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Jamie Oliver’s Supported Charities
For Chef Jamie Oliver to join The Sunday Times the Giving List of charitable donors at number 22 this year, he must have had such a generous heart, much more than what his pocket could offer. Even though Oliver faced difficulties during the credit crunch he remains faithful to his charity work and his purpose to help people in UK and all over the world.
Chef Oliver has been supporting causes on Abuse, Addiction, Animals, At-Risk/Disadvantaged Youths, Children, Disaster Relief, Economic/Business Support, Education, Environment, Homelessness, Human Rights, Hunger, Miscellaneous, and Poverty, through certain charitable organizations he has adjoined with. These are some of the charity works he has supported in the recent years according to Look To The Stars.
• CAFOD or the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development is the official relief agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales whose mission is to promote human development and social justice in witness to Christian faith and Gospel values.
• Comic Relief uses comedy to help raise awareness and funds for those in need. The UK Comic Relief is committed to helping end poverty and social injustice in the UK and around the world. Oliver has taken part in Comic Relief by making exclusive books including, Jamie’s Little Book of Big Secrets in 2007 and Jamie’s Red Nose Recipes in 2009.
• Prince’s Trust Offers support by training, mentoring and financial assistance to help disadvantaged young people achieve their potential. More than half a million people have been helped so far. While campaigning for Jamie’s School Dinners, Oliver offered the use of his very own gingerbread recipe to become part of Prince Charles’ Duchy Originals range of foods, the profits from which go directly to the Prince’s Trust charity.
• Rays of Sunshine was set up to make wishes come true for terminally and seriously ill children between the ages of 3-18 in the United Kingdom, as well as to buy vitally needed equipment for those children, and to support the hospitals, hospices and specialist schools that care for them, by purchasing equipment and funding capital projects.
• RSPCA or The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, established in 1824, works towards a world in which all humans respect and live in harmony with all other members of the animal kingdom. RSPCA
• Fifteen Foundation, founded by Jamie Oliver himself, exists to inspire disadvantaged young people – homeless, unemployed, overcoming drug or alcohol problems – to believe that they can create for themselves great careers in the restaurant industry. Disadvantaged youths are shown the trade in the Foundation’s restaurants located in London, Amsterdam, Melbourne and western England.
• The Jamie Oliver Foundation is a registered charity whose mission is to raise awareness of the importance of nutritious food and cooking and their impact on the lives of everyone, especially children and other vulnerable groups. It does this through assistance in education, training and employment.
According to The Sunday Times Giving List released in April, Oliver has given donations amounting to £2.7 million, which equates to 4.2% of his wealth. Although, Oliver has earned enough to enter The Sunday Times Rich List, he has also admitted that he had borrowed money from his family when banks refused to give him a business loan.
For all his undertakings are worth, Oliver’s mission to campaign for healthy living has paid its way as Oliver wins this year’s TED Prize, an award given every year to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and One Wish to Change the World. Here is Oliver’s winning wish:
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” – Jamie Oliver.
His simple desire to change the people’s way of cooking and eating may not be grand as rocket scientists are concerned but looking at his charitable life, he certainly deserves to have this one wish granted, if not for him, at least for the people he has touched the lives of as well as to those who will need his help in the future.
Resources:
http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/268-jamie-oliver
http://www.tedprize.org/jamie-oliver/
News Flash!
Jamie Oliver and Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution have won an Emmy award for Outstanding Reality Program.
Congrats All!
Winner 2010
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution ABC
Ryan Seacrest Productions and Fresh One Productions
Jamie Oliver, Executive Producer; Ryan Seacrest, Executive Producer; Craig Armstrong, Executive Producer; Adam Sher, Executive Producer; Roy Ackerman, Executive Producer; Charles Wachter, Co-Executive Producer; Zoe Collins, Co-Executive Producer; Jason Henry, Co-Executive Producer; Anthony Carbone, Supervising Producer; Joe Coleman, Supervising Producer
When Jamie Oliver’s Not Cooking
Through his simple home-style cooking, Jamie Oliver was known as the Naked Chef and until now, it seems like no one can surpass what he has achieved so far.
