David Frost

At 74 years old, David Frost has this physical status:

Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013,) was an English television presenter, media personality, journalist, comedian, and writer. Frost came to fame during the satire boom in the United Kingdom after being selected to host the satirical program That Was the Week That Was in 1962.

His success on this show led to his role as a host on American television.

He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, including the Nixon interviews with former US President Richard Nixon in 1977, which were turned into a stage play and film.

He interviewed all eight British prime ministers from 1964 to 2016, as well as all seven presidents of the United States from 1969 to 2008.

He appeared on the BBC in 1994 and 2005 as host of Breakfast with Frost, from 1993 to 2005.

Through the Keyhole's host, he spent two decades as a host.

Frost Over The World on Al Jazeera English from 2006 to 2012, as well as the 2012 weekly program The Frost Interview.

He received the BAFTA Fellowship at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2005 and the Emmy Awards for Lifetime Achievement in 2009. Frost, 74, died on board the cruise ship MS Queen Elizabeth, in which he had been stationed as a speaker, on August 31.

In March 2014, his memorial stone was unveiled in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Early life

David Paradine Frost was born in Tenterden, Kent, on April 7, 1939, the son of a Methodist minister of Huguenot descent. Wilfred John "W.W.A." J. "J" is the character in the film "J." Paradine Frost and his partner, Mona (Aldrich), had two elder sisters; he had two older sisters. He began training as a Methodist local preacher while living in Gillingham, Kent, and later began to study in the Bible class of his father's church (Byron Road Methodist) by David Gilmore Harvey.

Frost attended Barnsole Road Primary School in Gillingham, St Hugh's School, Woodhall Spa, Gillingham Grammar School, and finally, Wellingborough Grammar School, which is based in Raunds, Northamptonshire. He was a keen football and cricket player during his childhood and was given a contract with Nottingham Forest F.C. He was a lay preacher for two years before going to university, after being witness to an event presided over by Christian evangelist Billy Graham.

Frost attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from 1958, graduating with a Third in English. He was editor of both Varsity's undergraduate newspaper and Granta's literary journal. He was also secretary of the Footlights Drama Society, which attracted actors such as Peter Cook and John Bird. Frost appeared on television for the first time in an Anglia Television version of Town And Gown's Town And Gown series, starring several comedic characters. "It felt like home the first time I stepped into a television studio," he said. It didn't scare me. It seemed that talking to the camera was the most natural thing in the world."

Frost was the perpetrator of snobbery from the company with whom he worked at Cambridge, which Barry Humphries has confirmed. Christopher Booker, who stated that Frost's one defining feature was hope, also said he was impossible to dislike. Frost was praised by satirist John Wells for his "most silly voice" he used while performing but then found it to be Frost's true voice.

Frost, a university graduate, joined Associated-Rediffusion as a trainee. Frost, on the other hand, had already secured an agent, appeared cabaret at the Blue Angel nightclub in Berkeley Square, London, during the evenings.

Personal life

Frost was well-known for several relationships with high-profile women. He dated British actress Janette Scott, between her marriages to songwriter Jackie Rae and singer Mel Tormé in the 1960s; in the 1970s, he met Lynne Frederick, widow of Peter Sellers, but the pair died the following year. Carol Lynley, an American actress, had an 18-year affair with him.

Frost married Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, the daughter of the 17th Duke of Norfolk, on March 19, 1983. Over the next five years, three sons were born to the couple. Wilfred Frost, his second son, followed in his father's footsteps and now works as an anchor at Sky News and CNBC. They lived in Chelsea, London, for many years, and kept a weekend home at Michelmersh Court in Hampshire.

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American career from 1968 to 1980

In 1968, he agreed to appear on American television on three evenings a week in his own show, the first such arrangement for a British television star at the time. Frost stayed on London shows from 1969 to 1972 and fronted The David Frost Show on the United States Westinghouse Corporation's Warner television stations in the United States. His 1970 television special, Frost on America, welcomed guests such as Jack Benny and Tennessee Williams.

Frost and Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's national security advisor and secretary of state, pleaded with Kissinger to call chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer and encourage him to participate in the World Chess Championship next year. Frost revealed that he was working on a book during this call.

Before George Foreman's "The Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974, Frost interviewed heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali at his training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. Ali said, "Listen David, when I see this guy, if you believe the world was stunned when Nixon resigned, wait until I whip Foreman's behind."

The Nixon Interviews, five 90-minute interviews with former US President Richard Nixon, were broadcast on television in 1977. After the U.S. television networks discontinued the show, Nixon was paid $600,000 plus for the interviews, which had to be funded by Frost himself. Frost's company negotiated to syndicate the interviews with local broadcasters around the United States and internationally, resulting in Ron Howard's description of them as "the first fourth network." About 29 hours of interviews with Nixon in less than four weeks, Frost taped around 29 hours. "I let the American people down, and I must carry the burden with me for the remainder of my life," Nixon, who had previously avoided discussing his involvement in the Watergate affair that caused his resignation as president in 1974, expressed contrition. Frost asked Nixon if the president could do something illegal in certain circumstances, such as against antiwar organisations and others, if he decides "it's in the nation's best interests or something." "Well, if the president does it, it does not mean it is unlawful," Nixon said.

Frost was the last person to interview Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran's deposed Shah, after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The interview was held on Contadora Island, Panama, in January 1980, and the American Broadcasting Company in the United States broadcasted it on January 17th. The Shah addresses his fortune, his sickness, the SAVAK, the torture during his reign, Khomeini, his threat of extradition to Iran, and a summary of the current situation in Iran.

In 1979, Frost was the organiser of the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. He was recruited as the anchor of a new American tabloid news show Inside Edition ten years ago. He was suspended after only three weeks due to poor ratings. He appears to have been "considered too high-brow for the show's low-brow style."

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Selected awards and honours

• 1970: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
• 1970: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree of Emerson College
• 1993: Knight Bachelor
• 1994: Honorary doctoral degree of the University of Sussex
• 2000: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
• 2005: Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts BAFTA
• 2009: Honorary Doctor of Letters degree of the University of Winchester
• 2009: Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emmy Awards