THE family and friends of TV cook Keith Floyd, who died in Dorset, have celebrated his life at a humanist funeral.

The 65-year-old, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in June, died near Bridport on September 14 after suffering a heart attack.

Mourners including his partner Celia Martin, biographer James Steen and comic Jim Davidson congregated for the ceremony at Ashton Court Mansion, in Bristol – the city where he started his career in the restaurant business and was discovered by the BBC.

Davidson flew back from Dubai for the ceremony. He said: “He was such a positive man in a very difficult world. He was the first of a kind.”

Celebrity chefs were notable by their absence. Jean-Christophe Novelli and Marco Pierre White, both close friends of Floyd, were unable to attend because of work commitments. Rick Stein, Antony Worrall Thompson and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who all paid tribute to Floyd after his death, were also absent.

Mr Steen said Pierre White is to host a party next month to celebrate Floyd.

Born in 1943, Floyd attended Wellington School before working as a journalist for the Bristol Evening Post. He joined the army, where he worked in the kitchen. After leaving, he opened his first restaurant in Bristol aged 22.

The father-of-two, who married four times, went on to make several cookery series for the BBC and wrote more than 20 books.

The service concluded with a passage from his autobiography which said: “Sometimes I worry about what I have left out, sometimes I worry about what I have put in but for now, as the book of life fades to black, I will have another pastis.”