Heart attack kills TV chef Keith Floyd, aged 65

Keith Floyd died from a heart attack after dining on champagne, oysters and partridge at a 65th birthday lunch for his partner.

The TV chef, as famous for his love of wine as his cooking, fell ill last night as he and Celia Martin waited to watch a Channel 4 documentary about his life.

Mrs Martin was given life-saving instructions by a 999 operator as she tried to save him as he lay unconscious on her sofa in Bridport, Dorset.

Earlier the paid had a £120 meal for two at the Hix Oyster and Fish House in Lyme Regis, run by fellow ceelbrity chef Mark Hix.

Floyd had a "Hix Fix" champagne cocktail with a cherry soaked in apple eau de vie, oysters with potted shrimp, patridge with bread sauce - he ordered grouse but was served partidge by mistake - and perry jelly for dessert. He drank a glass of £49-a-bottle Pouilly Vinzelles 2006 Burgundy and a two glasses of Nature Perrin and Fils Cotes de Rhone 2007 red.

But he turned down a last drink because he had visited his doctor earlier in the day, who had advised him to "slow down" and steer clear of booze.

Mrs Martin said that Floyd, who had been unwell for some years and had been undergoing treatment for bowel cancer, told her he had not felt as well for ages. He had seen a cancer specialist earlier in the day and was hopeful of beating the disease, she said.

She said today: "When we got home he had a siesta and got up feeling a bit headachy. We had both eaten a lot so I put it down to that.

"He laid down on the sofa and I thought he went to sleep. Then suddenly his breathing became erratic. I phoned for an ambulance and the operator gave me instructions on how to help him.

"He didn't say anything at all. The ambulance people were here for about an hour. They thought there was a chance they could save him.

"It was so bizarre, we were sitting down to watch the documentary at 10pm but by that time he had died."

He had written at least 25 books and presented 23 TV series, such as Floyd on Food, for the BBC and latterly Channel 5. Often shot on location, these showcased his flamboyant style, typically with a glass in hand as he cooked, and his love of foreign cuisine and travel.

Fellow chef Marco Pierre White said Floyd had inspired the nation. He said: "If you look at TV chefs today they don't have his magic. It's a very, very, very sad day for my industry and secondly for a nation."

Antony Worrall Thompson said: "I think all of us modern TV chefs owe a living to him. He spawned us all."

Floyd was educated at Wellington School in Somerset. He became a journalist — he bought his first bow tie for a job interview on the Bristol Evening Post — then an army officer, enrolling after seeing the film Zulu. He left the army after a nervous breakdown.

He became a restaurateur in the early Seventies, opening numerous eateries first in Bristol and then in France. Latterly he opened a restaurant in the Thai resort of Phuket.

However, many of his restaurants had financial problems, forcing their sale, and helping to wreck his personal life. "A restaurant is like a mistress, forever demanding," he wrote in his autobiography. "It's remarkable how often my marriages and my restaurants seem to go down the pan at approximately the same time."

His first taste of fame was as a radio chef in Bristol, which led to the BBC offering him a TV show. Many series followed in the Eighties and Nineties.

His four marriages all ended in divorce and he was declared bankrupt in 1996 and again in 2001. He suffered a small stroke in 2002, and was banned from the road in 2004 after being convicted of drink driving.

Floyd warned in his memoirs: "Don't ever go into the restaurant business. It kills marriages, it kills relationships, and it kills life. It kills everything. And I, the man with four ex-wives, should know."