‘I cooked for the Queen Mother aged 12’: James Martin on his Yorkshire childhood
TV Chef James Martin meets some of the locals and buys his ingredients while being filmed in Malton Market place. Pictured with Brad Barker from A. Barker & Son butchers. Picture Steven Bradshaw.for The Press
James Martin recalls cooking for royalty as a Yorkshire boy, reports MAXINE GORDON
NORTH YORKSHIRE celebrity chef James Martin is a living embodiment of the saying: "show me the boy at 7 and I'll show you the man".
Fans of the TV personality will have seen him front many cookery shows over the decades, but one piece of film is probably lurking in the family cupboard away from public view.
It is cine-footage of the seven-year-old James skateboarding around the dining room of his family home near Malton after Sunday lunch and being quizzed by his granddad about what he wanted to be when he grew up.
"I said I wanted to be head chef at 25, own my own restaurant by 30 and have a Ferrari by 35," said James. "I had the whole lot by 22."
Celebrity chef James Martin cooks a barbecue in the grounds of Broughton Hall.
The 54-year-old chef's success is well documented. Raised on the Castle Howard estate, where dad Ian was catering manager, the young James earned pocket money helping in the kitchens at Castle Howard, and cooked for the Queen Mother at the age of 12.
At catering college in Scarborough, he won the student of the year award three years running.
He was spotted by top chef Antony Worral Thompson, who brought him to London to work at his restaurants.
At 22, James opened his own restaurant at the Hotel and Bistro du Vin in Winchester, which quickly led to him appearing as a regular on the TV cook-against-the clock show, Ready, Steady, Cook.
Since then, the Yorkshireman has presented more cookery shows than most of us have had hot dinners.
Celebrity TV Chef James Martin launches the York Festival of Science and Technology at York University in 2006 with a presentation on 'Health, Wellbeing and Cuisine'. Picture David Harrison..
Famously, he fronted BBC flagship show Saturday Kitchen from 2006 until 2016, before switching to rival ITV for James Martin's Saturday Morning, still going strong today.
Shorter series such as James Martin's Food Map of Britain and Operation Hospital Food where he was tasked with revamping the menu and catering facilities at Scarborough General Hospital have kept him on our screens almost constantly.
And he's also taken a twirl under the glitterball, competing in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing, where he finished fourth.
James Martin and his dance partner Camilla Dallerup performing during Strictly Come Dancing in 2005
I have interviewed him several times over the years, and he has spoken about the people who inspired him to make a career from his kitchen skills.
Big credit goes to his grandma for instilling in him the cookery bug.
He recalled seeing her with a pastry bowl rubbing butter into flour as she watched Coronation Street.
Other inspiring figures from James's life included his former cookery teacher, Mrs Baxter, from his secondary school in Malton.
James has dyslexia and struggled at school. He said: "If I failed at spelling or maths, I just told myself I didn't need to know it, I just wanted to do cooking. I even failed cookery at school. But it was crap; I had to write the genetic components of eggs."
James Martin over the years in York
He was at catering school with another leading North Yorkshire cook, Andrew Pern, of the Michelin-starred Star Inn at Harome.
James said their old college catering tutor Ken Allinson "was an inspiration to both of us - a defining guy in both of our careers".
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He has also spoken about wanting to open his own restaurant in Yorkshire.
A first bite at that came in 2011 when he opened his restaurant, The Leeds Kitchen, inside the Alea Casino in Leeds in 2011.
In 2012, he opened a restaurant inside the Talbot Hotel, Malton.
Chef James Martin outside the Talbot Hotel in Malton..Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross for The Press
The restaurant quickly gained an entry into the Michelin guide won a rave review by food critic Jay Rayner for The Observer. He left The Talbot in February 2015.
In 2016, James received an honorary degree from York St John University during a graduation ceremony held at York Minster.
AWARD: Chef James Martin inside York Minster before being awarded his honorary degree. Picture: Anna Gowthorpe
Over the years, he has spoken openly about his health struggles, including a cancer diagnosis and dealing with dyslexia.
He received a facial cancer diagnosis in 2017 and went through surgical treatment for it in 2018.
He carried on with medical care after the surgery and revealed he had been given the all-clear in April 2024.