...SITTING IN MY HIGH-CHAIR,
WATCHING MY MOTHER, PEPPY,
COOK. When she was making a cake,
she’d give me the bowl full of leftover
mix to lick clean. I think that’s when
my love of cooking started.
...OUR HOUSE WAS ALWAYS FULL
OF PEOPLE. My dad, Chester, was
a famous musical entertainer, who’d
appeared on the BBC, and my
parents were always very well
connected, particularly in the West
Indies, where they were from. We
had a nice house in Wandsworth,
too, so lots of people would want
to visit.
Touring West Indian cricketers,
including Sir Garfield Sobers,
popped in. Someone called Mr Andy,
who later became St Lucia’s police
commissioner, stayed for about three
years, while studying over here.
He was just lovely and would give
me, my brother and sister sixpence
pocket money, every Saturday—with
a sixpence bonus if we hadn’t wet
the bed all week.Charismatic chef Ainsley Harriott, 62, has
appeared in numerous TV shows over the last 30
years, including Ainsley’s Barbecue Bible, Meals in
Minutes and, most famously, Ready Steady CookI REMEMBER...
Ainsley Harriott
AUGUST 2019 • 31