Jan Russell-Clarke 'OUR MARRIAGE WAS NEVER DULL'

THE LATE CHEF'S WIDOW HONOURS HIS LEGACY

- By Jenny Brown

Peter Russell-Clarke, larrikin TV chef, artist, author and all-round teller of tall tales, didn't go quite the way he once joked about – by jumping off Melbourne's West Gate Bridge with a candle up his bottom!“He also didn’t want to have a funeral,” his widow, Jan, tells New Idea in her first public interview since losing her husband.

“He thought it was outrageous that funeral directors would make a fortune out of his dead body. That was typical of Peter!”

Jan was married to self-confessed “ratbag” Peter for 65 years, until his death on July 4 this year. In honour of what would have been his 90th birthday on September 19, Peter's loved ones recently held a special celebration of his life.

Always controversial, Peter, who hosted the popular ABC cooking show