Fanny Cradock

Fanny Cradock, 1976. Allan Warren / wikimedia / 1976 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Fanny was one of the first, and most original, celebrity TV food personalities ever. Descriptions of her range from “charmingly bizarre” to “camp” to “imperious battleaxe.” She started a tradition in the UK of a macabre fascination with not-so-nice celebrity chefs on TV, such as Keith Lloyd and Gordon Ramsay. Her show became more about her personality than her cooking. Some people even had nightmares of being chased by her through Harrods. Yet, she more than had her following: when she gave cooking demonstrations at the Royal Festival Hall, the house was packed to see her cook and sweep about in ballgowns, white fur capes, and diamond bracelets.

Fanny appeared on television in 1955, at a time when cooking was only done by housewives, and when people might watch cooking shows with a pad and a pen to get the recipes down. In fact, many people swore by her recipes, and learned how to cook from her. She authored over thirty cookbooks as well, using pictures to give step-by-step illustrations of how to make such then-exotic dishes as chicken Kiev and shrimp cocktail.

One of her biographers said:

“Most people remember her as one of the very first celebrity chefs on TV. She wasn’t a chef, but she certainly was a celebrity.” ^[1]Kevin Geddes in conversation with Andy Futter. Fantom Press. Youtube video. 14 May 2020. Accessed April 2021 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1aiXhBssRI

See also: Fanny Cradock’s Birthday

Early years

She was born Phyllis Primrose-Peachy in Leytonstone, Essex on 26 February 1909 (Alfred Hitchcock had been born in the same area ten years earlier, in 1899.) Her father was a novelist, who published under the pen name of Arthur Valentine — at least, according to her ^[2]Paul Levy, in his entry on Fanny Cradock for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, says that Fanny made this up. There is no evidence to support any claim that Arthur was an author; that in fact his trade was “corn merchant”; and, that also, in fact, their last name was just plain “Pechey”: that Fanny had later embellished the family last name by adding the “Primrose” part to it.. Her mother was Bijou Sortain. Until 1930, she lived with her family in a house called “Apthorp” on Fairlop Road in Leytonstone (now the site of Fairwood Court.)

On this site until 1930 stood a house called Apthorp, birthplace of the famous TV cookery expert Fanny Cradock; born Phyllis Pechey – Fairwood Court , 33 Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, London E11 1BJ. Spudgun67 / Wikimedia / 2016 / CC BY-SA 4.0

Blue plaque erected at Fairwood Court, 33 Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, London E11 1BJ. Note her last name is spelled incorrectly on the plaque. Spudgun67 / Wikimedia / 2016 / CC BY-SA 4.0

In 1926, at the age of 17, she married her first husband, Sidney Evans. A pilot in the Royal Air Force, he was killed in a place crash (she says five days later; other sources say four months.) In any event, their son, Peter was born after Sidney was killed. Fanny got a job going door to door selling the proverbial hoovers and encyclopedias. In July 1928, she remarried. She had a second son from this marriage, but abandoned both the son and the marriage, and went off on her own to manage a dressmaking shop. In 1939, she married again for the third time (perhaps illegally, as there had reputedly been no divorce from the 1928 husband.) A few weeks after that marriage, however, she left him for the man that she would finally stick with — Major John Whitby Cradock (born 17 May 1904.) Aged 35 at the time, John (later known simply as “Johnny” to all the fans) was married himself at the time — with four children in fact, but he left wife and children for Fanny. Fanny just adopted his surname, without having bothered to get a divorce from either the 1928 or— the 1939 husband. She and Johnny did not actually marry until 7 May 1997, even though she would insist that everyone call her “Mrs Cradock.” Some speculate that perhaps she waited that long perhaps to make sure that both undivorced husbands had shuffled off — in order to not trouble the courts with any trifles such as double-divorce and double-bigamy (though the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says that the 1939 husband was in fact still alive in 1977.) It’s not known when or if Johnny got his divorce. Their marital — or non-marital — status was a well-kept secret.

