As tributes pour in to the Grand Inquisitor, TV mogul, serial entrepreneur and unsurpassed Through the Keyhole presenter, my mind wanders back through the mists of memory to the David Frost I knew...
An intensely private man, sensitive almost to a fault, David loved nothing more than to turn his back on the busy world and pursue his twin passions - ecclesiastical embroidery and his lifelong study of Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. He shunned company, but a few trusted friends - myself happily included - were allowed over the threshold of his austere Farm Street rooms. I recall many a precious evening discussing the finer points of the Summa over tea and a pipe of tobacco (his one indulgence!), while his nimble fingers plied the needle to such dazzling effect. His set of hassocks for Ss Cosmas and Damian, Tite St, are the stuff of ecclesiastical legend. He was also - as none but his closest friends knew - an accomplished writer of occasional lyric verse, and could successfully have published a slim volume or two - but such was his nature that the thought of making such a vulgar entree into the public arena appalled him...
Hang on - maybe I'm thinking of another David Frost?
Coming Soon: The Michael Parkinson I knew.
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My dad knew David in the 60s, well he replaced the iron railings on his london residence, which had been melted down during the war, my dad said he looked very gray and ill then, but had a very pretty girlfriend. Best wishes, Sam
ReplyDeleteWhen you have gained my trust,I might tell you about when Sir Paul, yes him, sat on my dads anvil
ReplyDeleteYou had me all the way to the end. I can't believe I humiliated myself by taking ecclesiastical embroidary seriously. Well done. I haven't felt such a fool since my early youth when I read an entire Flashman book and had to be told by a friend it wasn't really autobiography.
ReplyDeleteWell done Nige, the obit's are on fire today. Saw him on a train, he joined at Peterborough, complete with Lance Percival et al, all Cambridge scarves and books tied with leather thongs.
ReplyDelete"Hello Dave, how's it going" I said.
"Who's the Geordie" he enquired of Lance.
"It's Malty," he replied.
"Ah," said David, "thought it was."
'Unsurpassed Through the Keyhole presenter'
ReplyDeleteA bold statement given that Keith Lemon has recently taken up the mantle. Of course, some say it's an indication of how far our standards have slipped but I like to think of it as a measure of how far we've furthered the cause of the truly cretinous in this country.