Antony Worrall Thompson, MOGB, FHCIMA
Antony Worrall Thompson was born in 1951 in Stratford-upon-Avon . Public-school educated ( Kings School , Canterbury ) Antony then studied Hotel and Catering Management at Westminster College . He worked for various establishments in Essex, much to the horror of his grandmother who refused to write to him because she could not bring herself to write the word Essex on the envelope.
He finally became brave enough to make the move to London in September 1978 to become sous chef at Brinkley's Restaurant in the Fulham Road . He became head chef after only one month. In 1979 he took six months 'educational sabbatical' in France , eating and working in 3-star establishments.
Returning to Brinkley's as head chef, Antony changed the menus according to his experience gained in France . Next was Dan's Restaurant in Chelsea , where, as head chef in 1980 he changed its character from café to haute cuisine, propelling its image into the pages of glossy magazines and Sunday supplements.
It was in 1981 that Antony opened Ménage a Trois in Knightsbridge (widely known to be the Princess of Wales' favourite restaurant) to abundant publicity and reviews: it was the only restaurant in London to serve just starters and puddings. The restaurant and Antony received a tremendous amount of press coverage. Antony also opened Ménage a Trois in Bombay , with the Taj Hotel Group; in Melbourne and Stockholm with private backers and in New York , again with the Taj Group.
He was also the first chef/patron to be chosen to open and operate the restaurant at One Ninety Queen's Gate , a unique club with an abundance of style, designed exclusively for the restaurant industry. The restaurant won the Tim e Out Eating Guide's Best New Restaurant award in 1990 and featured in Egon Ronay's Guide 1991 as a new entry with two stars. In 1990, Antony opened Bistro 190 adjoining One Ninety Queen's Gate , with a Mediterranean-biased menu and affordable prices. He became Managing Director of the Simpsons of Cornhill Group for which he launched dell'Ugo in Frith Street , which achieved extensive press coverage and where the accent was on robust and hearty Mediterranean and British food. Following this enormously successful formula he opened Zoe in St. Christopher's Place to rave reviews, Café dell'Ugo in the City of London , Atrium in Westminster , Palio in Notting Hill Gate, Drones in Belgravia and De Cecco in Parsons Green.
Antony left the Simpsons of Cornhill group at the beginning of 1997 to open Woz to huge acclaim. He now runs the very popular neighbourhood restaurant Notting Grill in Holland Park , which specialises in organic meat, fish and vegetables. In 2005 he opened Kew Grill , in Kew, Richmond , which is in the same vein as Notting Grill , with delicious well-hung meat and the best possible produce available. Antony has two characterful pubs, The Greyhound Freehouse and Grill in Rotherfield Peppard and The Lamb Bar and Kitchen at Satwell, both near Henley on Thames . Barnes Grill in Barnes, SW13, his latest restaurant, opened in June 2006.
In March 1988 he won the Mouton Rothschild Menu Competition , and shortly before in December 1987 the most prestigious accolade: the Meilleur Ouvrier de Grande Bretagne (MOGB) - the chef's Oscar - which is the Academy of Culinary Arts competition, held every four years, to find the most talented chefs in the country. He is one of only seven chefs in the UK to have merited the lifelong title so far. In 1989, he represented Great Britain in the Bocuse d'Or , which is a bi-annual world competition launched by Paul Bocuse and feted by the culinary soul of France itself, attracting extensive media coverage. He was placed 6 th out of 26 international competitors. His talents are not restricted to cooking and eating: his powerful imagination and flair for interior design are additional factors contributing to the success of his ventures.
In 1998 Antony became resident studio chef and main presenter for BBC2's Food & Drink programme. He was Ready Steady Cook regular and appeared on the amazingly popular Celebrity Ready Steady Cook . He also took part in the 1999 Ready Steady Cook Roadshow playing to packed theatres ac ros s the UK . He filmed several of his own series for Carl ton Food Network: a 78 part series called Worrall Thompson Cooks , followed by a 26 part series Simply Antony, Antony's Scotland (13 parts), So You Think You Can't Cook , filmed at the 1997 BBC Good Food Show, a five part series called Ret ros pectives which looked at dinner party food since the 1950s, Antony's Morocco on location in Morocco, and More Simply Antony . His final series for Carl ton Food Network was Master and Servant with James Martin. In 2004 the UK Food Channel broadcast a series of 10 half-hour programmes called simply Worrall Thompson, an entertaining mix of food programme and fly on the wall documentary. 2007 sees Antony 's involvement in UKTV's People's Cookbook which provides a snapshot of modern-day British food culture.
