Young
Young
order pay mortgage
I've become a professional failure - in order to pay the mortgage I have to remain unemployed. Luckily, a disaster always seems to befall me at exactly the right moment.
father people parent
I've never been to a shrink. But my parents were very psychologically literate - my father had undergone Freudian analysis - and we often talked about other people in psychological terms, so I picked up a lot of that.
writing waiting pieces
I was once hired to write a column for 'The Guardian' and then got fired before I'd submitted my first one. That was unusual. Most newspapers wait until I've written at least one piece for them before firing me.
missing chef
I miss being fawned over by restaurateurs and chefs.
thinking america people
America thinks of itself as a meritocracy, so people have more respect for success and more contempt for failure.
school curriculum reason-why
There's no reason why you can't deliver a grammar-school curriculum to an all-ability intake.
successful careers tiny
The moment I'm perceived to be even a tiny bit successful, my career will go down the pan.
ambition cat eye
My life's ambition is to play a James Bond villain. I have the cat and the eye-patch, so I'm just waiting for the call. For some reason, though, the phone hasn't rung.
home differences america
It's very different doing a food show in America and doing one in Britain. I did a 20-part series for the BBC series called 'Eating With the Enemy.' The budget for all 20 episodes was probably the budget for a single episode of 'Top Chef.' It's the difference between making a home movie in your backyard and going to Hollywood.
acceptance thinking long
I think I've been wishing for celebrity for so long that I've got used to being someone who's petitioning the establishment for acceptance... my whole schtick, my whole identity, is so wrapped up in being a petitioner that I don't really know how to react now that petition has been granted.
father troubled-relationship down-and
Oddly, I do have a problem with authority. I find it very difficult to knuckle down and follow rules. Which are the classic symptoms of someone who has a troubled relationship with their father. And yet, I never had a problem with my father.
aptitude academic-work mechanic
I tried being a mechanic and I tried catering, but I realized I had even less aptitude for semi-skilled labour than for academic work.
writing years political
I expect that in 40 years' time I'll be writing political tomes and working for an organisation like Oxfam.
thinking people three
People in London think of London as the center of the world, whereas New Yorkers think the world ends three miles outside of Manhattan.