When The Naked Chef was crawling around in his birthday suit, Keith Floyd was the undisputed king of cookery programmes. But his culinary career hasn"t always flowed as smoothly as the wine he was famous for downing. Hence the title of his autobiography: Out Of The Frying Pan. In the early 80s, following the collapse of another restaurant, Floyd found himself yet again up Jacob"s Creek without a glass. "I was 40 years old, virtually bankrupt, a middle-aged man with a brilliant future behind me." Then out of the blue Floyd received a call from a BBC producer asking if he wanted to make a programme about cooking fish. Floyd"s first TV series was such a surprising success that his producer told him: "I"ve created a monster and it"s time to load the gun with silver bullets." In hindsight, after 16 TV series, 18 books, three marriages, one receivership and countless kiss-and-tell stories later, Floyd suggests that he may well have fired the gun himself. "If I knew than what I know now, I might have never have made "Floyd on Fish"." With his programmes still being shown regularly around the world, his many thousands of fans will be pleased that he did. Now the ex-restaurateur has proved himself to be a formidable raconteur. Out Of The Frying Pan gives a frank and colourful account of a turbulent life lived to the full and recalls a career as chequered as a pair of chef"s trousers. Engaging and evocative, this life story will leave readers hungry for more. --Christopher Kelly