Phil Vickery | |
---|---|
Born |
Philip Vickery 2 May 1961 (age 55) Folkestone, Kent, England, UK |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Celebrity Cook, B celeb television personality, food writer |
Years active | 1996–present |
Employer |
BBC (former) ITV (current) |
Known for |
Ready, Steady, Cook, This Morning |
Home town | Folkestone, Kent, England |
Spouse(s) | Fern Britton (m. 2000) |
Parent(s) | Teresa Vickery Robert Vickery |
Website | http://vickery.tv |
Philip Vickery (born 2 May 1961) is an English celebrity chef. He is best known for working on ITV's This Morning, where he has been the Chef since 2006.
Vickery followed Gary Rhodes as head chef of the Castle Hotel, Taunton, Somerset, which at the time held a Michelin Star. It lost its Michelin status under Vickery, but retained its 4 AA rosettes, while he gained the AA Chef of the Year. Vickery regained the Michelin star, re-awarded for four consecutive years from 1994–1997. Vickery has written twelve books. The first, "Just Food", was published by Headline in 1999. He appeared in BBC's Ready Steady Cook over 200 times between 1996 and 2010 until the show's retirement.
He currently appears on the television programme This Morning as a part of "This Morning Cook In!".
In September 2008, Vickery began advertising food products and promoting special offers for supermarket chain Aldi, after signing a two-year deal with the chain. He is also the current spokesperson for Unilever's Stork brand margarine. He was appointed Food Ambassador in March 2010 by Coeliac UK. He became interested in the subject of gluten-free food when a Christmas pudding company he owned switched to using rice flour, and he noticed an increase in orders due to the niche position the product occupied.
Parents Teresa Vickery and father Robert Vickery initially brought him and his brothers up in Folkestone which is where they were all born. They later moved to Densole in Hawkinge near Folkestone. He has two brothers of which he is the middle one. He is married to Fern Britton, has one daughter Winifred (2001) and is stepfather to Fern's three children from her first marriage.