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Fanny Cradock

Born Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey
February 26, 1909(1909-02-26)
Apthorp House, Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, Essex, England
Died December 27, 1994 (aged 85)
Ersham House Hailsham, East Sussex, England
Known for Cookery, rudeness

Fanny Cradock (born Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey on February 26, 1909 Apthorp House, Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, Essex, England [1] – December 27, 1994 Ersham House Hailsham, East Sussex, England) was an English restaurant critic, television cook and writer who mostly worked with John "Johnnie" Cradock, whose surname she adopted long before they married. Events 747 BC - Epoch (origin of Ptolemy 's Nabonassar Era 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Leytonstone is an area of East London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Essex is a county in the East of England. The County town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Hailsham is one of four main Towns in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 747 BC - Epoch (origin of Ptolemy 's Nabonassar Era 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Leytonstone is an area of East London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Essex is a county in the East of England. The County town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Hailsham is one of four main Towns in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The terms food critic, food writer, and restaurant critic can all be used to describe a Writer who analyzes food or Restaurants and then publishes Cooking is the process of preparing Food by applying Heat, selecting measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible Major John "Johnnie" Whitby Cradock, ( 17 May 1904 Lambeth, London, England - 30 January 1987 She was the daughter of the novelist and lyricist Archibald Thomas Pechey. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story A lyricist is a Writer who specializes in Song Lyrics, usually paid for by a band to write a custom song(s Archibald Thomas Pechey (1876 West Ham, London -1961 Wells, Somerset, England) often credited simply as Valentine Fanny’s family background was one of respectable middleclass trade; her ancestors included the Pecheys – corn merchants and churchmen, the Vallentines – distillers, and the Hulberts – cabinet makers.

Contents

Early career and marriages

There has been some confusion over her birthplace. One national newspaper obituary records the Channel Islands; the borough of Leytonstone specifically records at Fairwood Court, Fairlop Road, London E11: “Fanny Craddock [sic] 1909-1994. On this site until 1930 stood a house called Apthorp, birthplace of the famous TV cookery expert Fanny Craddock [sic]; born Phyllis Pechey. " Fanny's birthplace was named after Apthorp Villa, in Weston, Somerset, where her grandfather Charles Hancock was born.

Her birth was formally registered in the district of West Ham. West Ham is a district in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England, located east of Charing Cross.

The first ten years of her life in London began with her living in destitution, selling cleaning products door to door. She then worked in a dressmaking shop. Things finally picked up for her when she began to work at various restaurants and was introduced to the works of Auguste Escoffier, which would prove influential. Georges Auguste Escoffier (28 October 1846&ndash12 February 1935 was a French Chef, Restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated She later wrote passionately about the change from service à la française to service à la russe and hailed Escoffier as a saviour of British cooking - although she would fiercely defend her opinion that there was no such thing as British cuisine: "Even the good old Yorkshire Pudd'n comes from Burgundy". Service à la française is the practice of serving all the dishes of a meal at the same moment Service à la russe ( French, literally "service in the Russian style" is a manner of dining that involves courses being brought to the table sequentially

Fanny married four times, the first in 1926 [2] to an RAF pilot named Sidney A. Vernon Evans. The marriage was shortlived as he died in an air crash after a few months [3]. This left Fanny a pregnant widow. Within a year of giving birth to her son Peter [4], Fanny married again, in 1928 [5], this time to Arthur W. Chapman. Another child was born, Christopher [6], and when Christopher was four months, Fanny abandoned him and Arthur for life in central London. In September 1939 she married Gregory Holden-Dye [7] whilst still legally married to Arthur, but the new marriage only lasted eight weeks. By that time she had met Johnnie Cradock, a Royal Artillery major. Major John "Johnnie" Whitby Cradock, ( 17 May 1904 Lambeth, London, England - 30 January 1987 Johnnie was already married with four children. He left his wife and family and had no contact with them for the rest of his life. Fanny and Johnnie married in 1977 after the collapse of her television career [8] [9].

