gone and I canât get to grips with it at all. There is still his cigarette ash in the ashtrays, and his clothing in the washing. I expect him to wake up and get out of bed any minute.â
Mrs Martin told how the couple never married because her children didnât trust him.
She met Keith 40 years ago at the same time she met her then husband-to-be the writer David Martin.
If things had been different, she could easily have been Keithâs first wife, she said.
âWe met in The Greyhound in Bristol where he also met his first wife, the mother of Patrick. We both worked behind the bar.
âHe was very amusing and a very good person on the other side of the bar and very good at repartee.
âI went to drama school at Bristol Old Vic and that is where I met my husband. They were great friends. Although David was nine or ten years older, they shared the same love of food and drink and they hit it off straight away.
âThey both played such important part in my life.
âI always thought Iâd started Keithâs career because I gave him my transit van to convert into a mobile kitchen for some filming, but he said heâd made a complete loss at that financially. That happened to him quite often, although he put his heart and soul into everything he did.â
Mrs Martinâs husband was a writer of crime fiction and scripts for Dr Who.
She said: âKeith always thought David had introduced him to a lot of reading and then he started to write himself. He often felt that David had quite an important part in that and he was always very grateful.â
Ironically it was Keithâs story that launched Mr Martinâs own TV writing career.
âDavid and Davidâs writing partner Bob Baker wrote a whole life story of Keith in the army and the BBC said they could not afford to make it but would they like to write for Dr Who â I donât know if that is a compliment to Keith much,â she said.
Despite four previous wives and a bitter wrangle with his last wife over his house in France Keith was still keen to try again with her, she said.
âHe didnât get on terribly well in his love life. It differed with me because I was his age. He always got these people who were much too young. We came from the same trunk in the attic, as I always used to say. We have only been together for two years, which seems harsh.â
Mrs Martinâs children Thea and Leoâs disapproval of the relationship meant they never tied the knot.
âMy daughter does not approve at all. She is awful about it â it is really awkward being told off, being told not to talk to him on the phone and âyou re not having him hereâ, but luckily she is in America at the moment.
âThe children used to like him a lot, absolutely loved him and Keith did a lot for Thea â he got her job up in Glasgow when she was a student and needed some extra money.
âHe also took her down to the Maltsters Arms â another one of those places that went bankrupt â she worked there when she was at Colfox.
âItâs why we didnât married. We would have got married but my children didnât approve at all.
âHis did. Keith couldnât work that out but I think it was blatantly obvious personally. They didnât trust Keith but his children trusted me.
âEven after four wives he wasnât put off â he was very keen on marriage.
âI couldnât even get through to the hospital because they put a press embargo. I couldnât get any information.
âI get on well with his children Patrick and Poppy â I have known them since they were born. It just seemed like a natural progression to get together and I made the first move, apparently.
âHe was very gentle, kind and enormously considerate. There was a very gentle soft side to him that was actually very thoughtful. He was a very good companion for me.â
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