Tributes paid to a British institution

Tributes are today being paid to writer, broadcaster and politician Sir Clement Freud who died in his Marylebone home yesterday.

The writer, broadcaster and politician, who spent many of his formative years in Hampstead, was 84 years old.

Sir Clement was a British institution and earned fame in his own right despite descending from one of the most famous dynasties in recent times.

He is grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and is the brother of artist Lucien.

He has five children including broadcaster Emma Freud, who is married to writer and director Richard Curtis, and Matthew Freud, who runs one of the most famous PR agencies in the country and who is married to Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter and heir to Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

Lucien, meanwhile, is father to fashion designer Bella and novelist Esther.

But Sir Clement boasts the most impressive and eclectic CV with restaurateur, liberal MP and nightclub owner to his name.

His own fame ascended through his regular appearances on celebrated radio show Just A Minute (his last appearance was recorded just two weeks ago) and as the star of dog food commercials during the 1970s.

He was also a columnist for several publications including the Racing Post.

Sir Clement was born in Berlin to Jewish parents. The family fled Nazi Germany in the early 1930s and settled in Hampstead. Sigmund followed in 1938 and he lived in Maresfield Gardens until his death a year later. The house remained the family home until the death of Sigmund's youngest daughter Anna in 1982.

The house was then converted into the Freud Museum which contains Sigmund's famous psychoanalytical couch.

Sir Clement was educated in The Hall school in Hampstead and later bought a house in Boundary Road near St John's Wood.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jill, their five children and 17 grandchildren.

* Read the full obituary in next week's Ham&High, out next Thursday.