Antony Worrall Thompson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Antony Worrall Thompson
Image:Antony Worrall Thompson.jpg Antony Worrall Thompson in November 2006
Born	Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson May 1 1951 (1951-05-01) (age 58) Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster.

Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson (born 1 May 1951) is a British celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Criticism 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Early life

Thompson was born in Stratford upon Avon, he was educated at The King's School, Canterbury where his face was injured playing rugby and he had to wait until he was 21 before he could have plastic surgery to correct the disfigurement.^[1] After he left school he studied hotel management at Westminster College.

[edit] Career

Worrall Thompson opened his first restaurant - "Ménage à Trois" - in Knightsbridge in 1981. Since then he has launched several successful restaurants, including "Wiz and Woz" in West London and "Metro" in Jersey — all of which reflect his somewhat 'individual' approach to food.

He was a cook on BBC2’s Food and Drink, appeared on Ready Steady Cook from 1994, and has presented a number of other cookery programmes. In 2003, he appeared in the second series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.

From 2003 (when he replaced original host Gregg Wallace) until June 2006, he was the host of BBC2's Saturday Kitchen, which had transferred to BBC1 to replace Saturday morning children's television. However, after a large financial offer from ITV^{[citation needed]}, Worrall Thompson and the production company responsible for the show, Prospect Pictures transferred the format - including Australian wine expert Matt Skinner - to ITV. The new show airs as Daily Cooks during the week and Saturday Cooks on Saturdays, with spin-off shows also being made, such as a Christmas Cooks show during December.

Since the move to ITV, Thompson has ceased to appear as a guest chef on Ready, Steady, Cook. The BBC outsourced the now vacant Saturday Kitchen format to a new company and the show started with James Martin presenting just three weeks after Worrall Thompson started his ITV version.

Worrall Thompson recently represented the Midlands and East of England in the BBC's Great British Menu but was beaten by Galton Blackiston.[1], after burning the meat course of his entry prior to the judging phase.

Worrall Thompson is a patron of FOREST, a UK-based pro-smoking lobby, and is also involved in fundraising for the Conservative Party.

[edit] Criticism

Worrall Thompson's recipe for Snickers Pie was nominated by independent food watchdog The Food Commission as one of the most unhealthy dessert recipes ever. Consisting of five Snickers bars, puff pastry, mascarpone, soft cheese, sugar and eggs, a single slice has been estimated to contain 1,250 calories. Although this was widely reported in the British media, the BBC still hosts the recipe on its website, albeit with a health warning.

In 2005, as he launched his new series, Gordon Ramsay, commenting on the phenomenon of "Celebrity Chefs" said, "I don't really think I'm a celebrity chef. There's a TV bracket and a serious chef bracket." He went on to dub Ainsley Harriot, Brian Turner and Worrall Thompson as the Teletubbies [2].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Anthony Worrall Thompson's website
• Saturday Cooks! at itv.com
• Interview with asrecommended
• Extract from his biography
• The Independent, 6 Feb 2005nl:Antony Worrall Thompson