Clement Freud

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Clement Raphael Freud (born April 24, 1924) is a British writer, broadcaster, and politician.

Freud was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig Freud, an architect, and Lucie nee Brasch. He is the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and brother of artist Lucian Freud. His family fled to England from Nazi Germany. Sir Clement married his wife June Flewett (Jill) in 1950, and the couple have five children including broadcaster Emma Freud. He attended St Paul's School. During the Second World War Freud served as an aide to Field Marshal Montgomery.

Clement Freud was Liberal Member of Parliament for the Isle of Ely (later North East Cambridgeshire) from 1973 to 1987. On his election, he was hailed as the first Jewish Liberal MP for decades. His departure from Parliament was marked by his being awarded a knighthood.

During his time as a Member of Parliament, he visited China with a delegation of other MPs including Winston S Churchill, a grandson of the wartime leader of the same name. Freud noticed that the Communist Chinese hosts regularly gave Churchill larger, or higher status, accommodation than him. Tactfully he enquired why and was told it was because of the status of Churchill's namesake. Freud observed that this was the first time ever that he had been 'out-grandfathered'^{[citation needed]}.

Before he entered politics, Freud was already a well-known figure. He was one of Britain's first 'Celebrity Chefs', having worked at the Dorchester Hotel, and went on to run his own restaurant in Sloane Square at a relatively young age. As well as this, he had various newspaper and magazine columns, and was also a familiar face on television due to his appearance in a series of dog food adverts in which he co-starred with a bloodhound called Henry (though played by a number of dogs) which shared his trademark "hangdog" expression. However, despite his general fame, Freud longed for (given his background and ancestry) a distinct occupation by which he could be acclaimed, rather than "the man off the telly"; his chance came in the 1973 Isle of Ely Parliamentary by-election which he won. His autobiography, ''Freud Ego'', recalls his election win, and shortly after, when asked by his wife Jill "Why aren't you looking happier?", he wrote "It suddenly occurred to me that after nine years of fame I now had something solid about which to be famous... and cheered up no end." Freud also performed a small monologue for the Wings album Band on the Run, and appears on the album's cover. He is now perhaps best known as a panellist on the popular Radio 4 quiz programme Just a Minute, where his deadpan delivery is popular with audiences. He was a contestant on the very first episode in 1967; has taken part in every series since; and is the only surviving original panellist. In 2002, he was elected Rector of the University of St Andrews, beating feminist and academic Germaine Greer and local challenger Barry Joss, holding the position for a three year term.

His son Matthew Freud, co-owner of the Press Gazette with Piers Morgan, is married to Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth Murdoch. His daughter Emma Freud is married to Richard Curtis, scriptwriter of Blackadder and Four Weddings and a Funeral. His nieces are Bella Freud and Esther Freud.

Freud is a strong horse racing enthusiast, and is a columnist for the Racing Post newspaper. In his column in the paper, issue of August 23rd 2006, he wrote about his election to Parliament in a by-election: "Politically, I was an anti-Conservative unable to join a Labour party hell-bent on nationalising everything that moved, so when a by-election occurred in East Anglia, where I lived and live, I stood as a Liberal and was fortunate in getting in. Ladbrokes quoted me at 33-1 in this three-horse contest, so Ladbrokes paid for me to have rather more secretarial and research staff than other MPs, which helped to keep me in for five parliaments."

Freud has also written articles reviewing facilities for spectators at racecourses in Britain, especially catering. This has led him to receive the nickname: "Sir Clement Food."

[edit] External links

• Clement Freud talking about Just a Minute (RealPlayer video)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: Sir Harry Legge-Bourke	Member of Parliament for Isle of Ely 1973–1983	Succeeded by: (Constituency abolished)
Preceded by: (Constituency created)	Member of Parliament for North East Cambridgeshire 1983–1987	Succeeded by: Malcolm Moss
Academic Offices
Preceded by: Andrew Neil	Lord Rector of St Andrews University 2002–2005	Succeeded by: Simon Pepper