EGON RONAYEgon Ronay, the revered restaurant critic, died on 12 June, 2010 at his Berkshire home with his wife Barbara and daughters Edina and Esther by his side. He was 94.Ronay published his first eponymous guide in 1957, setting a new standard for British restaurants and transforming the nation’s eating habits.His friend, broadcaster Nick Ross, said he had suffered a short illness but "was, right up until the last few weeks of his life, as sharp as a button"Ronay was born in Hungary on 24 July, 1915, the son of a prominent Budapest restaurateur. After the Second World War his parents were exiled by Stalin to a peasant village.After managing to escape he arrived in London in 1946 to work as manager of a restaurant in Piccadilly, which belonged to one of his father’s friends.Ronay went on to open his own establishment, a French bistro in Knightsbridge called the Marquee.He published his restaurant guide, the first of its kind, a few years later. It had just 96 pages, listed 175 eating places in and around London and sold an astonishing 30,000 copies.
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