I heard David Pritchard talking about this book on the radio and it sounded like a must read.
It is. It's a very funny book charting the rise and rise of TV chefs as the new rock and roll stars starting when Keith Floyd came to our screens and started doing cookery programmes for men.
There is no doubt Pritchard created the springboard for the TV formats and celebrity chefs of today, and the book is a laugh a page about how he created those early Floyd and Stein shows. Taking cookery out of the kitchen onto location and beyond the appeal of just housewife TV to an audience who wanted to relax with a glass of wine and not worry about the exact measurements of the ingredients- but just cook!
Pritchard relates how the shows were planned, filmed and received in the era before compliance, Health and Safety, bureaucracy and audience ratings. Stories of only one camera being used, tiny regional TV budgets, the volatile relationship between Floyd and Pritchard from start to finish (including a recent reconciliation), and the latter's reminiscences of the shocking British foods of the 60's and 70's, and how European food was, and still is, his inspiration.
So why 4 stars? Because it's a light, funny and engrossing read, but the book jacket ...it's just so awful!