Fanny enters the world of food

Around 1950, she and Johnny began writing a cooking and restaurant review column for the Daily Telegraph under the pen name of “Bon Viveur”, which they continued until 1955. Sometime in the early 1950s she had her nose bobbed. Sometime around 1954 she started using the name “Fanny.” And in the first half of the 1950s, they started as well doing cooking demonstrations for the British Gas Council, created in 1949 after the labour government forcibly nationalised over 1,000 gas companies and merged them into one.

In 1955, Fanny and Johnny parlayed their journalistic and Gas Council fame into a TV cooking programme called “Kitchen Magic.” It was the right time to start interesting Britons in cooking a little better. In 1955, incomes were just starting to rise a bit, and most things had finally come off war-time rationing. The programme started on BBC, but in the same year, they accepted a better offer and moved to ITV. Their TV series would last until the mid-1970s, though in the 1960s, the name was changed to “Adventurous Cooking.”

The kitchens she and Johnny cooked in seemed magnificent for the time. To set the tone further, both of them had learned to speak with the BBC accent, called “Standard Received English.” Fanny always dressed in evening gowns to cook, and Johnny matched her in full evening attire. ^[3]Men in evening attire may not have entirely unusual to television viewers at the time: even the weathermen on BBC TV would wear evening dress.

Phrases describing her cooking style range from “wildly eccentric” to “preposterous.” Her food was as flamboyant as she was: brandy butter dyed green, mashed potatoes dyed mauve or green, whole salmon, boned, covered with thin cucumber slices serving as scales and with fins and eyes piped back on for presentation, cooked pigeon breasts served at the table with real pigeon wings attached back on. She showed people how to make a Taj Mahal out of meringue, and a box lined with velvet to store their Melba toast.

Incongruously, perhaps, she bemoaned impractical men who were useless because they couldn’t carve a turkey. She would advise when in a recipe you could use dripping instead of butter to save money, or recommend custards that were economical because they only called for 3 eggs.

Daily Express columnist Jean Rook noted acidly in 1976 “the French with which [Franny] annoyingly ices her conversation.” ^[4]Ellis, Clive. Fabulous Fanny Cradock: TV’s Outrageous Queen of Cuisine. Cheltenham, England: The History Press. 2011. Kindle Edition. (Kindle Locations 1265-1267).

1957 video of Fanny Cradock demonstrating how to serve savouries.

The Fanny Cradock dropped chicken myth

On one show, reputedly, she dropped a chicken on the floor.

Looking straight in the camera, she picked it up and said, “Remember, you are alone in the kitchen — no one will ever know.”

Compare this with the Julia Child dropped chicken story.

Fanny’s strident reputation

Fanny had a strong nasty streak that she didn’t hide. She had a helper, a woman named Sarah, who she bossed around a great deal. But Johnny, her right-hand man on all the shows, got the brunt of her tongue, constantly being scolded. The Benny Hill Show did many parodies of Johnny getting into trouble. In fact, some people said they tuned in only for two reasons: to see what outlandish outfit she was wearing, and to see what Johnny would be scolded for that night. Fanny herself was not fun, perhaps, but some felt it was fun to laugh at her.

Marguerite Patten, the English food writer, recounts going once to work at a Home Economists Show in Birmingham. Fanny had been there a week before her. Some of the girls seemed wary of Marguerite, almost gun shy, and when Marguerite asked why, she was told that Fanny had had a tantrum and had literally been throwing knives around.

