Background
Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey (26 February 1909 – 27 December 1994) is better known as Fanny Cradock. She is credited as the originator of the Prawn Cocktail.
Delia Smith CBE (born 18 June 1941) is known for teaching basic cookery skills in a no-nonsense style.
Chris Wickham
I was on a camera in Presentation for [Delia Smith’s] first time on TV when she cooked Alpine Eggs. She was very shy and nice and invited everyone in the studio to get some cutlery from the canteen and eat the food – after we had a recording clear. Quite different from Fanny Craddock who offended the sparks with her language, dropped fag ash all over the food and after the programme was over everything was taken away by her to feed to unsuspecting guests at her house. Having watched the preparation I am not sure I would want to eat it anyway
Dave Lawson
I was the third cameraman in Pres B for Delia’s first. What a welcome change from "Fagash Fanny". Don’t remember anything about what she cooked but we were warned it was her first so be gentle with her. I believe she had already done some programmes or items in Norwich before coming to London so it was more her first national series.I have no memory of who else was there so it is good to be reminded. Pres in those days was manned by a rotated selection of tech-ops and not a crew as such, I think that came later, probably after I left for Birmingham.
Alec Bray
In Pres B we worked on the AP shift system, which meant working Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday one week, and Monday and Wednesday the next.
Tony Grant
I feel I must speak up on behalf of Fanny, as many tales are not entirely true. I worked on several programmes, and yes, we were always advised not to sample the food, as it was probably full of ash. However, there was one programme in which she made omelettes, and I watched her break the eggs, whisk them up, and cook them in the pan before ladling each onto a clean plate. She then offered said omelette around for all to try.
I can honestly say that I have never, ever had such a good omelette, it was simply superb. So, she could certainly cook, and not everything was taken away.
But Delia was a delight! I have been a fan ever since working with her in Pres, and enjoyed working on her main studio series which was accompanied by her three books. I even managed to get her to autograph the first one of the series. And her food was always delicious, too.
Alec Bray
I worked on just one programme with Fanny Craddock: she cooked Lobster Thermidor and offered it to the crew at the end of the recording.
Geoff Fletcher
My wife also has some awful stories re working on Fanny Craddock cookery shows at LWT. Do you remember Fanny always had a favourite cameraman for the day? The "lucky" one could do no wrong in her eyes while the rest of us were often the subject of complaint for one thing or another. The pay-off came at the end of the programme when the chosen one was invited to eat whatever she had cooked while the rest of us looked on grinning widely. I never saw her cook anything without a liberal sprinkling of fag ash – I particularly recall her making brandy butter one day which looked as though it was decorated with bits of vanilla. For some reason, Jim Kinally was frequently the favourite – much to his embarrassment and the relieved amusement of the rest of us. I always felt sorry for poor old Johnny and even more so for the long suffering young assistants.
Davie Mundy
I did a show in Studio G where [Fanny Craddock] cooked Beef Wellington using a huge lump of fillet steak which, even in those days, would have been very expensive. After the show it was cut up for the crew and I can honestly say it melted in your mouth.
In one of Delia’s shows in Pres. B she demonstrated how to cook roast duck with a Morello Cherry sauce. It looked so good that I cooked it for Christmas Day for the family. When I told her on the next show she was genuinely pleased that it had been a success!
Ken Webb
…more about "Woodbine Annie". Fanny came in to Pres A one day. She was, amongst other things presenting a lemon meringue pie! She had pies in various stages of construction including the fantastic final version. Lovely peaks of meringue nicely brown at the peaks!! She said, " Don’t eat the pie boys, it’ Polyfilla and paint!”
Mike Giles
As a new Sound Supervisor, I did some pre-recording with Fanny for “Nationwide”, with a relatively new director, who shall remain nameless. We did something like 6 items, rehearsing each one first. I made a strong representation to the director that one of the items would be unusable, because the way she was using the electric mixer drowned out the voice for much of the item. He agreed, but did nothing about it, so the recording was as bad as I had predicted. The TM2 got a clear from VT and I waited to do the re-take, but B*b came in to the SCR say that we wouldn’t be retaking anything as no-one was prepared to ask Fanny to modify her performance ~ they would simply pay her the fee, but not use the piece- and they didn’t!