But what does our pukka tukka chef do when he’s not cooking in his kitchen? Well, Oliver is still young and seems to have a happy life despite having a hectic schedule. His responsibilities may be uncountable when it comes to his businesses, restaurants, and his production company, but he has remained grounded and connected to his family, friends, and fans. One of the things he does when he’s not cooking is updating his sites as well as his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
If you check his website, you can see that he tries his very best to communicate to his fans. He regularly updates his blog, forum posts, and shares his most recent activities. He makes an effort to be transparent through blogging and tweeting yet still preserve his family’s privacy. Nevertheless, fans love him for that and for who he is and supports him in all his endeavors even if it’s not about his cooking anymore.
One of Oliver’s activities outside the kitchen would be gardening. In his Essex home, he has a garden full of fresh and organic vegetables and plants from which he gets his ingredients for his home-style cooking. He has shared his garden many times in some of his TV shows and also introduced his faithful gardener. As the Naked Chef, Oliver strives to remain consistent to his cooking principles that even he’s got all the money to buy ingredients from the market or get them free at Sainsbury’s, he keeps his own garden to show the people how convenient and healthy it is to use fresh ingredients when cooking.
Because of his health-inspired interests and hobbies, Oliver has led us to a Food Revolution, which is inspired by his other advocacies and charity works. He’s been involved with several charitable groups and even founded his own organization. His Fifteen Restaurants are the products of his Fifteen Foundation which helps less fortunate youth become successful in the food industry. Other charity works Oliver has supported include CAFOD, Comic Relief, Prince’s Trust, Rays of Sunshine, and RSPCA. So when he’s not at home or at his kitchen, he must be doing some charity work or he’s on a campaign for his Food Revolution.
Above all, I can probably say that Jamie Oliver’s most favorite past time when he’s not cooking is when he’s home during the weekends when he can play with his children and enjoy his fatherhood. According to his blog posts, because of his very busy schedule he always tries to take the weekend off with his family and on to their Essex home so they can still spend time at least once or twice a week.
Jamie Oliver’s Music
Jamie Oliver during his teenage years must have been just like any other lad. He likes music. Well, maybe not just that, it may have been his second favorite next to cooking. We’ve heard him sing and play drums for his TV shows with his band Scarlet Division that we can perfectly say that Jamie Oliver is indeed one talented chef.
Oliver along with his friend Leigh Haggerwood formed the band Scarlet Division at the age of 13 in 1989 and since then Oliver has been on the drums, Leigh on keyboards, Louise Brannan on vocals, and Andy Baker on guitars. The height of Jamie’s music career must have been the 90’s where they’ve played many gigs throughout UK until he got discovered by Patricia Llewellyn, the TV producer that led him to the success of his first love, cooking. The band performed in one episode and soon after, Sony Music signed them a contract. Though their song Sundial reached a 42 spot on the charts, it wasn’t enough to stay on the music business for Oliver so he was advised to quit the band and so did the other members.
But if you’ve watched all of Oliver’s shows, perhaps you can remember the Oliver’s Twist theme song, “Just the Start” which was written by Leigh Haggerwood that eventually gave way for the band to get back together and play some more music. The song is said to be one of the most requested theme tunes of all time. Another song written by Haggerwood that was also used in one of Oliver’s Twist episodes is “The Kiss of Summer” which has never been released and only available for download.
During his live shows in one of his tours, the Happy Days Tour Live, you must have heard him sing the Lamb Curry song entitled, “Lamb Curry – Give it to me hot!” which became a YouTube hit too. But if you prefer white meat, you would have probably enjoyed the song Oliver sang during his live shows in Sydney, Melbourne, and Germany, “Fish Stew” which was featured in his TV show Jamie Oliver: Australian Diary where he easily taught viewers and listeners how to cook fish stew with just a simple song that was very easy to remember. These songs may sound funny at first or unimaginable but Oliver was able to showcase his talents by cooking and making music at the same time.
Now, that Oliver’s not just a TV personality, the band continues to play but not on gigs anymore. Nevertheless, we can expect to hear some more music from Jamie Oliver’s band when he has new shows.
Jamie Oliver and His Pukka Wheels
Chef Jamie Oliver’s taste for old cars matches his tang for good, old, home style dishes. From a Ford Fiesta 950 to a first generation Ford Bronco, our Pukka Chef certainly has good taste not only with food – but with his wheels as well.
Jamie Oliver started off young in the kitchen by working at his parents’ pub, the Cricketers, in Clavering, Essex. Just by helping peel vegetables at the age of 8 and until he became a demon chopper by 11, Oliver has known he was made to become a chef, though he never knew then how greatly his cooking skills can grant him what most men love more – Cars.
