Gordon Ramsay

As known for his temper and acerbic, no-nonsense manner of speaking as his culinary skills, Gordon Ramsay is a TV chef with a fiery personality who owns a number of Michelin-starred restaurants. He was born in Renfrewshire and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, but is certainly proud of his Scottish roots.

Ramsay started playing football professionally as a teenager, but after he sustained some injuries he took a course in hotel management at college. After working his way up the career ladder in London he spent some time in France learning what he could about French cuisine before Marco Pierre White appointed him head chef at Aubergine, which went on to win two Michelin stars in three years. Ramsay opened his first restaurant in 1998 and has since owned several. He has been awarded thirteen Michelin stars to date.

A number of successful TV programmes have been produced featuring Gordon Ramsay; the most popular of which have been series such as The F-Word, Hell’s Kitchen and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. He has also appeared in several one-off specials such as Christmas with Gordon.

Ramsay’s life is chronicled in the bestselling Humble Pie and Playing With Fire and his cookery books range from general introductions to cooking to more specialised dishes. Some of his earliest books are out of print, but Just Desserts was published in 2003 just before his TV career started to take off in 2004. Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy, Ramsay’s effort to bring cooking to a wider audience by producing tasty dishes using simple techniques, was published in 2005. Fast Food, based on recipes from The F-Word, was published in 2009 and more recently Ramsay embarked on a culinary tour of the world with Great Escape in 2010.