Transcript James Trevor "Jamie" Oliver

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James Trevor "Jamie" Oliver
aka The Naked Chef, MBE (born
27 May 1975) is a British chef,
restaurateur, media personality,
known for his food-focused
television shows, cookbooks and
more recently his campaign
against the use of processed
foods in national schools. He
strives to improve unhealthy
diets and poor cooking habits in
the United Kingdom and the
United States. Oliver's speciality
is Italian cuisine, although he has
a broad international repertoire.
Oliver's programmes are shown
in 100 countries, including the
USA's Food Network.
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Jamie Oliver was raised in
Clavering, Essex, in England.
His parents ran a pub, "The
Cricketers", where he used to
practise cooking in the kitchen.
He was educated at Newport
Free Grammar School. Oliver
left school at age sixteen with
two GCSE qualifications and
went on to attend Westminster
Kingsway College, formerly
Westminster College. He then
earned a City & Guilds National
Vocational Qualification (NVQ)
in home economics.
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In July 2000, Oliver married
former model Juliette Norton. The
couple met in 1993 and have four
children: Poppy Honey Rosie
Oliver (born 18 March 2002),
Daisy Boo Pamela Oliver (born on
10 April 2003), Petal Blossom
Rainbow Oliver (born on 3 April
2009) and Buddy Bear Maurice
Oliver (born on 15 September
2010). Oliver announced the births
of the two youngest children on
Twitter. The family lives in
Clavering, Essex. Oliver suffers
from dyslexia, and read his first
novel (Catching Fire) in 2013, at
the age of 38.
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His first job was a pastry chef at Antonio Carluccio's Neal's Yard
restaurant, where he first gained experience with preparing Italian
cuisine, and developed a relationship with his mentor Gennaro Contaldo.
Oliver then moved to The River Café, Fulham, as a sous chef.
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It was there that he was noticed by the BBC in 1997 after making an
unscripted appearance in a documentary about the restaurant, "Christmas
at the River Cafe". That year, his show The Naked Chef debuted and his
cookbook became a number one best-seller in the UK. That same year,
Oliver was invited to prepare lunch for the Prime Minister of that time,
Tony Blair at No. 10 Downing Street.
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In 2000, Oliver became the face of the UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's
through an endorsement deal worth $2 million a year. After 11 years the
partnership between Oliver & Sainsbury's ended. The final television
advertisement was for Christmas 2011.
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Oliver created Fifteen in 2002. Each year,
fifteen young adults who have a
disadvantaged background, criminal
record or history of drug abuse, are
trained in the restaurant business. In
2003, he was awarded an MBE.
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In 2005, he initiated a campaign called
"Feed Me Better" in order to move
British schoolchildren towards eating
healthy foods and cutting out junk food.
As a result, the British government also
pledged to address the issue. Delving into
politics to push for changes in nutrition
resulted in people voting him as the
"Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005,"
according to a Channel 4 News annual
viewer poll.
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Oliver appears at the BBC Good Food
show each year and took to the road once
more in 2006 on an Australian tour where
he performed in Sydney and Melbourne.
Following the entertaining format of his
first live show, the 2006 Australian tour
featuring special guests including mentor
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His emphasis on cooking healthily continued as he created Jamie's Ministry
of Food, a television series where Oliver travelled to inspire everyday
people in Rotherham, Yorkshire, to cook healthy meals. Another television
series is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (2010–2011), where he travelled
first to Huntington, West Virginia and then to Los Angeles to change the
way Americans eat, and address their dependence on fast food.
Oliver's holding company, Sweet As Candy, has made enough profit for
Oliver to have been listed on The Sunday Times list of richest Britons under
30.
In June 2008 he launched Jamie's Italian, his very first high-street business
venture in Oxford, England.
It was reported in October 2009 that Oliver is in the process of raising US
$22 million to help fund 30 of his Italian restaurants in Asia.
In December 2009, Oliver received the 2010 TED Prize.
Oliver is the second British celebrity chef (after Robert Irvine) to appear as
a challenger on Iron Chef America. In 2012, Oliver appeared during Week 6
of the series on MasterChef.
In June 2013, the Jamie Oliver was inducted into the Culinary Hall of
Fame.
