Background
Crewe was born Quentin Hugh Dodds in 1926, the second son of Hugh Dodds, a career diplomat, and Lady Annabel Crewe-Milnes, the daughter of the Marquess of Crewe.
Crewe was born Quentin Hugh Dodds in 1926, the second son of Hugh Dodds, a career diplomat, and Lady Annabel Crewe-Milnes, the daughter of the Marquess of Crewe.
He was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at age 6 and it was predicted he would be dead by 16 years old. He was not told this and lived to 72. He went on to write regularly for The Evening Standard, Queen Magazine, The Daily Mail and Sunday Mirror, among others
Crewe travelled much of the world, writing 11 books on the subject of his journeys, biographies and cuisine.
Crewe was co-proprieter of various restaurants, including the now-defunct Brasserie Saint Quentin in Knightsbridge, London. His father was keen that he should be a sportsman, and tried to teach him to shoot, fence or ride, without any success.
Crewe would regularly fall over. Crewe was educated at Eton, where he was expelled after copying a fire door key and secretly going to London for a day.
He went on to Trinity College, Cambridge and tried to study law and economics, but he spent so much time partying that he was expelled for indolence.
In 1945 his family changed their name to Crewe after his mother inherited what remained of Lord Crewe"s estates. Despite the doctor"s gloomy prediction of a death by 16, Crewe survived his teens, although he did become weaker and his falls more frequent. His condition steadily deteriorated until he was using a wheelchair full-time at age 29.
Crewe appeared as a "castaway" on the British Broadcasting Corporation Radio programme Desert Island Discs twice, on 21 January 1984, and on 16 June 1996.