Fanny carved out a minor reputation as a novelist and children's author under the pseudonym "Frances Dale". As "Phyllis Cradock" she was an authority on the lost continent of Atlantis (she had a lifelong belief in spiritualism). But it was her first recipe book, The Practical Cook, that opened the door to Fleet Street in 1949. The Daily Telegraph already had a cookery expert, Claire Butler, so Fanny's first contributions were as "Elsa Frances", a fashion writer, and "Nan Sortain", a beauty consultant - "all acne, leaking scalps and curious inquiries made on behalf of a mysterious 'friend'", she recalled.

It is believed that Fanny met Johnnie Cradock at a food exhibition but this is uncertain. Evelyn Garrett, the woman's editor of the Daily Telegraph, asked whether she and Johnnie would like a few weekend breaks in the country "to find out if there is anything left that is worthwhile in the inns of England. " [10] and they soon began writing a column under the pen name of "Bon Viveur"[11] which appeared in the Daily Telegraph from 1950 to 1955. For "The Daily Telegraph" in Australia see The Daily Telegraph (Australia. This gentle experiment evolved into a five-year voyage of discovery, during which Fanny and Johnnie visited thousands of hotels and restaurants, home and abroad.

The paper also provided a wider stage for her showman's flair, staging "Kitchen Magic" extravaganzas across the country in which the pair turned theatres into restaurants. Cradock would cook vast dishes that were served to the audience. They became known for roast turkey, complete with stuffed head, tail feathers and wings. Complete with French accents, their act was one of a drunken hen-pecked husband and a domineering wife. At this time, they were known as Major and Mrs Cradock. The Cradocks' most prestigious event, when they filled the Royal Albert Hall for their International Christmas Cookery show in 1956, was dedicated to the Frenchman, Georges Auguste Escoffier.

Television

Fanny Cradock's Adventurous Cooking (BBC, 1966)
Fanny Cradock's Adventurous Cooking (BBC, 1966)

In 1955, Fanny recorded a pilot for a BBC television series. It was a winning format and each series came with a printed booklet that gave a detailed account of each recipe Fanny demonstrated. In later years, she would simply say, "You'll find that recipe in the booklet so I won't show you now". Cradock's TV programmes were popular in the late 1950s. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive Fanny advocated bringing Escoffier-standard food into the British home and gave every recipe a French name. Her food looked extravagant but was generally cost effective and Fanny seemed to care for her audience. Catchphrases were; "This won't break you", "This is perfectly economical", "This won't stretch your purse". She insisted that "Everyone [was] entitled to a piece of really good cake at least once a year".

As time went on, her food became outdated. Her love of the piping bag and vegetable dyes meant her television show began to border on farce. A pastry bag is used to pipe semi-solid Foods by pressing them through a narrow opening at one end for many purposes including cake decoration. A food coloring is any substance that is added to Food or Drink to change its Color. As she got older, she applied more and more make-up and wore vast chiffon ballgowns on screen. Her apronless cry, both on screen and on stage, was that "cooking is a cleanly art, not a grubby chore". Using language that would never have found its way into her Bon Viveur columns, she spat: "Only a slut gets in a mess in the kitchen. "

