When Dave Myers and Simon King quite literally roared onto television screens 20 years ago — in black leathers, on old bikes, and tearing through Portugal for their pilot episode — the pair instantly became a revelatory force in food programmes. The Noughties may have been a slightly more relaxed time for cooking telly than the Eighties and Nineties, when it was largely dominated by privately-educated eccentrics or frowning French masters, but two Northerners parking their coughing motorcycles in little known parts (Swakopmund, SighiÅoara, Dracula’s Castle) and ribbing each other over local delicacies was decidedly new. It felt, in some way, more democratic than what had come before.
Today, King announced the passing of his friend. Myers died aged 66, two years after revealing he had an unspecified cancer. Writing on X, King posted: “I’m afraid I bear some sad news. Most of you will know Dave has been fighting cancer for the past couple of years. Last night, on 28th February 2024, with Lili, Dave’s wife, his family, close friend David and myself by his side, he passed away peacefully at home. All who knew Dave are devastated at his passing.