“I only met Fanny Cradock once and I do remember her attacking something that I said quite viciously. I recall that her temper was quite uncertain, and her language was very flowery… I remember once going to a demonstration in Birmingham for some home economists, and they were all completely terrified. Cradock had given a demonstration and, in her frustration, had thrown a kitchen knife at one of them.” ^[5]Kitchen devil whose sharpness hit the spot. Edinburgh: The Scotsman. 21 October 2006. Accessed August 2019 at https://www.scotsman.com/news-2-15012/kitchen-devil-whose-sharpness-hit-the-spot-1-722060

Fanny’s ‘jump the shark’ moment

There came a time in 1976, however, when Fanny crossed the line. She (along with other people such as celebrity Robert Morley) was asked to appear on a national live programme called “The Big Time.” The idea was that regular, every-day amateur cooks would try to produce something professional for someone important. In the episode in question, “Gwen Troake’s Banquet”, Gwen Troake, a farmer’s wife from Devon, had won a chance through a “Cook of the Realm” contest to cook a three-course banquet at the Dorchester Hotel ^[6] “It featured a Devon farmer’s wife, Gwen Troake, cooking for a banquet at the Dorchester Hotel attended by then prime minister Edward Heath.” Kitchen devil whose sharpness hit the spot. for the former Prime Minister Edward Heath (Prime Minister from 1970 to 1974), as well as other grandees such as Louis Mountbatten. ^[7]”She’d been brought in to advise Gwen Troake, a Devon housewife, who had won a competition to organise a three-course dinner for Edward Heath and Lord Mountbatten.” — Walsh, John. Fanny Cradock: First Lady of Food. London: The Independent. 19 February 2009. Accessed August 2019 at https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/fanny-cradock-first-lady-of-food-1625847.html

“Gwen Troake’s Banquet. Producer Esther Rantzen. The award-winning series which allows talented amateurs the chance of their dreams – to take part in a spectacular professional event. This week, a chance to see again how a farmer’s wife from Devon plans a banquet in honour of Edward Heath. Behind the scenes of a huge and famous hotel kitchen, we learn the secrets of haute cuisine. Nutritionist Magnus Pyke and gourmet Robert Morley give their advice, and a wonderful confrontation with Mrs Fanny Cradock occurs over a coffee pudding.' ^[8]Gwen Troake’s Banquet. Radio Times. Issue 2821, Page 61. 1 December 1977. Accessed August 2019 at https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/8a439957b53d49d0b710d199623c076e

Troake’s proposed menu was a seafood platter, roast duck with blackberry sauce, and for dessert, a coffee cream pudding with rum in it. Mrs Troake’s idea was that with the seafood, the water fowl and the rum, the meal had a water or sea theme to it, which would appeal to Mr Heath’s love of sailing.

Fanny, though, was scathing in her critique.

“Viewers watched Fanny smile at Gwen with venomous sweetness and ask what menu she had planned. Gwen, dimpled and sweet as custard, said in her soft Devon voice, ‘I was thinking of duck with bramble.’ Fanny’s voice squawked liked an outraged parrot. ‘Bramble? What, may I ask, is bramble?’… Gwen explained the sauce was made out of blackberries. Fanny’s lips puckered with disgust. Dave [the cameraman] zoomed in tight, and stayed there. ‘A blackberry?’ she oozed sarcasm… ‘No, dear.’ Blackberries may do in Devon, but you’re among professionals now.” ^[9]Ellis, Clive. Fabulous Fanny Cradock: TV’s Outrageous Queen of Cuisine. (Kindle Locations 1256-1259).

Fanny explained that blackberries would never be used in such a way in French cooking. She said that it was all “so English”, and that “the English have never had a cuisine.” ^[10]Fanny Cradock on The Big Time. Youtube. Posted 30 Jan 2008 by Claire Crowbers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=330&v=eW-2fclfRpI Time: 5:30 .

She also said that the proposed rich coffee cream dessert would be too much after the rich duck, and that rum was “the most sickly of all the flavours you could use.” She explained that the job of the menu maker was to revive the taste buds. Fanny suggested instead a small base that looked like a boat, made of a biscuit almond paste cooked till it was lightly brown, then filled with a fruit sorbet, and topped with sails made of spun sugar. This would still work with Mrs Troake’s nautical theme, she felt.