By this stage, when Fanny spoke, the world listened. She campaigned against artificial flavourings and fertilisers - the Cradock tomatoes were fed on tea and pee dubbed "Madam's Tonic" - and in 1974 she sent the Ayr fishing fleet into panic after revealing that monkfish was being widely used in scampi as a cheaper alternative to prawns. Fertilizers ( also spelt fertiliser are chemical compounds given to Plants to promote growth they are usually applied either through the soil for uptake by plant Tea refers to the cured agricultural product of the leaves leaf buds and internodes of Camellia sinensis, which have been prepared and cured for the market Urine is a liquid waste product of the body secreted by the Kidneys by a process of filtration from Blood and Excreted through the Urethra. Monkfish is the English name of a number of types of fish in the northwest Atlantic most notably the species of the anglerfish genus Lophius and the angelshark Scampi is the plural of scampo, the Italian name for the Norway lobster ( Nephrops norvegicus) also known as the Dublin Bay prawn (especially Prawns are Crustaceans belonging to the sub-order Dendrobranchiata   She had firm views, too, on what viewers and readers should do at Christmas. In Fanny's book, there was no beginning or end to the preparations: Christmas puddings should be prepared a year in advance, although a batch Fanny made for Harrods in the early Sixties had to be returned when they went mouldy. Christmas pudding is the dessert traditionally served on Christmas day although still available and popular throughout the year in Britain Harrods is a Department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. Every month had its tasks: pickling walnuts, preserving angelica, making potpourri. Walnuts (genus Juglans) are Plants in the family Juglandaceae. Angelica is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial Herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Potpourri is a mixture of dried naturally fragrant Plant material used to provide a gentle natural scent in houses Her fervour for DIY was also reflected in her accent on wreaths, flamboyant table designs and home-made decorations - an enterprise that she claimed could keep children "absorbed throughout the long winter evenings". [12]

Fanny had always included her relatives and friends in her television shows. Johnnie suffered a minor heart attack in the early 1970s and it was the opportunity for the BBC to request "Fanny-only" shows. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. Johnnie was replaced with the daughter of a friend - Jayne. Another was Sarah and there was a series of young men who didn't last long.

Fanny Cradock's last television cookery programmes should be Christmas-themed. Her series Cradock Cooks for Christmas is the only of her programmes to have been shown in the past decade - enjoying an annual Christmas re-run on the UK digital television channel UKTV Food. UKTV Food (originally UK Food) is a Television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom as part of the UKTV network of channels

Gwen Troake

In 1976, Devon housewife Gwen Troake won a competition called "Cook of the Realm", the prize being to organise a banquet to be attended by Edward Heath, Earl Mountbatten of Burma and other VIPs. Sir Edward Richard George Heath, KG, MBE (9 July 1916 &ndash 17 July 2005 often known as Ted Heath, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The title Earl Mountbatten of Burma was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1947 for Louis Mountbatten 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma The BBC filmed the result as part of a series called The Big Time, and asked Fanny Cradock (then a tax exile in Ireland and aged 66) to act as one of a number of experts giving Troake advice on her menu. The Big Time was a British documentary and Reality television series made by the BBC, which ran from 1976 to 1980. The result brought the end of Fanny Cradock's TV career[13]. Mrs Troake went through her menu of seafood cocktail, duckling with bramble sauce and coffee cream dessert. Fanny told Troake that her menu was too rich, and while accepting that the dessert was delicious, insisted it was not suitable, declaring: "You're among professionals now". Fanny grimaced, acted as if on the verge of retching, and claimed not to know what a bramble was. Bramble refers to thorny plants of the Genus Rubus, in the Rose family ( Rosaceae) She suggested that Troake use a small pastry boat filled with cream and covered with spun sugar. It was completed by an orange slice and a cherry through a cocktail stick, giving the dish the look of a small boat, which Fanny thought was suitable for the naval guests.

In the event, the pudding was a disaster and couldn't be served properly. Robert Morley had also been consulted on the menu and said he felt Troake's original coffee pudding was perfect. Robert Morley CBE ( May 26, 1908 &ndash June 3, 1992) was an Oscar -nominated English Actor who When the pudding failed to impress, the public were annoyed that Cradock had seemingly ruined a potential success for the Devon housewife. Coupled with the rude manner in which Fanny had spoken to Troake, the public demanded her shows be axed from the BBC. Fanny wrote an apology to Troake but the BBC terminated her contract two weeks after the programme. She never presented a cookery programme again [14].