After working at the Cricketers, Oliver was able to buy his first car, a Ford Fiesta 950. At the time, Oliver thought that “the Fiesta was a wicked little car.” Taking into account the money he had then, it was all he could afford. So to pimp it, he whacked on a set of Golf GTI alloy wheels, a massive stereo, and a Fiesta XR2 body kit to it but having that tiny 950cc engine, he himself wasn’t in awe.
But along with those wheels, he went through to get his formal training at Westminster Catering College until he headed France. When he returned to London, he worked as head pastry chef at Antonio Carluccio’s Neal Street Restaurant. Money may have been sweeter so after the Fiesta, he got a Peugeot 205 at £950 that also needed some Oliver GTI makeover, complete with spoilers and skirts. Then came a Renault Clio 1.4.
When he left his job at Antonio Carluccio’s Restaurant, Oliver got to work at the River Café located in West London for three years. This was the place where he got his big break he himself never imagined to happen. Through the documentary about the River Café, a Pukka Chef Jamie Oliver was known and his TV career has taken off as the Naked Chef and is still in full blast after more than a decade in the business.
But before those Maserati, Mercedes, and the Volkswagen, the first auto he got from his successful TV career was a Vauxhall Frontera. Though it wasn’t the meatiest of all four-wheel drives, as Oliver said, he thought it looked good and was very dependable.
Oliver has had several cars in his garage since then from scooters to campervans and has already sold some of his vehicles for charity’s sake. Some of the classic autos that have been in Oliver’s car pool in 2006, include the famous Volkswagen camper van he used in his Italian Escape, the 1964 Ford Mustang present for his wife Jools, a Volkswagen Golf 1.8 which replaced his Porsche Cayenne, and a Mercedes SLK AMG which replaced his 4.2 Miserati. He sold his Aprilia scooter for his Fifteen Charity which made about £7,600. Recently, he’s seen in his Food Revolution Campaign driving a classic Ford Bronco. This one is said to have been a first generation Bronco which means it’s more than 30 years old already.
Oliver & Ramsay – Equally matched?
When it comes to Ramsay’s cooking, well, he truly deserves some respect there because of the Michelin stars he has already earned and the training he had with the some of the best chefs worldwide including White. On the other hand Oliver, as we all know, still hasn’t received any Michelin star yet to date. However, what sets Oliver apart from chefs like Ramsay and his teacher Marco Pierre-White, is his sincere simplicity and charm.
So, even though he doesn’t have those Michelin stars yet, he’s making money and what we mean by money is that – he’s also topped the Rich List just as the Michelin star awardee Ramsay had. Note that their wealth and fortune have also taken part in their rivalry. In 2006, Ramsay topped the Chef Rich List, with his fortune of £67 million while Oliver next to him had £58 million. However, according to The Sunday Times Rich List released earlier this year, Jamie Oliver remains in the top 2000 ranking at 1,348th while Ramsay drops out of the list. If the list was right, then when it comes to fortune, charming Oliver seems to have the upper hand over Ramsay.
Moving on, let’s talk about giving and taking part in charitable events organizations. Both chefs support CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development. However, Oliver has his own campaigns and in he’s even on the Giving List of charitable donors at No 22. According to the list, Oliver gave out donations worth £2.7, which is equivalent to 4.2% of his wealth. It seems like Jamie Oliver is more generous than Gordon Ramsay and well, a better restaurateur. Lately, some of Ramsay’s restaurants closed down, while Oliver continues to expand his business in the face of credit crunch.
Education for some say is the key to some people’s success. But for these chefs training and skills are more helpful than that. Ramsay started as football player when he was 9 but because of an injury he went back to college to complete a course in hotel management. While Oliver, being dyslexic, at 16 he enrolled in a cooking school program at Westminster-Kingsway College instead of pursuing an academic course. So if we look closely of their education and today’s success, how is it possible that a college graduate of hotel management failed to keep some of his restaurants working while Oliver who did not go through that kind of training was able to make it with his businesses even at the toughest times? Somebody has to start checking his notes.
