Journalist David Frost has died of a heart attack on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner. He was 74.
The BBC broadcaster, who was due to give a speech on the cruise ship, is most famously known for interviewing former US President Richard Nixon.
The interview inspired the 2008 film Frost/Nixon, in which Michael Sheen played the broadcaster.
His family released a statement to BBC News, which said: "His family are devastated and ask for privacy at this difficult time. A family funeral will be held in the near future and details of a memorial service will be announced in due course."
Meanwhile, TV personality and That's Life! presenter, Esther Rantzen said: "I think fellow interviewers have always been awestruck by David Frost's capacity to illicit memorable, sometimes historically significant quotes from all the movers and shakers or our time - presidents, prime ministers, A*list celebrities - but for all of us who had the pleasure of knowing him socially, it is his kindness, generosity, loyalty and humour that we will miss so much.
"His summer party was always the best party of the year. His fund of anecdotes and his constant wit was a joy. In fact, it was always his greeting: 'A joy to meet you' and it was always a joy to meet him."
Born in 1939 in Kent, David studied at Cambridge University, where he met comedy legends such as Peter Cook, Graham Chapman and John Bird.
Frost made his name with BBC television's satirical That was the Week that was (TW3) in the early 1960's.
He was later a co-founder and presenter of the UK breakfast television station, TV-am, in 1983 and presented 500 editions of the Sunday morning interview programme Breakfast with Frost for the BBC.
Frost was the only person to have interviewed all six British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2007 (Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair).
