Marco Pierre White

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Marco Pierre White bigraphy, stories - English chef and restaurateur

Marco Pierre White : biography

11 December 1961 –

Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is noted for his contributions to contemporary international cuisine. White has been dubbed the first celebrity chef, the enfant terribleRadio Times, London, 1–7 September 2007. of the UK restaurant scene and the godfather of modern cooking. White was, at the time, the youngest chef ever to have been awarded three Michelin stars. He has trained chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Curtis Stone, and Heston Blumenthal.

Personal life

White has been married three times. His first wife was Alex McArthur, who was the daughter of a surgeon from Buckinghamshire, and who worked at his local fishmonger. After a year-long romance, they were married at Chelsea Register Office on 8 June 1988; neither family attended the ceremony.

White then met 21-year-old model Lisa Butcher at a London nightclub. They were engaged within three weeks. White says today that he was so intoxicated by her looks that he forgot to think about her personality. Engaged for two months, Butcher sold the wedding in a £20,000 deal to Hello! magazine. The wedding took place at the Brompton Oratory on 15 August 1992, where Albert Roux was best man, and Lisa had forgotten to invite his father and brothers. White says he knew the marriage was a mistake when he saw her £3,000 floor-length, backless Bruce Oldfield dress with cutaway sides. White told a reporter that she looked dressed to go down the catwalk rather than the aisle. Butcher says of their 15-week marriage: "We went to the Scilly Isles for our honeymoon. On the first day, Marco turned to me and said, ‘I don’t love you.’ We spent two miserable days when we didn’t speak and he went shark fishing. Then I left." In her one interview about the marriage, Butcher has hinted that something unspeakable happened on the honeymoon: "Something very bad did happen but I’m not going to say what it was. It really wasn’t a very pleasant experience for me and my family."Alison Boshoff (30 June 2006). , Daily Mail (London).

In 1992, White started a relationship with Matilde "Mati" Conejero, the bartender at The Canteen.Marco Pierre White (30 July 2006). . 30 July 2006, The Daily Telegraph (London). and went on to have two sons: Luciano (born December 1992), Marco Jr., and a daughter, Mirabelle, born after White retired and the couple had married at the Belvedere on 7 April 2000. At the wedding, Gordon Ramsay turned up with a TV crew having told neither White nor his bride. White and Ramsay have not spoken since. After White became friends with city financier Robin Saunders, Conejero wrongly suspected an affair between the two. White and his wife had a fight, after which White spent 14 hours in the cells of Notting Hill police station in January 2005. White and Conejero began divorce proceedings in 2007 after she confronted two of his waitresses over affairs and his close relationship with singer/actress Martine McCutcheon. In 2011 the divorce proceedings were withdrawn. In October 2012 White and Conejero separated again.

White has a Japanese assistant and chauffeur called Mr Ishii, whom he met while he managed the Mirabelle restaurant in Curzon Street, Mayfair. The restaurant became available for sale and was quite sought-after, but his relationship with Mr Ishii persuaded the Japanese owners to sell to White.

In his leisure time White may be found freshwater fishing and deer stalking. White is a supporter of the Conservative Party., politics.co.uk, 26 May 2004.

Career

White left Allerton High School in Leeds without any qualifications and decided to train as a chef, initially at the Hotel St George in Harrogate and then at the Box Tree in Ilkley. Aged 16, he went to London with "£7.36, a box of books and a bag of clothes", he began his classical training as a commis with Albert and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche. During this time, Albert Roux described White as "my little bunny". He continued his training under Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire (now the site of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay), moving to work in the kitchen of Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons and 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.