His father was a World War I flying ace and managing director of Cadbury Brothers, the chocolate enterprise.
'Line up, set the rpm at 14,000, watch the jet pipe temperature and good luck,' he said, slapped the side of the aeroplane and walked away.
[2] He qualified as a barrister, playing a minor role in the Nuremberg War Crimes trials, before deciding his future did not lie in law.
Cadbury was known for his frequent rows with neighbours, the press, fellow club members and liverymen (he was a Currier), as well as even with his own board of directors.
He owned an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, a Ferrari, a Bentley, numerous yachts, racehorses, properties in the West Indies, and a succession of grand country mansions, one of which had an airstrip and a hangar for five aircraft.
As a result of his ongoing conflict with the IBA — the then-regulator of ITV — Westward lost the round of franchise renewals in 1980, and were replaced by TSW.
The first time was to Benedicta Bruce in 1947 (with Spitfire pilot Douglas Bader as best man), with whom he had a son and a daughter; the marriage ended in divorce in 1968.
He married again in 1970 to Mrs Jennifer Morgan-Jones, who was 27 years younger and with whom he had another son (Joel Cadbury, one-time owner of the Groucho Club), before they divorced in 1976.