He became associated with the louche and bohemian atmosphere that existed in London's Soho district and was later immortalised in the comical play Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell by Keith Waterhouse.

The title refers to a notice The Spectator would put in the place of Bernard's column on occasions in which he was unable to write.

Seduced by the area's lurid glamour, he moved there at 16, supporting himself in a variety of jobs that were at odds with his middle-class background, including boxing booth attendant, building labourer, dishwasher, stagehand, kitchen assistant and coal miner.

However, he came to favour The Coach and Horses above the other venues in later life, particularly after Muriel Belcher (the proprietor of The Colony Room and a friend of Bernard's) died.

He also knew Dylan Thomas, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, John Minton, Nina Hamnett, Graham Greene and Ian Fleming.

In his youth Bernard was considered extremely good-looking and supplemented his earnings with gifts and loans from wealthy older women.

[8] Though married four times (Anna Grace in 1952, Jackie Ellis in 1959, Jill Wilsworth in 1966 and Susan Ashley Gluck in 1978), he often remarked, only half in jest, that alcohol was the other woman.

Elizabeth Smart suggested that Bernard try journalism and he started to write about his interest in horseracing in Queen magazine in 1964.

While Taki's column described a life of yachts, casinos, and grand hotels, Bernard's was described by Jonathan Meades as a "suicide note in weekly instalments" and principally chronicled his daily round of intoxication and dissipation in The Coach and Horses pub and its fateful consequences.

[10] His lifestyle had an inevitable effect on his health and reliability, and the magazine often had to post the notice "Jeffrey Bernard is unwell" in place of his column.

[12] Bernard died at his home in Soho at age 65 on 4 September 1997 of renal failure after turning down further treatment by dialysis.