Now, let’s talk about family. Oliver grew up in a middle-class family, with his parents having their own pub in Essex while Ramsay on the other hand, had a quite difficult childhood especially with his parents who were then an alcoholic father with multiple jobs and an abused mother. Oliver who seems to have experienced a nice childhood made him who he is now, a charming, cheeky choppy and fun-loving chef who has a big heart and hands that are always ready to help. With regards to Ramsay, we cannot blame him for having such a dreadful stage in life which would seem to be like hell for anyone of us. Coming out of that appalling scene and garnering success afterwards are something that we could admire Ramsay for. But, I guess that stage in his life has to do with his unstoppable swearing in his shows. As we know, family molds a person’s character. Oliver was molded with love and understanding, while Ramsay, who had to run away from home, was somehow molded with violence and frustration which explains why they are loved and hated by people now.
Equally matched or not, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay would have to continue their rivalry until one of them admits who’s who and who’s not especially now that Ramsay has told his plans to open a restaurant in London’s financial district in the One New Change development where Oliver has also announced plans to open a barbecue eatery in late October and is teaming up with New York chef Adam Perry-Lang. We’ll just have to see whose restaurant will make it at the heart of London.
The Jamie Oliver – Gordon Ramsay Rivalry
When Jamie Oliver burst into our TV screens in 1999, he caught us with his innovative cooking methods and his pukka tukka talk. On the downside of that, he also made some rivals because of the sudden fame and fortune he obtained from the shows. And one of the biggest chefs who have always been critical of Oliver is Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon Ramsay had worked for Marco Pierre White before, who was also in feud with Oliver regarding Oliver’s campaign on School Dinners. However, for Gordon Ramsay, it’s not just the banning of junk food that bothers him – it’s a lot more than just that. Ever since Oliver began cooking on TV, Ramsay has been Oliver’s greatest rival. And just recently, the feud between the two famous chefs was revived. For the longest time, Ramsay has been critical of Oliver’s cooking while Oliver dislikes Ramsay’s swearing. Here are some of the most recent blasts from their feud.
In June 2009, Scottish Ramsay made some disparaging comments about the physical appearance of Australian TV personality Tracey Grimshaw at a food and wine expo whereas according to reports, he compared her to a pig and suggested that the host was a lesbian. That was even amplified when Australian Prime Minister said that Ramsay’s foul mouth reflects a form of low-life. And outspoken Oliver gave his remarks regarding the issue in the Sun, saying that “Aussies aren’t forgiving. Once you’re gone, you’re gone… It’s never good to criticise a woman, especially when they’re loved by their country and you do it on national television.”
August 2009, just a month or so later, Ramsay shot back at Oliver with a new nickname through Showbiz Spy. He told them that “Jamie’s a one-pot wonder…. Everything kind of gets mixed in — hands in. It’s a very different style to me. He sticks it in the oven, comes back three hours later and it’s done.”
Last March, Ramsay told TMZ that the last time he complained about the food at a restaurant was at “Jamie Oliver’s Restaurant.”
In May, after a couple of months, via the Mirror, Oliver said that if he were to choose between Gordon Ramsay’s cookbook or Tana Ramsay’s, it would be Tana’s every time. Adding that, “In my opinion, her books are a damn sight better than his.” Well, that’s definitely another chapter for these two.
However if we look at it, the two chefs started their TV career at almost the same time. Oliver with BBC UK while Ramsay with Channel 4. In the beginning of Ramsay’s career, he had several appearances on different TV shows, while Oliver has already his own show as the Naked Chef. It was only in 2004 that Ramsay has starred in his own show, one in Channel 4, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and another in ITV, Hell’s Kitchen. By that time, Oliver has already transferred to Channel 4 and was already shooting for Jamie’s School Dinners under his own production company.
Now, Oliver remains on top of his businesses while Ramsay has had several falls recently that some people think of him as sour grape over Oliver’s unstoppable success both in business and TV. In order to really understand this Oliver-Ramsay rivalry, let’s dig deeper on what people always talk about – their extreme characters yet equally matched skills and fame.
Jamie Oliver has been the public face of Sainsburys for a decade now, appearing on television commercials and radio advertisements, as well as in-store promo materials. And their working relationship has always been a topic to many commentaries from admirers and haters alike. And I think this started because of the controversial Sainsburys deal that earns Jamie Oliver an estimated £1.2 million every year. And that according to news and some sources, the first two years of Jamie Olivers Sainsbury’s advertisements are estimated to have given the supermarket an additional £1 billion of sales or £200 million gross profit.
