Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White was born on 11 December 1961.
Marco Pierre White grew up in Leeds. He left school without any qualifications and took a job at the Hotel St George in Harrogate on £16 a week.
His mother, who was Italian, died when he was six.
He trained at Le Gavroche under Albert Roux. Although Albert Roux and Marco Pierre White were close - Roux was best man at White's second wedding to Lisa Butcher - they have since fallen out.
Marco Pierre White told The Telegraph:
"He looked me in the face and put the knife in my back."
Roux is not the only person close to him that Marco Pierre White has fallen out with. Examples include Gordon Ramsay, whom he employed at Harveys. They are not on speaking terms.
Marco Pierre White also fell out with Michael Caine over the running of The Canteen.
At 33, Marco Pierre White became the only British chef to win three Michelin stars and also the youngest person in the world to ever have done so.
However, in 2001, Marco Pierre White gave up cooking and handed back the three Michelin stars he had for Mirabelle. White wrote an interesting article in Waitrose magazine about the Michelin culture and the rise of the TV chef.
Marco Pierre White's restaurant interests include The Criterion, Mirabelle, L'Escargot and Quo Vadis.
In 2007 Marco Pierre White became the host of the ITV reality cookery series Hell's Kitchen.
Previous presenters were Gary Rhodes and Jean Christophe Novelli in 2006 and Gordon Ramsay fronted the first series in 2005.
The Observer Food magazine has an interesting characterisation of Marco Pierre White.
Marco Pierre White has been married three times. Firstly, in 1988, to surgeon's daughter Alex McCarthy.
Secondly and very briefly to Lisa Butcher.
Thirdly to Mati Conejero, who worked at The Canteen.
Marco Pierre White, together with James Steen, has written an autobiography White Slave, which is known as The Devil in the Kitchen in the USA.
Marco Pierre White has a special assistant, a Japanese chap called Ishi.