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From 2000, Jamie was the public face of the Sainsbury's supermarket
chain in the UK, appearing on television and radio advertisements and instore promotional material. The deal earned him an estimated £1.2
million every year. By 2004, the company had made 65 advertisements
with Jamie, but this arrangement has not been without controversy. Jamie
was reported to have admitted that he does not use supermarkets, saying
“For any chef, supermarkets are like a factory. I buy from specialist
growers, organic suppliers and farmers". He was also said to have been
criticised by Sainsbury's CEO Justin King when he slammed the "junk"
sold by supermarkets that ends up in the lunchboxes of millions of
children. King reportedly hit back, saying: "Dictating to people—or
unleashing an expletive-filled tirade—is not the way to get engagement."
Oliver and Gordon Ramsay are spokeschefs for the "Big Fish Fight",
which campaigns for sustainable seafood, but were criticised for their use
of endangered fish.
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The Naked Chef (1998–1999) was Oliver's first series. Oliver's Twist and Pukka
Tukka picked up where The Naked Chef left off. The title was a reference to the
simplicity of Oliver's recipes. Oliver has frequently admitted that he was not entirely
happy with the title, which was devised by producer Patricia Llewellyn. The success of
the programme led to the books Return of the Naked Chef and Happy Days with the
Naked Chef.
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Jamie's Kitchen was a five-part 2002 documentary series. It followed Oliver as he
attempted to train a group of disadvantaged youths, who would, if they completed the
course, be offered jobs at Oliver's new restaurant "Fifteen". This was followed by
Return to Jamie's Kitchen in 2003. Jamie's Kitchen Australia was a ten-part 2006
television series, similar to Jamie's Kitchen, that was based in and aired in Australia.
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Jamie's School Dinners (2005) was a four-part documentary series. Oliver took
responsibility for running the kitchen meals in Kidbrooke School, Greenwich, for a
year. Disgusted by the unhealthy food being served to schoolchildren and the lack of
healthy alternatives on offer, Oliver began a campaign to improve the standard of
Britain’s school meals. Public awareness was raised and subsequently the British
Government pledged to spend £280m on school dinners (spread over three years). Tony
Blair acknowledged that this was a result of Oliver's campaign. Following the success
of the campaign, Oliver was named "Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005" in the
Channel 4 Political Awards 2006. In episode 2 of Jamie's School Dinners, Oliver's
Fifteen London restaurant was visited by former US President Bill Clinton. Clinton
asked to see Oliver; however, Oliver refused: 36 showed up for a booking of 20 and
many of them were on a South Beach Diet and refused the special menu that had been
prepared, even though it had been approved in advance.
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Jamie's Great Italian Escape, a six-part travelogue series, was first broadcast on Channel
4 in Britain in October 2005. It follows Oliver as he travels around Italy in a blue VW van
(plus a trailer for cooking). He is about to turn 30 and this is his personal adventure to
rediscover his love of cooking. Jamie's Return To School Dinners.
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Jamie's Chef (2007) was a four-part series continuing where Jamie's Kitchen left off. Five
years and fifty trainees later, Oliver's most recent series aims to help the winning trainee
establish their own restaurant at The Cock, a pub near Braintree, Essex. The charitable
Fifteen Foundation retains ownership of the property and has provided a £125,000 loan for
the winner, Aaron Craze, to refurbish the establishment. As of 13 January 2008, the Cock
has closed down and reopened as a regular pub.
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Jamie at Home (2007) featured Oliver presenting home-style recipes and gardening tips,
with many ingredients coming from his substantial home garden. Jamie at Home airs on
the Food Network in the United States. Due to licensing restrictions, only two recipes
from each Jamie at Home episode appear online; also, access to recipes is limited to users
within the United States.
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Jamie's Fowl Dinners (2008) was a special with Jamie backing Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall's "Hugh's Chicken Run" in trying to get the British to eat free range
chickens.
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Jamie's Ministry of Food (2008) was a four-part series that aired from 30
September to 21 October 2008. It was based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Oliver
aimed to make the town "the culinary capital of the United Kingdom" and tried to
get the town's inhabitants to learn how to cook fresh food and establish healthy
eating as part of daily life. The 'Pass It On' campaign also featured in this series with
the local townspeople being taught one of a selection of recipes and passing it on to
family members and friends. The 'Pass It On' campaign gained a following on the
social networking website Facebook which has a group and fan page with users
signing up to chart their progress. What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver (2008) is a
video game with Oliver narrating.
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Jamie Saves Our Bacon (2009) was part of Channel 4's British Food Fight Season,
a thematic sequel to Jamie's Fowl Dinners. In the special, Oliver looks at the state of
pig farming in the UK and EU. It was broadcast on 29 January 2009.
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Jamie's American Road Trip (2009) was a Channel 4 series following Oliver in the
US, where he meets and learns from cooks at street stalls, off-road diners and downto-earth local restaurants. Along the way, he picks up new recipes and learns how
other cultures adapt when they come to the USA.
