Younger people may only know Sir Clement from the Radio 4 panel show ‘Just a Minute’, his last contribution to which was broadcast a few weeks ago. Certainly he was a regular panelist for over 40 years, the show started in 1967, and he was the only surviving member of the original panel. Back in 1967 Clement Freud was one of the first ‘celebrity chefs’, a restaurateur, a writer on food, drink and horse racing, and a TV and radio personality. His dry, mordant wit and lugubrious manner made him then the perfect foil for other Just a Minute panelists such as Kenneth Williams. He is pictured above with one of his fellow, current contributers, Paul Merton.

But he was also a geat liberal and MP for Ely from 1973 to 1987.

Click here for a fuller account of Clement’s life.