Antony Worrel-Thompson
Antony Worrel-Thompson is a well-known celebrity chef on British television and prolific author who has swum the equivalent distance of the English Channel in a pool as part of a relay.
In 1981 Antony opened Ménage a Trois in Knightsbridge, widely known to be the Princess of Wales’ favourite restaurant. It was the only restaurant in London to serve just starters and puddings. Antony also opened Ménage a Trois in Bombay, with the Taj Hotel Group; in Melbourne and Stockholm with private backers and in New York, and Washington again with the Taj Group.
Antony opened Woz in 1997 to huge acclaim. In 2002 came Notting Grill, another highly popular restaurant which specialised in 35-day aged beef, based in London’s Notting Hill area. He now has two restaurants and a pub: Windsor Grill and Kew Grill which serve his unique retro grill style cuisine using only the best, locally sourced ingredients and The Greyhound in Rotherfield Peppard, just outside of Henley-on-Thames, serving a great selection of beers & ales, too.
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 – 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 a handful of chefs the UK to have merited the lifelong title. 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.
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 across the UK. He filmed several of his own series for Carlton 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 Retrospectives which looked at dinner party food since the 1950s, Antony’s Morocco on location in Morocco, and More Simply Antony. His final series for Carlton 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 saw Antony’s involvement in UKTV’s People’s Cookbook which provided 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 until end of 2007. He presents Daily Cooks Challenge! 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 Time, Richard and Judy, Shooting Stars, TFI Friday, The Clothes Show, Live & Kicking, The Kumars at No. 42, Bookworm, Celebrity Mastermind, Heaven and Earth, Pet Rehab, Through the Keyhole, Going Going, Gone, Celebrities Under Pressure, Freddie Starr’s Christmas Special, Countryfile, 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.
For 12 years he wrote a weekly column for Saturday Express and cookery column for The Express on Sunday Magazine. He writes a monthly family eating column for Food Monthly 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, Delicious, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping to name but a few.
Antony has been a judge for the Academie Culinaire’s Annual Awards of Excellence. 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.
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). Antony also does many shows in the Middle East where his knowledge for healthy cooking is in great demand.
Antony works 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 electronic kitchen items and bakeware to the emerging ‘free-from’ market, Antony is involved in many licensing products and is heavily involved in the development stages, guaranteeing the very best products.
