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Nigella Lawson

By SARA TEMPLETON

One of our favourite celebrities here at the Wombat is Nigella Lucy Lawson. Sure, she's got sex appeal, she's highly intelligent and has a strong character, but best of all she's a brilliant cook.

The fact that she's never professed to being a gastromical authority, claiming: "I am not a chef. I am not even a trained or professional cook. My qualification is as an eater," is refreshingly honest and delightfully charming at the same time.

Nigella has helped bring much glamour into the world of food media, and with others, such as 'The Naked Chef' Jamie Oliver, more and more people from all walks of life are tuning into to see how to whip up classy culinary creations.

Nigella was born in Britain, 1960, on January 6th. Interestingly, Nigella's father (Nigel Lawson) was quite a well-regarded politician during his time as Margaret Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer, which is basically a long-winded way of describing the government's Treasurer.

Anyway, back to Nigella, and it's widely recognised that she was a very bright young woman who had a special way with words. This love of language and communication compelled Nigella to enrol in a language course at Oxford University, and in 1979, she had earned a degree in Medieval and Modern Languages.

Soon after receiving her degree, Nigella became interested in journalism and one of her first apres-degree jobs was with The Spectator, a newspaper in which she was the designated restaurant reviewer. Perhaps this is where her impeccable taste for good food blossomed?

Following her stint at The Spectator, Nigella was quick to move up in the world of journalism and soon she was in fact installed as the deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times.

During this time she also freelanced for papers such as the The Guardian and Daily Telegraph. Many attribute her rise to celebrity status when she landed a job with Vogue magazine in the mid-90s.

It was in 1998 however, that Nigella Lawson launched her first book called 'How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food'.

After this, Channel 4 executives loved what they saw in the book and commissioned Nigella to work on a TV show, called 'Nigella Bites' with the idea that the show should revolve around exactly what the books suggests, summed up in her ethos: "To achieve maximum pleasure through minimum effort."

The TV show proved to be a success, and was even screened by the ABC here in Australia, much to our delight. Her attitude towards cooking wasn't exactly what you'd call orthodox - she is always very relaxed, yet at the same time full of zeal.

She later launched a second book based on her experiences on the TV show, and before long the book - also titled 'Nigella Bites' - was on the best-seller's list and she had sold more than 1.5 million books.

In the year 2000 Nigella was quite the author, and her book 'How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking' won her an Author of the Year award by the British Book Awards.

Her increasing popularity and her public image had risen to astronomical proportions, not just in the UK, but also in America and right here in Australia. In 2001 however, her private life took a turn for the worse when her husband, fellow journalist John Diamond, died.

Despite this personal loss, Nigella continues to inspire millions of people around the world with her inflential, intuitive and easy-going cooking methodology, and here's hoping she will continue to do so for many years to come.

Channel 4 Nigella website