Kenneth Griffith - Personal Life

Personal Life

Griffith, a Protestant, named his home (No. 110 Englefield Road, Islington, London), "Michael Collins House". Against advice he defiantly kept himself listed in the telephone dirctory and his phone number was also to be found in "Who's Who". All his life Griffith relished an argument. He "proudly" displayed on his wall death threats from the Ulster Volunteer Force (Northern Irish loyalists) "flanked on one side by a friendlier letter from Gerry Adams". A year or two before Griffith's death he attended a meeting where Gerry Adams praised and thanked him for his documentaries as they had contributed to the peace process. He also cherished Mrs Thatcher's opinion of him as a "dangerous Marxist", although Griffith did not believe in that ideology. However, he also had a huge plaster medallion of Clive of India fixed to his living room wall. Indeed, his entire house was crammed like an overly stocked antique shop with a collection of predominantly Boer War memorabilia, the finest in private hands in the country. He also housed thousands of Boer War covers in his philatelic collection housed in for filing cabinets on the top floor, all catalogued and researched personally and recorded in beautifully handwritten volumes.

Griffith was married three times and had five children: Joan Stock (David), Doria Noar (the actress Eva Griffith) and Carole Haggar (Polly, Huw and Jonathan).

Griffith suffered from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease in his later years, resulting in an enforced retirement from acting and his documentaries. He died peacefully at home on 25 June 2006 aged 84. He was buried on 4 July 2006, by his request his coffin was decorated with the flags of Wales, the Untouchables of India (of whom he was president for many years), Israel, and the Irish tricolour. The coffin was borne by his family, devoted friend Bryan Hewitt, and his old friend Peter O'Toole. He is buried in the churchyard at Penally where he grew up, besides his beloved grandparents, Emily and Ernest. Both Griffith and his grand parent's grave stones are the work of the Welsh-born Master Craftsman and calligrapher and sculptor Ieuan Rees whose work includes the grave stone of Laurence Olivier in Westminster Abbey.