Seventies TV chef Fanny Cradock once ruled the airwaves but since the demise of her TV career the star was left penniless and died in a ‘tiny flat’ despite flash lifestyle
Seventies TV chef Fanny Cradock was an original when it came to showcasing her culinary skills to her adoring fans on the small screen. And at the time, she dominated the airwaves and led a lifestyle most people could only dream of back then, from driving around in a Rolls-Royce to chartering a boat in Cannes.
But it seems her fame and notoriety got the better of her and she was axed from her TV show, leaving her struggling. Behind the façade, it has now come to light that at the age of 85 when Fanny died, she was penniless.
Not only that, she lived and died in a tiny flat in West Sussex, which was a far cry from her once glitzy lifestyle. This comes as ITV axes Noel Edmonds’ big TV comeback after just one series.
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Fanny’s husband, Johnnie, played the role of her TV sidekick, but according to reports, she took their TV dynamic too far and was overheard speaking poorly to him on set.
An assistant who was present at the time Fanny scolded her husband publicly recalled that she screamed: “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again. You’ll be back where you came from so fast you won’t know what’s hit you I am Fanny Cradock and don’t you forget that.”
As her fame grew so too did her arrogance. She reportedly described the former Duchess of York a “trollop”, labelled the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher “cheap and described comedian Les Dawson “an awful lump of lard who pulls funny faces.”
She added: “He’s greasy, horrible and disgusting. I hate him.” Her superior demeanour soon got the better of her which created her downfall.
In 1976, she publicly embarrassed a housewife from Devon while presenting BBC show The Big Time. She mocked and humiliated her over her menu and went as far as pretending to gag after tasting her food.
Her questionable performance left viewers angry, and she was sacked within weeks.
Her career had crumbled shortly after her departure from the BBC show as work started to dry up. According to the Express, in 1994, she died after suffering a stroke at her “filthy, tiny flat” in Chichester, west Chichester.
Reportedly, her funeral did not attract many people.
In a bid to celebrate 40 years from the end of her TV career, the BBC has decided to reintroduced her shows online.
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