Delia Smith’s mother Etty Smith dies aged 100

Delia Smith’s mother Etty, who ‘set the standards’ for the TV chef’s cooking, has died aged 100.

Norwich City Football Club, of which Delia and her husband Michael Wynn-Jones are majority shareholders, announced that Etty Smith passed away earlier this month.

Etty was a familiar face at Carrow Road stadium and would regularly be seen watching games with Delia in the director’s box and chatting with other celebrities including Stephen Fry. 

Tributes poured in from fellow Canaries fans including former Blue Peter presenter Simon Thomas, who described her sausage rolls as ‘legendary’. 

Etty is credited with honing her daughter’s early culinary skills which set Delia, 76, in good stead for a successful career despite leaving school aged 16 with no qualifications.  

Etty was a familiar face at Carrow Road stadium and would regularly be seen watching games with Delia (couple pictured)

Welsh-born Etty brought up Delia in Bexleyheath, Kent, with her father Harold, a former RAF radio operator until they split – he died in 1999.   

Delia’s husband Mr Wynn-Jones said in a 2001 documentary: ‘Her mother’s priority was always good cooking. She was the one who set the standards for Delia.’

Etty also recalled in the same documentary Delia’s disastrous early cooking experiences, including when she forgot to put sugar in a rice pudding.

She told how the rest of the family had to pretend that it was lovely when she proudly served the dish made in a school cookery lesson. 

Her daughter, reportedly worth £27million, went on to become one of Britain’s favourite cookery writers, producing 24 cookery books and hosting regular TV shows over five decades.  

Delia Smith, with her mother Etty Smith, after she received her Commander of the British Empire Medal in 2009

Etty later moved to live in the same village as Delia near Stowmarket, Suffolk, and the pair saw each other most days.

She became such an enthusiastic supporter of Norwich that the club’s Academy Player of the Season award was renamed the Etty Smith Award in recent years. 

She was even credited with bringing legendary striker Grant Holt from Shrewsbury to the club in 2009 

In his autobiography, Holt revealed: ‘Delia told me later her mum, Etty, had watched the play-off final and wanted Norwich to sign me. Thank you Etty, you are obviously a good judge!’

Former Blue Peter presenter and fellow Norwich City fan Simon Thomas wrote on Twitter: ‘Etty was not only one of the most loyal & committed Norwich fans you could ever meet, she was a wonderfully kind woman and her sausage rolls were legendary. Rest well Etty’.

TV presenter Jake Humphrey, who also supports the Canaries, described Etty as ‘legendary’ and said: ‘She is a sad loss to the Norwich City family.’ 

The mother and daughter also publicly backed Labour ahead of the 2015 General Election.