Later Years

Fanny and Johnnie became regulars on the chat show circuit and appeared on programmes such as The Generation Game and Blankety Blank. A talk show ( American) or chat show ( Global) is a Television or Radio program where one person or group of people come together to The Generation Game was a British Game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two (people from the same family but different generations Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the Australian game show Blankety Blanks which was compared by Australian television icon Graham Fanny appeared alone on Wogan, Parkinson and TV-am. TV-am was a Breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. In earlier years her husky voice and larger-than-life personality lent itself to mimicry: for example, on the 1960s BBC radio comedy show, Beyond Our Ken, Betty Marsden could regularly be heard in the guise of "Fanny Haddock". Beyond Our Ken (1958-1964 was a Radio programme the predecessor to Round the Horne (1965-1968 Betty Marsden ( February 24, 1919 – July 18, 1998) was an English Comedy actress.

She wrote several novels, the Castle Rising series which had recipes as footnotes but they were not well received. When she appeared on the television chat show Parkinson, her co-star was drag artist Danny La Rue. Parkinson is a surname and may refer to Cecil Parkinson (born 1931 Baron Parkinson of Carnforth British politician C A drag queen is a person usually a man who dresses (or "drags" in female clothes and make-up for special occasions and usually because they are performing and entertaining Danny La Rue OBE was born on 26 July[[ 927]] as Daniel Patrick Carroll in County Cork, is an entertainer known for his drag When it was revealed to her that La Rue was actually a female impersonator, Cradock stormed off set. This was her final BBC appearance, her final television appearance of all being on The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross. Jonathan Stephen Ross OBE (born 17 November 1960 in London, England) is a triple BAFTA -winning British

Fanny and Johnnie spent their final years living at 95 Cooden Drive Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex. Bexhill-on-Sea (often simply Bexhill) is a town and Seaside resort in the county of East Sussex, in the south of England, within the East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the She stayed with The Telegraph until the early 1980s by which time her main source of income was a series of novels chronicling the life and hard times of the aristocratic Lormes family. After Johnnie's death in 1987, she spent her last years in residence at Ersham House Hailsham, East Sussex, after having been found by a television reporter living in squalor. Hailsham is one of four main Towns in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. She died on 27 December 1994. Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Both Fanny and Johnnie were cremated at Langney Crematorium, Eastbourne. Eastbourne ( is a large town and borough of East Sussex, on the south coast of England with an estimated population of 94816 as of 2007 There is a memorial plaque and a rosebush in the grounds of the crematorium for both of them.

Culinary Legacy

Marguerite Patten has spoken about Fanny Cradock being the saviour of British cooking after the war. Marguerite Patten, OBE (born Marguerite Brown on November 4 1915, in Bath) is an English home economist, food Writer The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units Brian Turner has said that he respects Fanny's career and Delia Smith has attributed her career to early inspirations taken from Cradock's television programmes. Brian Turner CBE (born 7 May 1946 in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire) is a British celebrity Chef, based Delia Smith OBE (born 18 June, 1941) is an English Cook and Television presenter, known for her interest in teaching Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Despite her extravagant appearance and novelty value, her recipes were extremely well used and her cookery books sold in record numbers. Cooking is the process of preparing Food by applying Heat, selecting measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible

Stage and Screen Adaptations

She and Johnnie would be parodied by The Two Ronnies, Benny Hill (with Benny as Fanny and Bob Todd as an invariably drunken Johnnie) and most famously by Betty Marsden in Beyond Our Ken with the character "Fanny Haddock". The Two Ronnies was a British Sketch show that aired on BBC 1 from 1971 to 1987 Alfred Hawthorne Hill ( 21 January 1924 &ndash 19 April 1992) better known as Benny Hill, was a prolific English Bob Todd (born Brian Todd 15 December 1921 in Faversham Kent &ndash died 21 October 1992 in Sussex) was an English comedy actor mostly known for Betty Marsden ( February 24, 1919 – July 18, 1998) was an English Comedy actress. Beyond Our Ken (1958-1964 was a Radio programme the predecessor to Round the Horne (1965-1968

Fanny's life has also been the subject of two biopic dramas; Doughnuts like Fanny's written by Julia Darling and Fear of Fanny written by Brian Fillis [4]

