Jamie Oliver

Jamie Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author.

He is known for his Casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.

He was noticed there by the BBC in 1997, after making an unscripted appearance in a documentary about the restaurant, Christmas at the River Cafe.

Oliver reached the public eye when his series The Naked Chef premiered in 1999.

In 1999, his BBC show The Naked Chef debuted, and his cookbook became a bestseller in the United Kingdom.

That same year, Oliver was invited to prepare lunch for the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street.

After three series of Naked Chef programmes (The Naked Chef, Return of the Naked Chef & Happy Days with The Naked Chef) for the BBC, Oliver moved to Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, where his first series was a documentary, Jamie's Kitchen, which followed the setting up of Fifteen restaurant in London.

In June 2003, Oliver was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for "services to the hospitality industry".

Jamie Trevor Oliver was born and raised in Clavering, Essex.

His parents, Trevor and Sally Oliver, ran a pub/restaurant, the Cricketers, where he practised cooking in the kitchen with his parents.

He has one sibling, sister Anne-Marie, and he was educated at Newport Free Grammar School.

He left school at the age of 16 with two GCSE qualifications in art and geology and went on to attend Westminster Technical College (now Westminster Kingsway College).

He earned a City & Guilds National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in home economics.

Oliver's first job was a pastry chef at Antonio Carluccio's Neal Street restaurant, where he first gained experience at preparing Italian cuisine, and developed a relationship with his mentor Gennaro Contaldo; later in his career Oliver employed Contaldo to help run his collection of high street restaurants, Jamie's Italian.

Oliver moved to The River Café, Fulham, as a sous-chef.

In June 2003, Oliver was awarded an MBE for his services to the hospitality industry.

Although it is customary to wear morning dress or a lounge suit for the event, Oliver did not wear a tie with his brown Paul Smith suit, saying: "I like ties but I prefer not to wear one when I am nervous."

In 2005, he opened a campaign, Feed Me Better, to introduce schoolchildren to healthier foods, which was later backed by the government.

In 2005, Oliver initiated a campaign originally called "Feed Me Better" 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.

His public campaign 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.

His emphasis on cooking fresh, nutritious food 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.

He was the owner of a restaurant chain, Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, which opened its first restaurant, Jamie's Italian, in Oxford in 2008.

In June 2008, Oliver launched a restaurant, Jamie's Italian, his first high street business venture, in Oxford, England.

At its peak, there were 42 Jamie's Italian restaurants in the UK.

In December 2009, Oliver received the 2010 TED Prize.

In 2009, Oliver's chain of cooking school/delis, Recipease, opened in several locations in the UK including Brighton, Battersea, and Notting Hill in London.

His TED Talk won him the 2010 TED Prize.

Another television series is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (2010–11), 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, Jamie Oliver Holdings Ltd., earned enough for Oliver to have been listed on The Sunday Times list of richest Britons under 30.

Oliver was chosen by Disney Pixar to provide the voice of the health inspector in the UK version of Ratatouille.

He hosted Jamie's 15 Minute Meals on Channel 4, which aired for 40 episodes in 2012.

Oliver is the second-best-selling British author, behind J. K. Rowling, and the best-selling British non-fiction author since records began.

, Oliver has sold more than 14.55 million books, generating just under £180m for the chef.

The brand was franchised via the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group (JORG), and included branches in Australia (which Oliver part-bought back in November 2016 after its founders went bankrupt), Canada, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Qatar, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, the UAE and Singapore.

In January 2017, Chief Executive Simon Blagden announced the closure of six restaurants in the UK affecting 120 jobs, at sites in Aberdeen, Cheltenham, Exeter, Royal Tunbridge Wells, and in London at Ludgate and Richmond.

In January 2018, as part of an agreement with creditors to secure £71.5M of debt, JORG proposed to enter the UK company Jamie's Italian Ltd into a company voluntary arrangement, seeking rent reductions on eight outlets and closing a further 12 in Bath, Bristol, Bluewater, Chelmsford, Harrogate, Kingston, Milton Keynes, Reading, and St Albans, and Greenwich, Piccadilly and Threadneedle Street in London.

As part of the agreement, court papers revealed that Jamie's Italian had debts of £71.5m, including £2.2m in wages owed to staff; £30.2m of overdrafts and loans; £41.3m owed to landlords, HM Revenue and Customs, suppliers and other creditors; with £47m of the debts covered by loans from HSBC Bank and Oliver's other companies.

The chain went into administration in May 2019.

The restaurant, in Westland Place, London continued to train young adults who have a disadvantaged background for careers in the restaurant business until its closure on 21 May 2019.