Obituary: Sir David Frost

Legendary British broadcaster Sir David Frost has died of a suspected heart attack.

The 74-year-old was on board ocean liner Queen Elizabeth, where he was booked to appear for a speaking engagement.

Although Frost was a prominent figure in British broadcasting, with a career spanning 50 years — including That Was The Week That Was (TW3), The Frost Report, Through The Keyhole, Breakfast With Frost and Frost Over The World plus launching the TVAM franchise in 1983 — he also appeared on Australian TV during the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1972 he presented the weekly series Frost Over Australia for the Seven Network, interviewing prominent Australians including politicians, sports stars, celebrities and indigenous Australians. Further series were produced in 1973 and 1974.

In February 1973 he interviewed Margaret Whitlam, wife of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, in a rare via-satellite link-up — with Frost in Los Angeles and Mrs Whitlam in Sydney — for the 0-10 Network. In 1974, when Mrs Whitlam hosted her own interview series, With Margaret Whitlam, Frost was a guest on her first program.

In 1983 he presented David Frost Live From London, an Australian ‘tonight’ show for the Nine Network broadcast live from studios in the UK.

Sir David Frost (he was knighted in 1993) is survived by his second wife Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard and three sons.

Source: The Age, Wikipedia, BBC. Sydney Morning Herald, 3 September 1972. TV Times, 10 August 1974.