Delia Smith's Biography

Who is Delia Smith?

She left school at 16 and had stints at a variety of jobs including trainee hairdresser, shop assistant, travel agent, and washing up in a restaurant.

In 1969 Delia Smith started writing for The Daily Mirror Magazine, whose deputy editor, Michael Wynn Jones she ended up marrying.

Delia Smith wrote for London's evening paper, The Standard from 1972 to 1985. She was also a columnist with The Radio Times. She has released a host of books from 1973 onwards. Her first book was How To Cheat At Cooking.

Her books have sold over 10 million copies and a committed Catholic she has written books such as A Feast for Advent and A Feast For Lent, both published in 1983.

Many of Delia Smith's recipes and television shows have avoided the complicated and focussed on good basic cooking. Her television series for BBC followed a similar theme. Shows and books including her Cookery Course, Delia Smith's Summer Collection, Delia Smith's Winter Collection and in 1998, her How to Cook relied on simple ingredients and basic cookery techniques.

Reportedly Delia's How to Cook led to a 10% increase in egg sales!

Delia Smith is also famous for her love of the Canaries. She is a director of Norwich City FC.

In the 2004/5 season Delia Smith attracted attention when at half time in the Norwich City v. Manchester City game she took the microphone and urged the crowd to "let's be having you", telling the Norwich supporters they were the team's 12th man which was just as well as Norwich had a man sent off in the second half!

In December 2004, Delia announced that she was quitting her television cookery shows "while the going is good". She told chat show host, Jonathan Ross:

"Now people want to be entertained, whereas I was trying to teach how to cook, that's where it's different."

In 2008, Delia Smith published Delia's How To Cheat At Cooking, her first book in four years.

In February 2008, around the publication of Delia's How To Cheat At Cooking, Delia Smith told The Times:

"We must try to find a way of educating people if they don't have the money on how to give their children the protein they need. We can't just say, 'buy organic', when people can't afford it. We have got to be able to give people alternatives. There is enough means to feed the planet but two thirds of the world lives below the poverty line."

In June 2009, Delia Smith, already an OBE, was appointed a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours.