Cooking programmes have always been part of British television heritage. Although back in the beginnings, there were no such luxuries like, microwaves, fan assisted ovens and wine cooler (Weinkühlschränke). All of the hard work cooking bread was done by hand and all of the ingredients were usually bought fresh as there were no fridges back then.
One of the first cooks on our television screens was Fanny Cradock and she was brilliant, she was short tempered and snobbish. She was forced into apologising to a rival TV cook for insulting them. During the war it was Fanny Cradock who gave out vital tips on how to make food rations go further. Giving out recipes, and was praised by the Queen Mother for being hugely influential for the improvement in food standards during and since the war. Fanny Cradock was an absolute hit with the people in Britain and her TV career was at the top. Unfortunately in her private life things were a little different. She was married four times in total, her first marriage was to an RAF pilot in 1926, the marriage was cut tragically short when he was involved in an air craft and died after only a few days of married life. Fanny was pregnant at the time of the accident, and a year after giving birth to her first son, she married again. This time she had a son called Christopher but when he was four months old she left her husband and son and fled to the bright lights of London.
In 1939 and still legally married to Arthur, Fanny married for a third time but this marriage was only to last eight weeks. She then met Johnnie Cradock, who was still married with four children at the time of meeting. Johnnie Cradock left his wife and four children, and never contacted them again. In 1977 Fanny and Johnnie finally married after the collapse of Fanny’s career in television. An exciting life and one which was in the spot light. Little has changed today, and television chefs are now known as celebrity chefs. The likes of Gordon Ramsey making the headlines recently for supposed extra marital affairs. Gordon is possibly one of the most famous chefs, he hosts various television cookery programmes, the F-word, Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares US and UK and he has also starred in hells kitchen.
Other television programmes which entice the public to enter are programmes such as Come Dine with Me, where four strangers cook for each other, and compete for a prize pot of £1,000. People don the aprons and get the wine cooler (Weintemperierschrank) out, to impress the guests and gain the most points. Celebrities also appear in this show and the likes of Peter Stringfellow, Linda Barker and Lee Ryan have also competed for the £1,000 prize pot, their share of which goes to the charity of their choice.