Andrea Oliver (born 26 May 1963) is a British chef,

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, and former singer. She is best known for her appearances on the

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

cooking show ''

Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...

''. She is the author of the book ''The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table'', published in 2023.

Early life

Oliver was born in London to Antiguan parents and brought up in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, from the age of 10. Her father served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and was based at

RAF Honington Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. It was used as a bomber station during the Second World War and through the Cold War, hosting Han ...

, and her mother taught at a primary school in the town.

Early career

Oliver is a former member of the band

Rip Rig + Panic To rip is the act of tearing an object. Rip may also refer to: Places * Nioro du Rip, a town in the southern Kaolack Region of Senegal * 7711 Říp, an asteroid * Rip Bridge, New South Wales Australia * Říp, a mountain in the Czech Republic ...

who appeared in an episode of Series 1 of '' The Young Ones''. She used to co-host the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television show '' Baadasss TV'' alongside

Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...

, and frequently appears on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's annual coverage of the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

. For four years she ran a successful ephemeral restaurant, The Moveable Feast. After being creative director of The Birdcage pub on London's Colombia Road, she launched her own restaurant at The Jackdaw and Star, a renovated pub in the heart of

Homerton Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, it had ...

. She opened her award-winning restaurant, Andi's, in 2016, and in 2020 created her newest food project entitled Wadadli Kitchen.

Other music projects

After 1983, Oliver became involved in Kalimba, an African-inspired band. In 1990 she joined forces with her brother, forming the Mighty Hog. In April 2007, she began presenting a six-part cookery show, ''Neneh and Andi Dish it Up'', with her friend

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

for

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

Projects

* Host of ''Truth About Food'' * Host of '' The Selector'', a radio show for the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

* Host of

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

first-ever Radio 3

World Music Awards The World Music Awards was an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event was based in Monte Carlo. Awards were presented to the worl ...

* Took part in the charity performance of ''

The Vagina Monologues ''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run at the Westside Theatre. The play explores ...

'' at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

* Took part in the ''Changing Cityscapes'' series for the BBC. * In 2009 Oliver took part in BBC flagship drama '' No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency'', set in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. * In summer 2012, she was a guest judge on the TV show '' Food Glorious Food'', presented by

Carol Vorderman Carol Jean Vorderman (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh broadcaster, media personality, and writer. Her media career began when she joined the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'', appearing with Richard Whiteley from 1982 until his death in 2005, ...

during the

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

Regional Heats, first broadcast on 27 February 2013. * In summer 2014, she opened her own kitchen, Sugarshack. * Regular panelist on '' The Kitchen Cabinet'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

alongside

Jay Rayner Jason Matthew Rayner (born 14 September 1966) is a British journalist and food critic. He has worked as a freelance journalist for newspapers including ''The Observer'' and ''The Independent on Sunday.'' He was the ''Observer'' restaurant criti ...

Henry Dimbleby Henry Richard Melville Dimbleby (born May 1970) is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department ...

and

Angela Hartnett Angela Maria Hartnett (born September 1968) is an English Michelin-starred chef. A protégée of Gordon Ramsay who became well known by her appearances on British television, she was Chef-Patron at Angela Hartnett at the Connaught in London. ...

* Co-hosts Food Networks '' The Big Eat'' alongside Andy Bates and

Ching He Huang Ching-He Huang (; (born 8 April 1978), often known in English-language merely as Ching, is a Taiwanese-born British Food writing, food writer and Celebrity chef#Television celebrity chefs, TV chef. She has appeared in a variety of television ...

* Co-host of BBC's ''Christmas Kitchen'' with

Matt Tebbutt Matthew Charles Tebbutt (born 24 December 1973) is a British chef and television food presenter best known for presenting shows such as Channel 4's '' Food Unwrapped'' and ''Drop Down Menu'', the BBC's ''Saturday Kitchen'' and the Good Food chan ...

– December 2016 * Took part in ''Eight Go Rallying: The Road To Saigon'' in 2018 with her daughter

Miquita Oliver Miquita Billie Alexandra Oliver (born 25 April 1984) is a British television presenter and radio personality. With Simon Amstell, she co-hosted Channel 4's '' Popworld'' from 2001 to 2006. She went on to present on '' T4'' from 2006 to 2010, a ...

. They drove a 1959 Morris Minor. * Replaced

Prue Leith Dame Prudence Margaret Leith, (born 18 February 1940) is a South African-British restaurateur, broadcaster, cookery writer and novelist. She was a judge on BBC Two's ''Great British Menu'' for eleven years, before joining ''The Great British ...

as permanent judge on ''

'' with

Matthew Fort Matthew Fort (born 29 January 1947) is a British food writer and critic. Matthew Fort is the son of the Conservative MP Richard Fort, who died when he was 12. His brother is the writer Tom Fort. He attended Eton College, and later Lancaster Un ...

and

Oliver Peyton Oliver Peter Patrick Peyton, (born 26 September 1961), is an Irish businessman, restaurateur and television personality. Early life Peyton was born in Sligo and raised in Killasser near Swinford, County Mayo, his mother was the owner of a knit ...

, but then stepped away from the judge role and replaced

Susan Calman Susan Grace Calman (born 6 November 1974) is a Scottish comedian, television presenter and writer. She has written and starred in two series of her radio sitcom ''Sisters'', two series of stand-up show ''Susan Calman is Convicted'' and a serie ...

as presenter * 2022, documentary, ''The Caribbean with Andi and Miquita''. * 2024, host of culinary series, ''Andi Oliver's Fabulous Feast''.

Personal life

Oliver's daughter is television presenter

. Her brother Sean died in 1990 of

sickle cell anaemia Sickle cell disease (SCD), also simply called sickle cell, is a group of inherited haemoglobin-related blood disorders. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying ...

aged 27. She lives in

Wanstead Wanstead () is an area in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Manor Park to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 m ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

Book

*''The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table'', photography by Robert Billington ( DK, 27 April 2023),

References

External links

Andi Oliver page
at BBC. * David Ellis

''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', 5 August 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Andrea 1963 births BBC Radio 4 presenters BBC television presenters Black British television personalities English people of Antigua and Barbuda descent English television chefs Living people Mass media people from Suffolk Musicians from Bury St Edmunds Rip Rig + Panic members Television personalities from London Year of birth missing (living people)