Mrs Troake expressed strong disappointment that her coffee cream was being waved away, but Fanny was insistent that even though she had tasted it and pronounced it “very delicious”, it was just not acceptable for this menu. But Fanny’s suggested replacement dessert went all wrong when executed, and that was the icing on the cake of her treatment of Mrs Troake.

“Fanny persuaded Gwen Troake to substitute pastry boats – clever yachting reference she thought – but the public were already swearing at their televisions, reaching for their phones, putting pen to indignant paper. Esther Rantzen described it as ‘Cruella De Vil meets Bambi’. The Radio Times received 600 letters of complaint. Fanny was variously condemned as self-centred, condescending, insulting, patronising, rude, tactless, pathetic and offensive….” ^[11]Ellis, Clive. Fabulous Fanny Cradock: TV’s Outrageous Queen of Cuisine. (Kindle Locations 1256-1259).

Most people today, viewing this, think it is positively tame by today’s standards of criticism on cooking programs. And that she wasn’t criticizing the person or the food, she was saying the menu wasn’t the right one for the intended audience. She tried to give insights on how to create a well-composed, well-thought out menu.

But it didn’t matter. It was how she shared her insights. “Cradock was seen physically gagging and rolling her eyes… ^[12]Dowell, Ben. Secret drugs menu of TV chef Fanny. Manchester: The Guardian. 10 September 2006. Accessed August 2019 at https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/sep/10/broadcasting.uknews

With her treatment of Mrs Troake, live and in colour, hearts and minds that had stuck with her in spite of herself for twenty years, in spite of her food having fallen behind the times several years prior, had had enough, and turned against her in that moment. All the people she’d been nasty to over the years started spilling the beans in public. And she was never asked to appear on television again. “Fanny’s BBC contract was terminated two weeks later. Thereafter, her only television appearances were as a faded celebrity on Blankety Blank and The Generation Game.” ^[13] Walsh, John. Fanny Cradock: First Lady of Food.

“The BBC decided that it was fine to be rude to paid people but the public were off limits. Cradock was sacked. She did not appear regularly again, ending a career which began in 1955…” ^[14]Dowell, Ben. Secret drugs menu of TV chef Fanny.

“Viewers complained in droves and the BBC sacked her, effectively putting an end to her broadcasting career.” ^[15]Kitchen devil whose sharpness hit the spot.

“So violent was the reaction from the viewers that the Daily Telegraph wrote, after it was first screened: ‘ Not since 1940 can the people of England have risen in such unified wrath…. ‘ ^[16]Gwen Troake’s Banquet. Radio Times.

Here is a video of the fateful career-ending encounter with “Cook of the Realm” winner Gwen Troake.

The background story

Fanny biographer Kevin Geddes says, however, that things were not actually as people have said. Some of the drama was stage-managed by the producer Esther Rantzen.

Gwen Troake was actually not just an wet-eared amateur off the street. She had already been appearing in food news since 1970, when she won two food competitions.

The first was a sandwich competition, actually held in 1969, but the results announced in 1970:

“Last year a major search was organized by Kraft Food Ltd and Hovis Ltd to find Britain’s Champion Sandwich maker of today… Britain’s Champion sandwich maker is Mrs Gwen Troake from Devon. This is her recipe:

You will need 14 oz. Hovis loaf, margarine, Cheddar cheese, French dressing, mint jelly, set honey, duck slices, lettuce, cucumber, radishes, tomato, orange and peach slices. Glacé cherries. Salt pepper and mustard. Cut two slices of bread and finely trim crusts. Mix together set honey, mint jelly, margarine, salt, pepper and mustard. Use to spread on bread. Spread margarine mixture on top of sandwich. Roll glacé cherries in grated cheese. Decorate top of sandwich with lettuce, cucumber, radishes, orange and peach slices and glacé cherries. Serve with French dressing.” ^[17]The Earl of Sandwich started something when hunger seized him while gambling…. The Leicester Chronicle. 7 August 1970. Page 6, col. 1.

And, in 1972, Gwen was a contestant in a “Cook of the Realm” competition, for which Fanny was a one of the judges, along with Esther Rantzen. The winning dish that Gwen submitted was duck with bramble sauce, the same one proposed in 1976, so Fanny was actually already familiar with both it and Gwen.

Gwen Troake, Cook of the Realm. London, England. Daily Mirror. Friday 10 November 1972. Page 20, col. 1.

Esther Rantzen, maintains Geddes, knew exactly the dynamic that she was putting together in 1976:

“Esther Rantzen knew that Gwen and Fanny had a ‘certain dynamic’, and that it might look great on TV.” ^[18]Kevin Geddes. Keep calm and Fanny on : the many careers of Fanny Cradock. Webinar hosted by City of Westminster Libraries & Archives. 24 March 2021. 14:30 to 15:30 EDT.

Geddes notes as well that Fanny’s contract wasn’t cancelled with the BBC simply because she never actually had a contract.

And, at this point, Geddes says, Fanny was actually tired of TV and just wanted out of TV work. She wanted to explore other creative ventures and go back to being a fiction writer. ^[19]Kevin Geddes. Webinar.

Final years

Having alienated her cooking audience, Fanny turned her interest in the 1980s to writing fiction, particularly her eight-part novel series, “Castle Rising.”

Johnny died on 30 January 1987. Fanny died on 27 December 1994 at a nursing in Hailsham, East Sussex.

In 2003, Brian Fillis wrote a play “Fear of Fanny” (The Life and Supper Times of Fanny Cradock.) A well-known TV version in 2006 starred Julia Davis ^[20]Dowell, Ben. Secret drugs menu of TV chef Fanny. , but it has also been presented on stage with a drag queen playing Fanny. (As of 2019, it is available on Amazon Prime.)

At Christmas, there are still often re-runs of their series, “Cradock Cooks for Christmas.”

TV Shows

• Kitchen Magic (1955)
• Fanny’s Kitchen (1955, 1957, 1961)
• Chez Bon Viveur (1956)
• Lucky Dip (1958. A children’s entertainment TV series, she and Johnny appeared as the cookery experts)
• Happy Cooking (1961 – 1963, a regular spot on the children’s programme called “Tuesday Rendezvous”)
• The Cradocks (1962)
• Giving A Dinner Party (1969)
• Fanny Cradock Invites (1970)
• Score with the Scaffold (1970, Fanny and Johnny appeared in episode #1.9)
• The Generation Game (1971, Fanny appeared on this game show on 30 October 1971 )
• Cradock Cooks for Christmas (1975)
• Wogan (Fanny appeared as a guest on Terry Wogan’s Saturday evening chatshows on 9 August 1986)

