But he had been in relatively good health despite — or perhaps because of — his whirlwind life as a television judge, radio talk-show host, author, law partner, newspaper columnist, movie reviewer, professor, commercial pitchman and political gadfly.
A former banker, he is one of this septic isle's two leading faux rebels – the other one being Jeremy Clarkson, the anti-establishment prime ministerial tennis partner, Murdoch columnist and key member of the soi disant Chipping Norton set, whose sole claim to rebellion is a biannual instance of casual racism.
On Sunday morning David Miranda, the partner of Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, was detained as he was passing through Heathrow airport on his way back to Rio de Janeiro, where the couple live.
The UK's detention and anti-terror law investigation of David Miranda, partner of Guardian columnist Glenn Greewald, will be debated with Commissioner Reding on Tuesday afternoon.
The former lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, has confirmed that there was no intention that the 2000 Terrorism Act should be used against people like David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald.
The decision, which slightly expanded the authority of the police to investigate the digital files, came after a senior national security adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron told the court that a computer hard drive and memory sticks confiscated from David Miranda, the partner of Glenn Greenwald, a columnist for The Guardian, may contain the identities of intelligence officers.
In London at Marylebone restaurant last week, a former judge, an accountant, two law partners, a Sunday Times columnist and eight other women gathered over dinner to discuss how they try to combine parenthood and a career.
Interviewed by my partner Edward Niedermeyer, a car-columnist at Bloomberg View, Friedrich said a month ago that he and DUH are sitting on a large number of tests with vehicles of various automakers, and that they intend to publish them one by one.
But, back in the mainstream, the partners of most columnists have little more than a bit of gentle ribbing to worry about - and the attraction for writer and reader lies in establishing a common bond through the universal pursuit of teasing him or her indoors.
Radio host, movie critic, newspaper columnist, law firm partner, television judge, diet food hawker, guest professor and so on.
