Mourners pay tribute to Floyd at funeral

Friends and family have paid tribute to celebrity chef Keith Floyd at his funeral today.

Floyd's partner Celia Martin, biographer James Steen and two children Patrick and Poppy were among the mourners at Ashton Court Mansion in Bristol, BBC News reports.

Comedian Jim Davidson, who knew the late TV personality for 25 years, was also in attendance. Fellow chefs and friends Jean-Christophe Novelli and Marco Pierre White were absent due to work commitments.

Davidson told the congregation: "He was such a positive man in a very difficult world. He was the first of a kind. It didn't matter what he cooked, he would just swig that glass of wine and we all loved him."

Meanwhile, reading a written tribute to her father, Poppy said: "You would have definitely preferred to have been a rock star called Elvis than a famous cook called Keith Floyd.

"But because of that - your love of music - you managed to put not only sun on a plate but an outrageous dose of rock and roll. However much you said, 'Dear friends, cooking is not an art or even a science', you were an artist and, to be honest, you were a bloody good one."

Floyd's body was carried in a handmade wicker coffin which was created from banana leaves and draped in sunflowers. His humanist service also included a reading of Rudyard Kipling's poem If by son Patrick.

The TV star died at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack earlier this month.