Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson (born 1 May 1951) is an English restaurateur and
celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster.
Early life
Worrall Thompson was born in
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
. His parents,
Michael Ingham (real name Peter Michael Worrall Thompson) and
Joanna Duncan, were both actors. He was educated at the
King's School, Canterbury, where he sustained facial injuries while playing
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
. He had to wait until he was twenty-one years old before he could have
plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
to correct the disfigurement.
Early career
After he left school, he studied
hotel management
''Hotel Management'' magazine is a trade publication produced by Questex, LLC.
History and profile
The magazine ''Hotel Management'' was established in New York in 1922 by Ahrens Publishers. It absorbed or merged with various other hotel managem ...
at
Westminster Kingsway College. Taking his first catering job in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, it is rumoured that his grandmother refused to write to him because she could not bring herself to write "Essex" on the envelope.
In 1978, he moved to London and became
sous-chef at Brinkley's Restaurant at
Fulham Road, becoming
head chef
A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is ...
one year later. The following year he took a sabbatical in France, eating and working his way around the local cuisine. After this he returned to Britain and started producing pans with his business partner Hassan.
Restaurants
Prior to opening his first restaurant, Worrall Thompson was Executive Chef at 190 Queens Gate in
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
, London. He opened his first restaurant, Ménage à Trois, in
Knightsbridge in 1981, notable for only serving starters and puddings.
He then launched several successful restaurants, including Wiz and Woz in west London and Metro in
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
, all of which reflect his somewhat individual approach to food. Until late 2006, he was Catering Director for Old Luxters Barn, in
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
.
In February 2009, his restaurant holding company AWT Restaurants was placed into
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
. Four restaurants closed – the Notting Grill in west London, the Barnes Grill in south-west London, together with two pubs in
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...
, the Lamb Inn and the Greyhound. This caused the loss of 60 jobs. Worrall Thompson personally bought back the remaining Windsor Grill in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
, the Kew Grill in south-west London, and a
delicatessen
Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...
, the Windsor Larder.
It was revealed in April 2009 that Thompson's restaurant chain trouble was the result of its being "overstretched" and that his restaurants "had debts of more than £800,000 and owed 214 creditors money."
Television
Worrall Thompson made his first television appearance on
BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
's ''
Food and Drink
''Food and Drink'' is a British television series on BBC Two. First broadcast between 1982 and 2002, it was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations.
Histo ...
,'' before appearing on ''
Ready Steady Cook'' from 1994. In 2001, he appeared on ''
Lily Savage's Blankety Blank'',
and in 2003, he appeared in the second series of ''
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'', which led to him replacing
Gregg Wallace
Gregg Allan Wallace (born 17 October 1964) is an English broadcaster, entrepreneur, media personality, writer and former greengrocer. He is known for co-presenting ''MasterChef'', ''Celebrity MasterChef'' and '' MasterChef: The Professionals'', ...
as the host of
BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
's ''
Saturday Kitchen''. The show moved to
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
to replace Saturday morning children's television. He later presented the
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
series ''
Saturday Cooks
''...Cooks!'' is an ITV television cookery show, hosted by Antony Worrall Thompson, broadcast on the ITV networks between 10 June 2006 to 21 May 2010.
Formats
There were different names for the show, depending on which day it aired. The Saturd ...
''. The show was renamed ''Daily Cooks Challenge'' for the prime-time series which he also presented. He represented the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
and
East of England
The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...
in series one of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
's ''
Great British Menu'' but was beaten by
Galton Blackiston
Galton Blackiston is an English chef, born in Norfolk. The restaurant of his hotel, Morston Hall, Holt in Morston, is Michelin starred and has 4 AA rosettes. It is on the north Norfolk coast, two miles from Blakeney. His unusual first name ...
, after burning the meat course of his entry prior to the judging phase. He was also on the mini series ''Trawlermen: Celebs at sea'', in 2019.
He was the first ever contestant to score a 100 point correct answer on
Pointless during his appearance on
Pointless Celebrities in 2013.
Awards and honours
Worrall Thompson has won the
Mouton Rothschild Menu Competition, and the
Meilleur Ouvrier de Grande Bretagne (MOGB).
Personal life
Named Anthony at birth, he dropped the 'h' in his teenage years and has omitted it ever since. His reasoning is that the 'h' is not pronounced so adds little value to the name.
Worrall Thompson married Jill Thompson when he was 26, the couple divorced five years later. In 1983, he married an Australian, Militza Millar. The couple had two children and divorced. Since 1996, he has been married to his third wife, Jacinta Shiel. The couple live in
High Wycombe and have two children.
In January 2012, he received a
police caution
A police caution is a formal alternative to prosecution in minor cases, administered by the police in England and Wales. It is commonly used to resolve cases where full prosecution is not seen as the most appropriate solution. Accepting a caution ...
for
shoplifting
Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...
items, including wine and cheese, from the
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...
branch of
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
on a total of five occasions. In 2015, he spoke of how the total of five shoplifting attempts was £70.68 and how he thinks he did it for the excitement; he was depressed and sought counselling.
Worrall Thompson is a patron of
FOREST
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
, a UK-based, tobacco industry-financed lobby opposing government regulation of tobacco and
ASH
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
. In February 2010, in a feature for Radio 4's ''
Woman's Hour
''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946.
History
Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...
'', he said that he had given up
smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...
.
He has been involved in fundraising for the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
and supported British withdrawal from the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
In 2003, Worrall Thompson funded the Antony Worrall Thompson Trophy – a charity football cup played by eight
semi-professional
Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...
teams in the summer, pre-season. However, due to Worrall Thompson's financial issues, the trophy lasted initially one year with the 2003–2004 final being contested between
Altrincham F.C.
Altrincham Football Club is a professional football club based in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1891 and nicknamed "the Robins", they are currently members of and play at Moss Lane.
History
Altrincham was established ...
and
Northwich Victoria F.C.
Northwich Victoria Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Northwich, Cheshire, which compete in the . They play home games at Wincham Park, in a groundshare agreement with nearby rivals Witton Albion. They had played at th ...
Altrincham won the game 4–3. The tournament was resurrected in the 2017–2018 season.
October 2010 saw Worrall Thompson join ''
Uncovered'' magazine as a regular columnist offering recipes and advice on eating for good health and seasons' finest produce.
References
External links
*
Interview with asrecommended''The Independent'', 6 February 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worrall Thompson, Antony
1951 births
Living people
People from Stratford-upon-Avon
English chefs
People educated at The King's School, Canterbury
Worral Thompson, Antony
Theft
English television chefs
Conservative Party (UK) people
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants