Marco Pierre White

Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the enfant terrible of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. He has trained notable chefs such as Mario Batali, Heston Blumenthal, Shannon Bennett, Gordon Ramsay and Curtis Stone. 

Marco Pierre White was born in Leeds on 11 December 1961, the third of four sons born to Maria-Rosa Gallina, an Italian immigrant from Veneto, and Frank White, a chef. He left Allerton High School in Leeds without any qualifications and decided to train as a chef like his father. White first trained at Hotel St George in Harrogate and then at the Box Tree in Ilkley. In 1981, he went to London with "£7.36, a box of books, and a bag of clothes", and began his classical training as a commis with Albert and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche. 

He continued his training under Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire, moving to work in the kitchen of Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir, and later with Nico Ladenis of Chez Nico at Ninety Park Lane. He then branched out on his own, working in the kitchen at the Six Bells public house in the Kings Road with assistant Mario Batali. In 1987, White opened Harveys in Wandsworth Common, London, where he won his first Michelin star almost immediately, and his second a year later. 

He also won the Newcomer Award at the 1987 The Catey Awards, run by The Caterer magazine. White's notable protégés who worked at Harveys include Gordon Ramsay, Phil Howard, Stephen Terry, and Éric Chavot. He later became chef-patron of The Restaurant Marco Pierre White in the dining room at the former Hyde Park Hotel, where he won the third Michelin star, and then moved to the Oak Room at the Le Méridien Piccadilly Hotel.

In 1995, at the age of 33, White became the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars and the youngest chef to achieve three stars to that point. His record was superseded by Massimiliano Alajmo in 2002, who achieved three stars at the age of 28. Although White worked for seventeen years to pursue his ambition, he ultimately found that, in spite of his accomplishments, recognition and fame, his career did not provide him with adequate returns in his personal life. 

So, in 1999, he retired and returned his Michelin stars. I was being judged by people who had less knowledge than me, so what was it truly worth? I gave Michelin inspectors too much respect, and I belittled myself. I had three options: I could be a prisoner of my world and continue to work six days a week, I could live a lie and charge high prices and not be behind the stove or I could give my stars back, spend time with my children and re-invent myself.