No Hairy Bikers without Dave Myers, TV chef says of late friend
TELEVISION chef Si King has said “there is no Hairy Bikers without Dave (Myers)”, as he reflected on the future of his career in the industry.
Myers, who was one half of the motorcycle-riding cooking duo with co-presenter King, died in February at the age of 66 after suffering from cancer.
In an interview with food critic Jay Rayner for The Observer, King said he has started to “think about what I want to do” following Myers’ death.
He added: “There’s obviously the sense of losing your best mate, but there’s also a sense of loss in that the experiences we had together can’t go on. What was wonderful about my mate Dave was that he absolutely embraced the moment.
“He used to drive me mad. I’d tell him to say something negative for a bit, but he just loved being a Hairy Biker.”
The duo met in 1995 on the set of a TV drama and went on to build a friendship and successful career.
They published more than 20 cookbooks together and presented shows including The Hairy Bikers Ride Again; The Hairy Bikers’ Food Tour Of Britain; The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best; and The Hairy Bikers’ Cook Off.
“It was the Observer who gave us our first serious piece of coverage,” King said. “The Observer really launched the Hairy Bikers. And it will end with them, too.”
Myers announced he was undergoing chemotherapy in May 2022 but he did not specify what type of cancer he had.
Speaking about his diagnosis, King said: “Dave called me. I had to pull over. I just couldn’t compute it. I must have sounded terrible.
“There was just a level of disbelief. And to be perfectly honest I couldn’t get my head around it all the way through his fight.”
Speaking about Myers’ treatment, he added: “You have to go with the psyche of the patient. It was all about the fight, right to the very last day. We are two working-class lads and we like a scrap. When it became apparent this was going to be a long haul, it was about making things as comfortable as possible for Dave, both physically and mentally.
“We had to be led by him. It’s about being kind.”
King said Myers received the “love and support of his wife” Liliana Orzac, whom he met while filming in Romania.
“The reality was he just didn’t want to go, it was too soon,” he added.
“He had a home he wanted to live in and we had a handle on our careers. He was looking forward to spending more time with his beloved Lili and his stepkids.
“He’d just arrived and no-one wants to leave when they’ve just arrived. It wasn’t time to go. It’s a cruel disease.”
Reflecting on his future, King said: “It’s only in the past couple of weeks that I’ve started to think about what I want to do.
“We were a partnership, a double act.”
He continued: “It would be incredibly churlish not to say thank you to our fanbase. I sincerely hope that whatever I do next they come with me and we start another journey together.
“There is no Hairy Bikers without Dave. Because it’s plural.”