Sir David Frost

Members are no doubt aware of the death of Sir David Frost.

His death, clearly a tragedy for his family and friends, also means that television broadcasting has lost yet another giant from the days of quality output.

He was witty, entertaining and perhaps one of the greatest ever interviewers.  What a difference to the limp wristed "celeb presenters" of today.  He was able to interview people who would have been regarded as having real position and strength,  "hard" people compared with the twits who fill our screens today.

Television is dumbed down today, our national hero is the winner of Big Brother,  "news" is a chav celeb falling out of a nightclub,  Westminster - lets not bother.

David Frost represented an era, now sadly closed, in more ways than one.

And a comedian to boot.

We've lost a multi-talented gentleman. 

It was indeed saddening to learn yesterday of Sir David's passing aboard the Queen Elizabeth that had left Southampton the day before.

As for comedy and satire in the '60s on TV, other Cambridge graduates that had their early TV years working with him would later have their own TV series, Monty Python's Flying Circus.

His sister-in-law, Marsha Fitzalan, is an actress and appeared in an early Midsomer Murders episode, Judgement Day, as the wife of a vet having an affair with Orlando Bloom before he meets a sticky end. She is the daughter of the 17th Duke of Norfolk and her brother is the current Duke of Norfolk. 

I got his autograph one day in London passing by where he lived in Kensington in the 70s as he got out of his Rolls Royce, said hello to him, and stopped for a very brief chat.  

Yes, David Frost was a man of many talents and deserved his celebrity status and rewards. I am old enough to remember watching 'That Was the Week That Was' in an era when the BBC put out genuinely creative programmes.

Now the BBC has sunk to becoming a parasitic self-rewarding organisation, gorging on the license fees extracted from the public on threat of imprisonment. In fact, non payment of  the TV licence is the top crime in the magistrate's court See Telegraph Article on License Fees