Cookbooks

• 1937. Where to dine in London. By Bon Viveur. Geoffrey Bles: London. (As Francis Dale) ^[21]The 1937 date is not a typo here. It is listed in the “New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors” (www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/ngcoba/ngcoba.htm, Feb 2007.) Given that “Where to dine in London” was a yearly publication, with various pieces attributed to various authors, it could be that Fanny had contributed a piece to that year’s edition.
• 1949. The Practical Cook. John Lehmann: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1950. Bon Voyage. How to enjoy your holidays in Europe with a car. John Lehmann: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1951. Daily Express Enjoyable Cookery. London Express Newspaper: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1952. The Ambitious Cook. John Lehmann: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1952. Around Britain with Bon Viveur. John Lehmann: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1953-60. Continental Holiday Series with Bon Viveur, etc. Frederick Muller: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1954. An A.B.C. of Wine Drinking. By Bon Viveur. Frederick Muller: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1954. Bon Viveur’s London 1954. London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1955. Bon Viveur’s London and the British Isles. Andrew Dakers: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1955. Cooking with Bon Viveur, etc. Museum Press: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1956. Bon Viveur Recipes. Daily Mail: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1958. The Bon Viveur Request Cook Book. Museum Press: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1959. Wining and Dining in France with Bon Viveur. Putnam: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1959. Mr. Therm’s Encyclopædia of Vegetable Cookery. Housewife: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1960. Something’s burning. The autobiography of two cooks. Putnam: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1962. Cooking with Can and Pack. Museum Press: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1964. The Bon Viveur Guide to Holidays in Europe. Arthur Barker: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1964. The Daily Telegraph Cook’s Book. Daily Telegraph & Morning Post: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1965. Fun with Cookery. Edmund Ward: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1967. The Daily Telegraph Sociable Cook’s Book. Daily Telegraph & Morning Post: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1968. Coping with Christmas. London: spanana. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1970. Daily Telegraph Cooks’ conversion chart. London: Daily Telegraph & Bon Viveur. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1973. Modest but delicious. A cookbook for today. London: Arlington Books. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1973. Common Market Cookery: France. London: BBC; Wakefield: E.P. Publishing. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1974. Common Market Cookery. Italy. London: BBC; Wakefield: EP Publishing. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1974. Lessons for a cook. A series of articles reprinted from The Daily Telegraph. Bon Viveur. London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1976. The Sherlock Holmes cookbook. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1978. Cooking is fun. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1978. Fanny and Johnny Cradock’s freezer book : cook first, freeze afterwards. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1979. A cook’s essential alphabet. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1981. Time to remember : a cook for all seasons. Exeter : Webb & Bower. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1985. A lifetime in the kitchen. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)

Novels

• 1942. Scorpion’s Suicide. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1944. Women must wait. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1944. The Rags of Time. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1945. The Land is in Good Heart. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1946. My Seed — Thy Harvest. London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1947. O Daughter of Babylon. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1949. The Echo in the Cup. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1949. Gateway to Remembrance. Andrew Dakers: London. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1950. The Shadow of Heaven. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1950. The Dark Reflection. Hurst & Blackett: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1950. The Eternal Echo. Andrew Dakers: London.. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1975. The Lormes of Castle Rising. London: W. H. Allen. (As Phyllis Nan Sortain Cradock)
• 1976. Shadows over Castle Rising. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1977. War Comes to Castle Rising. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1978. Wind of Change at Castle Rising. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1979. Uneasy Peace at Castle Rising. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1980. Thunder Over Castle Rising. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1981. Gathering Clouds at Castle Rising. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1985. The Loneliness of Castle Rising. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)
• 1987. The Windsor Secret. London : W.H. Allen. (As Fanny Cradock)

Children’s Books

• 1945. When Michael was Three. Hutchinson’s Books for Young People: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1946. When Michael was Six. Hutchinson’s Books for Young People: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1947. Always. The enchanted land. Hutchinson’s Books for Young People: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1948. The Dryad and the Toad. Macdonald: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1950. The Gooseyplums by the Sea. Hodder & Stoughton: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1950. The Gooseyplums of Duckpond-in-the-Dip. Hodder & Stoughton: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1950. Brigadier Gooseyplum goes to War. Hodder & Stoughton: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1950. The Story of Joseph and Pharaoh. Hodder & Stoughton: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1952. Fish Knight and Sea Maiden. A children’s romance. Hutchinson’s Books for Young People: London. (As Francis Dale)
• 1959. Happy Cooking, Children. Putnam: London. (As Francis Dale)

Videos

Further reading

Ellis, Clive. Fabulous Fanny Cradock: TV’s Outrageous Queen of Cuisine. Cheltenham, England: The History Press. 2011. (Kindle edition link valid as of August 2019.)

Geddes, Kevin. Keep Calm and Fanny On! The Many Careers of Fanny Cradock. Fantom Publishing. 2020.