In 2003 he was appointed presenter of BBC1's hugely popular, Saturday Kitchen until May 2006. In May 2006 he left BBC, after 14 years, to host the live cookery programme Saturday Cooks! on ITV1. He also presents Daily Cooks! on the same channel as well as that seasonal spectacular, Christmas Cooks .
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 Tim e, 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. Antony emerged from the jungle in 2003 as one of the nation's favourite celebrities in the ITV series I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
Antony is a prolific cookery book writer and these are listed in the appendix.
For the last 13 years he has written a weekly column for Saturday Express and he currently writes a cookery column for The Express on Su nday Magazine. He also writes a monthly healthy eating column for Healthy magazine. He has just completed another edition of his annual magazine At Home with Antony Worrall Thompson . Other magazine works includes OK , Homes and Gardens , House and Garden , Good Food magazine , Cosmo and Good Housekeeping .
Antony has been a judge for the Academie Culinaire 's Annual Awards of Excellence and MOGB. He was vice-chairman of the Restaurateurs' Association of Great Britain . He speaks to students at catering colleges around the country and offers opportunities to apprentices to work for him. He has also organised the Young Chef of the Year competition, sponsored by American Express.
The Oriental, Bangkok invited him to be Guest Chef in their restaurant for two weeks in August, 1992 for their annual Grouse promotion. Other promotions include The Mansion House, Phoenix , Bergerac Wines, Bergerac and the Hyatt Group in Melbourne and Sydney. He regularly does live cookery demonstrations at shows around the country including BBC Good Food Show, Harrods, Ideal Home, the Royal Show, The Restaurant Show , the Dublin Food Show and British Business Forum in Oman, Good Food and Wine Show in Cape Town. He fronts the 'Taste' shows which include London , Birmingham , Dublin , Edinburgh and Bath
He does outside catering for selected events such as the inauguration of the Channel Tunnel; Audi (polo events), Southampton Boat Show official restaurant (AWT at Sea), Art and Antiques (London), Edinburgh Television Festival; the Motor Show for Daewoo Cars; The Home Show, Taste of London (and other cities) and he numbers Rory Bremner, Kim Wilde, Kathy Lette, Greg Dyke, Tim Rice, Mike Batt, and Danni Minogue amongst his private clients.
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 tim e 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.
Antony has been working with a number of manufacturers on an Antony Worrall Thompson licensed range of food and non-food products . The first in market was a range of best selling small electrical kitchen appliances developed with Breville and the range continues to gain praise and awards. From croutons to sandwiches, from bakeware to ovens & barbeques. Antony is involved in many licensing products and is heavily involved in the development stages guaranteeing the very best products in the AWT brand. For more information on licensees, call The Partnership on tel: 020 7731 3233
Patron of following:
- North Yorkshire Smallholder Society
- NAPAC ( The National Association for People Abused in Childhood)
- Patron
- Child Bereavement Trust
- Battery Hen Welfare Trust
- Stokenchurch Dog Rescue (Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire)
- Breeders' Society for Middle White Pig
- Henley Food Festival
awtrestaurants.com and awtonline.co.uk
For bookings, interviews and appearances please contact: Limelight Management on 020 7637 2529
Appendix
AWT'S BOOKS
AWT's The Diabetes Weight Loss Diet - January 2007 - Kyle Cathie
Antony 's Weekend Cookbook - 2006 BBC Books
Barbecues and Grilling - 2006 Kyle Cathie
The GL Diet Made Simple - 2006 Kyle Cathie
Antony Worrall Thompson's GI Diet - 2005 Kyle Cathie
Antony Worrall Thompson's Top 100 Beef Recipes - 2005 BBC Books
Real Family Food - 2005 - Mitchell Beazley
Healthy Eating for Diabetes - 2004 Kyle Cathie
Saturday Kitchen Cookbook - 2004 BBC Books
Little Book of Meat: How to Buy and Cook Real Meat - 2003 Little Books
The Top 100 Recipes from the Food and Drink series - 2002 BBC Books
The ABC of AWT - 1998, Headline
Simply Antony - 1998, Harper Collins
Sainsbury's Quick & Easy Winter Warmers - 1997, Martin Books, Simon & Schuster Consumer Group
Sainsbury's Quick & Easy Fish - 1996, Martin Books, Simon & Schuster Consumer Group
Mediterranean , from The Master Chefs, Classic Recipes - 1996, Weidenfeld
30-Minute Menus - 1995, Headline
Modern Bistrot Cookery - 1994, Headline
Supernosh , AWT & Malcolm Gluck - 1993, Faber & Faber
The Small & Beautiful Cook Book - 1984, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Ready Steady Cook One (co-authored with Brian Turner)
Big Ready Steady Cook Book
In the pipleline: People's Cookbook; Saturday Cooks!
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