Fear Of Fanny was originally a touring UK stageplay. A biographical motion picture &mdash often shortened to biopic &mdash is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people Julia Darling ( 21 August 1956 &ndash 13 April 2005) was an award-winning British novelist poet and dramatist After a successful run touring the UK in October and November 2003 with the Leeds Library Theatre Company, the stageplay was turned into a drama starring Mark Gatiss and Julia Davis (playing Fanny Cradock), and was broadcast in October 2006 on BBC Four as part of a series of culinary-themed dramas. Mark Gatiss (born 17 October, 1966) is an English Actor, Screenwriter and Novelist. Julia Davis (born 1966 is an English comedy Writer and Performer. BBC Four is a BBC Television channel available to digital television ( Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable) viewers in the Culinary art is the Art of Cooking. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to or connected with cooking or Kitchens A culinarian It was filmed in high definition and also broadcast on BBC HD. High-definition television (HDTV is a Digital television Broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems (standard-definition BBC HD is a High-definition television channel provided by the BBC.

Food for Thought

Books

Autobiography

Biography

Novels

TV shows

Cookbooks

BBC all rights reserved

Booklets

Works about Fanny Cradock

Notes

  1. ^ GRO Register of Births: JUN 1909 4a 369 W. BBC Four is a BBC Television channel available to digital television ( Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable) viewers in the Julia Davis (born 1966 is an English comedy Writer and Performer. HAM Phyllis Nan S PECHEY
  2. ^ GRO Register of Marriages: DEC 1926 2a 2368a SHEPPEY - Sydney A. V. Evans = Phyllis N. P. Primrose-Pechey or Pechey
  3. ^ GRO Register of Deaths: MAR 1927 2b 309 NEWHAVEN - Sidney A. V. Evans, aged 22
  4. ^ GRO Register of Births: DEC 1927 4b 78 ERPINGHAM - Peter S. Evans, mmn = Primrose-Pechey or Pechey
  5. ^ GRO Register of Marriages: SEP 1928 4b 314 NORWICH - Arthur W. Chapman = Phyllis N. S. V. Evans
  6. ^ GRO Register of Births: SEP 1929 4b 422 DOWNHAM - Christopher A. J. Chapman, mmn = Primrose-Pechey
  7. ^ GRO Register of Marriages: SEP 1939 1a 1615 FULHAM - Gregory L. E. HOLDEN-DYE = Phyllis N. S. CHAPMAN
  8. ^ GRO Register of Marriages: JUN 1977 17 1134 SURREY SW - John CRADOCK = Phyllis CHAPMAN
  9. ^ 1977 Marriage
  10. ^ The Daily Telegraph, 18th December 2007, 'Fanny Cradock - a Christmas cracker', [1]
  11. ^ The Craddocks were still using this byline at the end of their Telegraph career (Daily telegraph cooks' book-London, W. H. Allen, 1978 ISBN 049102472X
  12. ^ The Daily Telegraph, 18th December 2007, 'Fanny Cradock - a christmas cracker', [2]
  13. ^ Article Fanny Cradock-a Christmas Cracker by Clive Ellis in The Daily Telegraph(page19) Issue no 47,444 dated Tuesday, 18th December 2007
  14. ^ Troake, by contrast, published "A Country Cookbook" the following year (London,McDonald and Jane's ISBN 0354085131)
  15. ^ The Daily Telegraph, 18th December 2007, 'Fanny Cradock - a christmas cracker', [3]
  16. ^ TV Heaven Review
  17. ^ Theatre Review
  18. ^ Review in Guardian newspaper


Persondata
NAME Cradock, Fanny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pechey, Phyllis Nan Sortain
SHORT DESCRIPTION Cook, rudeness
DATE OF BIRTH 1909-02-26
PLACE OF BIRTH Apthorp House, Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, Essex, England
DATE OF DEATH 1994-12-27
PLACE OF DEATH Ersham House Hailsham, East Sussex, England
For "The Daily Telegraph" in Australia see The Daily Telegraph (Australia. Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 747 BC - Epoch (origin of Ptolemy 's Nabonassar Era 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Leytonstone is an area of East London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Essex is a county in the East of England. The County town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Hailsham is one of four main Towns in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland
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