Anthony Worrall Thompson Celebrity Chef
Antony Worrall Thompson is a restaurateur and TV chef. He presented Saturday Kitchen and was a regular guest chef on Ready Steady Cook.
Known as AWT or Wozza, Antony was born in Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon and educated at a Canterbury public school. Afterwards, he studied hotel and catering management at Westminster Kingsway College before taking his first catering job in Essex. It's rumoured that his grandmother refused to write to him because she couldn't bring herself to write Essex on the envelope.
In 1978, he moved to London and became sous chef at Brinkley's Restaurant in the Fulham Road. One month later, he was head chef. The following year he took a sabbatical in France, eating and working his way around the local cuisine. By 1981, AWT had opened his own restaurant in London - notable for only serving starters and puddings.
Since then, the restaurants he's been involved with have been heaped with accolades. He has won the Mouton Rothschild Menu Competition and the Meilleur Ouvrier de Grande Bretagne (MOGB) - the chef's Oscar.
Antony has been involved with numerous restaurants in London and the Home Counties. He has also written several recipe books including Antony's Weekend Cookbook and Real Family Food.
He is passionate about organic farming and grows many herbs and vegetables for his restaurant.
Despite an extraordinary and energetic professional lifestyle, he still manages to find time for art, antiques, tennis and swimming (he swam the Channel when he was 16). In 2003, he showed he was game for a laugh when he appeared on ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.
He is a regular chef on ITV’s This Morning. He has appeared on many programmes: GMTV, Hot Chefs, MasterChef, Junior MasterChef, Home Front, Channel 4’s Light Lunch and Quisine as well as Have I Got News For You, Question Time, Richard and Judy, Shooting Stars, TFI Friday, The Clothes Show, Live and Kicking, The Kumars at No. 42, Bookworm, Celebrity Mastermind, Heaven and Earth, Pet Rehab, Through the Keyhole, Going Going, Gone, Celebrities Under Pressure, Freddie Star’s Christmas Special, Country File, Nation’s Favourite Food, Newsnight, Grumpy Old Men and Children In Need specials. He has also fronted a 30 minute programme for Channel 4, Stir Fry, looking at the quality of food in prisons. He was a team captain on BBC Radio 4’s Question of Taste with wine expert Oz Clarke. He has guested on Radio 4’s ‘Broadcasting House’ and regularly reviews the papers on various radio stations.
Antony was twice the winner of The Weakest Link Chef Special and appeared on Panorama presenting an item on the Fairtrade issue on behalf of the 2003 Comic Relief project. He has guested on Jonathan Ross, Wogan and Jerry Springer. He is increasingly in demand by broadcasters to comment on and discuss serious food issues such as diabetes, obesity, nutrition and the eating habits of children.
He is passionate about organic farming and grows many herbs and vegetables for his restaurant. Despite such an energetic professional lifestyle, he still manages to find time for art, antiques, tennis, swimming and gardening - and of course his wife Jay and their two young children, plus two dogs called Jess and Rodney, Nigel the cat, twelve Middle White pigs and a variety of fish and chickens who all live at his arts and crafts-style house near the River Thames. Antony has an avocado farm in Spain where he and his family retreat to when they can find time.
information courtesy of www.awtonline.com
Information courtesy of The BBC