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Jamie's Family Christmas (2009) was a short series (5 episodes) on Channel 4
with Oliver cooking traditional and new Christmas dishes. Unusually, the series
includes members of Oliver's family: a family member (wife, children, sister etc.)
appears in a supporting role with the preparation of particular recipe interspersed
with more traditional. First broadcast 15 December 2009.
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Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (2009) was a series that aired during 2010 and
2011 on ABC in the United States. In the first season, Oliver visited Huntington,
West Virginia, statistically one of the unhealthiest cities in the US, to try to improve
its residents' eating habits. In 2010, the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Reality
Programme. In the second season Oliver visited Los Angeles, where his crusade to
change school meals was met with resistance. Oliver was ultimately barred from
filming at any Los Angeles public school. The show's cancellation was announced
by ABC in May 2011, two weeks before the final episode of the season had aired.
The program also aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 under the title Jamie's
American Food Revolution, and in Australia on Channel 10 under the original title.
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Jamie Does (2010) or Jamie Oliver's Food Escapes (2011, American title) is a
Channel 4 series of 6 episodes following the success of Jamie's American Road Trip.
Oliver travels across Europe and North Africa, cooking local dishes.
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Jamie's 30-Minute Meals (2010) is a Channel 4 series of 40 episodes aired during
October–November. The programme focused on home-cooked meals that could be
put together within the titular timeframe, using simple, 'not cheffy' techniques, with
an emphasis on educating viewers about the cooking processes themselves.
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Jamie's Dream School (2011) is a Channel 4 series that looks at young people’s
educational problems and attempts to uncover whether they are down to personal
circumstance, society or the education system itself. It also examines how the new
teachers get on as they try to translate their real-life expertise into the realities of the
classroom.
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Jamie's Fish Supper (2011) was a one-hour special show in which Oliver cooked 10
fish recipes as a part of Big Fish Fight campaign.
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Jamie Cooks Summer (2011) was a one-hour special in which Oliver cooked summer
dishes in various outdoor locations.
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Jamie's Great Britain (2011) is a six-part series in which Oliver travels the length and
breadth of the country in search of new ideas and inspiration for recipes and to find out
what makes British food great.
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Jamie's 15-Minute Meals (2012) a follow-up to Oliver's book and television show 30minute meals.
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In June 2003, Oliver was awarded the
MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
A proponent of fresh organic foods,
Oliver was named the most influential
person in the UK hospitality industry
when he topped the inaugural
Caterersearch.com 100 in May 2005.
The list placed Oliver higher than Sir
Francis Mackay, the then-chairman of
the contract catering giant Compass
Group, which Oliver had soundly
criticised in Jamie's School Dinners. In
2006, Oliver dropped to second on the
list behind fellow celebrity chef Gordon
Ramsay. In July 2010, Jamie regained
the top spot and has been named as the
most powerful and influential person in
the UK hospitality industry once again.
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Oliver conceived and established the Fifteen charity restaurant, where he trained
fifteen disadvantaged young people to work in the hospitality industry. Following
the success of the original restaurant in London, more Fifteens have opened around
the globe: Fifteen Amsterdam opened in December 2004, Fifteen Cornwall in
Newquay in May 2006 and Fifteen Melbourne in September 2006 with Australian
friend and fellow chef Tobie Puttock.
Oliver then began a formal campaign to ban unhealthy food in British schools and to
get children eating nutritious food instead. Oliver's efforts to bring radical change to
the school meals system, chronicled in the series Jamie's School Dinners, challenged
the junk-food culture by showing schools they could serve healthy, cost-efficient
meals that kids enjoyed eating. Jamie's efforts brought the subject of school dinners
to the political forefront and changed the types of food served in schools. In 2012,
after supporting Scottish primary school blogger Martha Payne in her NeverSeconds
blog, Oliver attacked education secretary Michael Gove for failing to adhere to the
standards agreed to by the previous administration.
In December 2009, Oliver was awarded the 2010 TED Prize for his campaigns to
"create change on both the individual and governmental levels" in order to "bring
attention to the changes Englanders and now Americans need to make in their
lifestyles and diet."
In 2010, Oliver joined several other celebrity chefs on the series The Big Fish Fight,
in which Oliver and fellow chef Gordon Ramsay spend time on a trawler boat to
raise awareness about the discarding of hundreds of thousands of saltwater fish
because the fishermen are prohibited from keeping any fish other than the stated
target of the trawl. Oliver is a patron of environmental charity Trees for Cities.