Jamie Oliver: King of the Kitchen - The biography of the man who revolutionised the way Britain eats. Stafford Hildred
Jamie Oliver: King of the Kitchen - The biography of the man who revolutionised the way Britain eats
shoot was on their land. He loved hearing her talk about having to pluck 20 pheasants at the crack of dawn so she could get everything ready for all the “guns” and the “bush-beaters” at night. He was dead inquisitive, was young Jamie, and when I got home she reckoned she was worn out with answering his questions. But he used to come quite a lot after that and he was always full of life and laughter.’
Jamie’s parents originally come from Southend where he was born on 27 May 1975, which was also his father’s twenty-first birthday. He mischievously told one interviewer that he was actually conceived on the end of Southend Pier.
‘I said it for a joke and it ended up in print,’ said Jamie. ‘When it appeared, I had this telephone call from my mum saying, “Everyone will think I’m a slapper.” But I could hear my dad laughing in the background.’
His mum was born Sally Palmer and she used to work in a bank before she met his father and they joined forces in running pubs and restaurants as well as in marriage. The couple are still as devoted today as they were in their courting days.
Sally was first taken by the twinkle in Trevor’s eye and the ease of his warm sense of humour. Trevor was one of many men who took notice of Sally’s blonde good looks and attractive figure. But it was his ability to make her laugh that was the first main attraction.
The Olivers are well known among their friends for having the happiest marriage around. Trevor was delighted when he realised soon after they met that she shared his enthusiasm for building up a good business together. ‘Not everyone wants to work with their husband or wife all day every day,’ says Trevor. ‘Some people enjoy time apart but to Sally and me it has been like a bonus working together.’
Childhood friends are not at all surprised that the marriage has thrived. Trevor always wanted to build up a business and he often talked of one day running his own pub or restaurant. ‘He has always had this amazing drive and confidence in his own ability,’ says one friend from Southend. ‘He believes that anyone can achieve anything if they try hard enough at it. He has no time for whingers and shirkers and people who blame others for their lack of success. I knew he would make something of himself and, when he met and married Sally, I was even more sure. She is like a female version of him. She is very pretty and feminine but underneath she is a really strong, focused woman. And they have hardly changed since they were youngsters.’
Trevor and Sally Oliver’s famously long and happy relationship has influenced Jamie deeply. Even as a boy he noticed that his parents seemed to enjoy life and laugh a lot. ‘They were always really busy, but they always had time for each other and to have a laugh,’ says Jamie. ‘I suppose you couldn’t work that closely together without getting on well but it was more than that. My sister Anna-Marie and I were included in the laughter, and in the pub it always seemed like no one from outside could ever do anything to hurt our little world.’
The Cricketers was completely renovated from top to bottom by the Olivers. They bought the sleepy, shabby old pub when Jamie was still a baby. They knew it would be a long-term project but they could see the potential of the drab and frequently empty village pub in a time when a full range of pub food meant a selection of different-flavoured crisps in many establishments. And, to a huge extent, Jamie has learned from his father’s example.
Jamie’s father is very much his hero and the inspiration for at least some of his boundless self-confidence. ‘Dad taught me to believe that anything is possible,’ says Jamie simply.
‘My old man is a mega hero. He is quite definitely my living example of how to act and how to behave. If he says he will do something then “Boom”. It’s done. I am not as good as that, but I am learning all the time and maybe I am half as good as that.
‘My dad was the true gastro-pub inventor 25 years ago. The Cricketers has been chocker for more than half that time but when he arrived in Clavering the pub was disgusting. It was just a drinkers’ pub with the locals calling in for their pension’s worth of Guinness.’
Jamie’s earliest memories are of watching how hard his parents worked. He noted that some of his young friends had parents who arrived home at five o’clock and slumped in front of the television. Others did not stir from their armchairs all day. With typical indiscretion, Jamie would return home with all sorts of stories of all sorts of more indolent lifestyles. But his father would simply explain his firmly held view that if you want to get anything out of your life, then you have to put something in. Trevor Oliver did not criticise the work-shy of Clavering. The eternal tact of the natural ‘mine host’ taught him not to let the conversation veer towards the controversial. Instead, he preferred to get his message across by example.
The Cricketers certainly gave him plenty of scope for hard work as it was sadly run down when the family arrived. But Trevor and Sally Oliver could see the potential and they had a dream to restore the historic inn to something of its old splendour. And they knew they would never be able to do that on the few rounds of drinks the customers bought. They knew that the future was food and not the third-rate ‘soup in a basket’ style of fare that still predominated in the mid-70s in English pubs. The Olivers wanted to serve the finest meals for miles around.
Jamie grew up watching his parents’ dream come gradually and steadily true. ‘Dad put a menu together, and put a buffet out,’ says Jamie. ‘People would just walk in and walk past at first. But then one person would stop, then two, three, four started to pick up. When I was about six years old, there was a massive turning point. He got a top chef in from Southend and paid him more than he was paying himself and my mum until he got the pub’s reputation up to scratch. He started with 30 covers, moved on to 40 covers and it soon went up and up. After 20 years, he was serving the best pub food in Essex. When I look back, I am pretty proud and impressed by his timing. To me, Dad is the true guru of pub food.’
Trevor Oliver never believed in gimmicks or expensive advertising. He couldn’t afford it and he wanted to build up his business so it became its own best advertisement. Trevor loved to see a customer with a smile on his face. He knew he was a walking advert who would bring in new business. He believed that simple word of mouth could make or break any catering enterprise and he made an enormous effort to deliver good-value, good-quality food at all times. Any rare complaints were dealt with head on. Even when they were being particularly difficult, Trevor knew that the customer was always right. If anyone was not satisfied, they would be dealt with fairly and courteously and often won over with a dish that was more to their taste.
‘We never wanted anyone to leave The Cricketers unhappy,’ says Trevor. ‘I suppose it sounds obvious, but so many businesses seem to regard the customers as a bit of a nuisance. To me, they were the whole point of the exercise. They still are.’
It was like living a lesson in setting up and running your own restaurant and it was the one lesson that attracted young Jamie’s full attention. He reflected later how lucky he was to have such an upbringing. He witnessed first hand the ups and downs of running your own business. And Jamie always loved the social side of the job.
‘Most people are interesting and worth talking to if you approach them the right way,’ he says. ‘My dad was just brilliant at making people feel welcome. He made them feel as if they were valued guests in our home, which in a way I suppose they were. And it’s no surprise that many people who arrived as customers have turned into lifelong friends.’
As he grew up, Jamie gradually realised that one of his father’s great skills was to maintain the same cheery public front out in the pub, even if there was a crisis in the kitchen thanks to a sudden power cut or a chef not turning up for work on time.
Trevor and Sally were well aware that their improvements and changes to the village pub might not get the approval of everyone in Clavering, so they went out of their way to take on board as many of the views of the villagers as possible. There were a few old-fashioned drinkers who were fond of the original pub as a homely hovel, ideal for a quiet pint, but they were steadily won over by the tasteful nature of the alterations and the unfailingly warm welcome they received. And the pub gradually became a key employer in the village as many local youngsters did their first shifts of paid employment under the watchful eye of Trevor