Quick Info
| Profession | Cook and television presenter |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Date of Birth | 18/06/1941 |
| Age | 85 years |
| Birthplace | Woking, Surrey, England |
| Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
Latest News about Delia Smith
22/10/2026
Smith published a new book titled Us: Nine Ingredients to Change Our World with Canongate, a departure from cookery into essays on community and climate with a foreword by Brian Eno. The release followed her first public reflections on life without her husband.
28/09/2026
Her husband Michael Wynn-Jones, a former joint majority shareholder and honorary life president of Norwich City Football Club, died at home aged 85. The club described him as greatly missed and thanked the community nursing team at St Elizabeth Hospice for their care. The couple had been married for 55 years.
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Bio/Wiki
| Summary | English cook and television presenter known for teaching basic cookery in a direct, accessible style. She became one of Britain's best-known celebrity chefs and is widely regarded as having encouraged viewers to cook more adventurously. |
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| Honours | Companion of Honour (CH) and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) |
Educational Qualification(s)
| Formal qualifications | Left school at 16 without formal qualifications |
|---|---|
| Cookery training | Learned largely through hands-on kitchen work and self-study of English cookery books |
Personal Life
| Faith | Anglican |
|---|---|
| Residence history | Grew up in Surrey and spent early years in Kent |
Relationships & More
| Spouse | Michael Wynn-Jones (married 1971; died 28/09/2026) |
|---|
Career
| Early work | Worked as a hairdresser, shop assistant and travel agency employee before entering cooking |
|---|---|
| Restaurant start | Began at The Singing Chef restaurant in Paddington, London, starting as a dishwasher and later moving into the kitchen |
| Print journalism | Became a cookery writer for the Daily Mirror in 1969 and wrote for the Evening Standard from 1972 |
| Television | Resident cook on BBC East's Look East; hosted Family Fare (1973-1975); guest on Multicoloured Swap Shop; presented Delia Smith's Cookery Course and Delia's How to Cook (1998) |
| Retirement from TV cooking | Announced retirement from television cookery in early 2003 while continuing to publish cookery books |
| Business interests | Joint majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club with her husband Michael Wynn-Jones from 1998 to 2024; both are now honorary life presidents of the club |
Some Lesser Known Facts
| 1. Her television influence led to a reported rise of around 10% in egg sales in Britain, known as the Delia effect | |
| 2. Her kitchen has been preserved on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History | |
| 3. She baked the cake shown on the cover of the Rolling Stones album Let It Bleed | |
| 4. Her first name became a shorthand for her method, with the phrase doing a Delia used for cooking from one of her recipes | |
| 5. She was nicknamed the Fu Pei-mei of England after Taiwanese chef Fu Pei-mei |