Naked Chef Jamie Oliver vs. Former Two Fat Ladies Star Dickson-Wright
When the Sainsburys endorsement began, Jamie Oliver has faced controversies already by getting shamed by fellow celebrity chef, Clarissa Dickson Wright into admitting his dislike for supermarket produce, according to The Times. Former Two Fat Ladies star Dickson Wright, attacked Oliver at the launch of BBC2′s autumn schedule. Oliver admitted he did not use Sainsburys food at his restaurant Monte, in Knightsbridge, London. He even said that “For any chef, supermarkets are like a factory. I buy from specialist growers, organic suppliers and farmers.”
A similar instance occurred in 2003, when Dickson-Wright also called Oliver a “whore” for endorsing Sainsbury’s Scottish farmed salmon and accused him of “selling his soul” to the company.
BBC and Sainsburys Don’t Match
The Sainsburys advertisements also got in the way with BBC and Oliver in 2002 where BBC broke off the deal with the Naked Chef star regarding a new show he had tried to negotiate, Oliver’s Army, which would have seen him train a number of unemployed young people in a London restaurant.
BBC said in a statement that the deal with Oliver was not reached. BBC producer guidelines disapprove of on-screen personalities becoming too closely involved with commercial tie-ins such as advertising deals. And at that time, Oliver’s mother, father and grandmother had joined him and his wife Jules in the advertisements. A statement from the BBC said: “The BBC has today withdrawn from negotiations for a new series with Jamie Oliver, after being unable to agree terms.
Nevertheless, BBC and Jamie Oliver have maintained a good relationship after that.
Jamie Oliver in the News
Jamie Oliver has been in a number of controversies and intrigues ever since he started his career as a celebrity chef. And now that he’s one of the most famous Chef worldwide, we can find bits of news and gossip about him almost every day. Here are just some of the news stories and gossip about Jamie Oliver that caught my attention.
Jamie Oliver ranks 28th in a poll of 100 Worst Britons
In 2003, Channel 4 conducted an online poll to find out the 100 Worst Britons We Love To Hate where Jamie Oliver joins in rank 28. The poll was like a response to the BBC series 100 Greatest Britons. The nominees for this poll according to the rules had to be British, alive, and not currently in prison or pending trial. However, an adequate number of respondents ignored the rules that a fictional character, Harry Potter and a rock band, Atomic Kitten join the list.
Anyway, as for Jamie Oliver who ranked 28th in the poll, there should be no wonder how a cheeky-choppy chef like him should be in the poll. He’s been loved and hated ever since he started in this business and as much as his fans would like to defend him, the reality remains true that we cannot please everybody. However, I think the poll should have been given some serious efforts to prevent people from voting multiple times. Who knows, some people could have taken things like that personally. Whatever made Jamie Oliver in the top 28th rank, the results surely have made him even more popular.
Jamie Oliver “Bares All” in 2004 Calendar
In November 2003, there had been an internet gossip regarding a photograph claiming to show the cover of a new Jamie Oliver calendar for 2004 because, in the words of Sun columnist Ian King, “people thought the Naked Chef was showing off a whopping French stick between his legs.”
The photo appeared in the online catalog of Boots, a UK health and beauty retailer which its spokesman reportedly said that the photo “did look rather obscene.” According to The Sun, the offending object was simply a brown paper bag distorted by digital rendering.
This is one scandal I can say that is made by those who must have hated him big time at that time or just someone who is fond of bringing some foolishness on other people’s lives. Anyway, at least Jamie’s team or Boot’s were able to cover up the terrible photo. I’ve seen the photo and I could quite agree that “it was rather obscene” for the pose making it easier for digital editing create the hoax on it.
2010
Jamie Oliver started 2010 by winning the $100,000 TED Prize for his impassioned plea for America and the world to embrace a healthy food movement and starting a Food Revolution in Huntington, West Virginia against obesity. The Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution based on the show he produced with Ryan Seacrest has more than 600,000 supporters now and with a bit of luck could be another success for Jamie Oliver’s show and his campaign. He also got a show Jamie Does… this year.
Oliver’s iPhone application, 20 Minute Meal, received an Apple Design Awards 2010 for best iPhone App at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
This year Jamie Oliver’s personal wealth of £65million ($99 million) placed him among Britain’s 1000 wealthiest individuals in the Times Rich List. At the same time he was also recognized as one of the country’s greatest givers at number 22 in the Times Giving List by giving away to charity £2.7million, equivalently 4.2 percent of his wealth. Well, that is just a great way to start a new decade for Jamie Oliver.
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