Jean-Christophe Novelli
Encyclopedia
Jean-Christophe Novelli (ʒɑ̃ kʁis.tɔf nɔ.vɛ.li; born 22 February 1961) is a French celebrity chef
.
, Northern France, in 1961, in a family with Italian roots, Jean-Christophe Novelli left school at age 14 and worked in a bakery before, at the age of 20, becoming a personal chef to the Rothschild family
.
He moved to Britain
in 1983, to run Keith Floyd
's Maltster's Arms restaurant in Totnes
, Devon. He won the first of two Michelin
stars at Le Provence in Lymington
before becoming head chef at the Four Seasons Hotel on Hyde Park Corner
.
In 1996 he founded his restaurant, Maison Novelli, in Clerkenwell
, Central London
. He has opened further restaurants in London, France and South Africa and continues to expand his activities, acting a chef patron or consultant to various establishments and moving into the gastro-pub market, the first of which was "The White Horse", in Harpenden
, this has now been sold and is no longer part of Jean-Christophes' portfolio. He appeared in the first series of The Games in 2003 and also became a head chef on Hell's Kitchen in 2005. In the same year he opened a cooking school called the Novelli Academy at his Hertfordshire
farmhouse near Luton
. In December 2006 Novelli launched a range of frozen ready meals in association with frozen food manufacturer Findus
; these ready meals were discontinued in 2008 but the chef continues to endorse a range of products on his website.
He has 21 dogs (most of them Doberman Pinschers) and drives a Porsche Cayenne
.
On 5 September 2007 Novelli was awarded Honorary Doctor of Arts from the University of Bedfordshire
.
Novelli is twice divorced. His first wife was from English decent and called Tina. He married his second wife, Anzelle Visser, from Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1999 (they met in 1997). At the time she was a model and also worked at Maison Novelli. They divorced in 2005. He has been rather unclear about this period of his life, first dedicating his first book to her, and later ignoring her role in his life to the media. Following their separation she worked as events manager at the highly respected Reform Club, having never disclosed her history with Novelli there. She is currently production Manager at Xpozure Advertising, South Africa. He has a 24 year old daughter named Christina Novelli from his first marriage. Novelli got engaged in November 2007 to his girlfriend of 2 years, Michelle Kennedy, with the couple announcing in February 2008 that they are expecting their first child. On the 29 August 2008, the couple welcomed a healthy baby boy called Jean Frank Patrick Kennedy, in Los Angeles.
. Jean Christophe became the head of the blue kitchen. But this time the two chefs had to teach members of the public rather than celebrities.
, performing in a group with fellow chefs Aldo Zilli
, Paul Rankin
and Ross Burden
. Novelli can presently be seen on the new ITV1
programme …Cooks!
He has been a contestant on Family Fortunes
and on 2 May 2007 appeared on "You're Fired!" on BBC Two
, the show following "The Apprentice
" on BBC One
.
In November 2009, he opened his own cooking show called Chef Academy
where he tries to train 9 aspiring chefs into professionals.
In October 2010, he teamed up with the Potato Council for a nationwide competition called Master Spud which will give the winner a chance to star alongside him in a national TV advert.
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
, Novelli burnt and scratched (with a knife) Jonathan Ross
' desk in a cooking demonstration. He was also a member of the celebrity audience in Derren Brown
's TV special "The Gathering."
Jean-Christophe also gave an interview to The Daily Mail in August 2011 about his daughter Christina Novelli featuring in Channel 5's Candy Bar Girls and how he coped when she came out as a lesbian.
Celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...
.
Life
Born in ArrasArras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
, Northern France, in 1961, in a family with Italian roots, Jean-Christophe Novelli left school at age 14 and worked in a bakery before, at the age of 20, becoming a personal chef to the Rothschild family
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
.
He moved to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1983, to run Keith Floyd
Keith Floyd
Keith Floyd was a British celebrity chef, television personality and restaurateur, who hosted cooking shows for the BBC and published many books combining cookery and travel...
's Maltster's Arms restaurant in Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, Devon. He won the first of two Michelin
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
stars at Le Provence in Lymington
Lymington
Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...
before becoming head chef at the Four Seasons Hotel on Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner is a place in London, at the south-east corner of Hyde Park. It is a major intersection where Park Lane, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place and Constitution Hill converge...
.
In 1996 he founded his restaurant, Maison Novelli, in Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
, Central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
. He has opened further restaurants in London, France and South Africa and continues to expand his activities, acting a chef patron or consultant to various establishments and moving into the gastro-pub market, the first of which was "The White Horse", in Harpenden
Harpenden
Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....
, this has now been sold and is no longer part of Jean-Christophes' portfolio. He appeared in the first series of The Games in 2003 and also became a head chef on Hell's Kitchen in 2005. In the same year he opened a cooking school called the Novelli Academy at his Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
farmhouse near Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
. In December 2006 Novelli launched a range of frozen ready meals in association with frozen food manufacturer Findus
Findus
Findus is a company that produces and retails frozen food. Its products include Crispy Pancakes, which were invented in the early 1970s.- Origins :...
; these ready meals were discontinued in 2008 but the chef continues to endorse a range of products on his website.
He has 21 dogs (most of them Doberman Pinschers) and drives a Porsche Cayenne
Porsche Cayenne
The Porsche Cayenne is a five seat mid-size luxury crossover manufactured by the German manufacturer Porsche since 2002, with North American sales beginning in 2003. Its platform was developed by Porsche and is shared with the Volkswagen Touareg and the Audi Q7. It is the first V8-engined vehicle...
.
On 5 September 2007 Novelli was awarded Honorary Doctor of Arts from the University of Bedfordshire
University of Bedfordshire
The University of Bedfordshire is based in Luton and Bedford, the two largest towns in the English county of Bedfordshire. The university was created by the merger of the University of Luton and the Bedford campus of De Montfort University on 1 August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council...
.
Novelli is twice divorced. His first wife was from English decent and called Tina. He married his second wife, Anzelle Visser, from Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1999 (they met in 1997). At the time she was a model and also worked at Maison Novelli. They divorced in 2005. He has been rather unclear about this period of his life, first dedicating his first book to her, and later ignoring her role in his life to the media. Following their separation she worked as events manager at the highly respected Reform Club, having never disclosed her history with Novelli there. She is currently production Manager at Xpozure Advertising, South Africa. He has a 24 year old daughter named Christina Novelli from his first marriage. Novelli got engaged in November 2007 to his girlfriend of 2 years, Michelle Kennedy, with the couple announcing in February 2008 that they are expecting their first child. On the 29 August 2008, the couple welcomed a healthy baby boy called Jean Frank Patrick Kennedy, in Los Angeles.
Hell's Kitchen
In 2005 Jean Christophe became one of two Head Chefs in the second series with Gary RhodesGary Rhodes
Gary Rhodes OBE is an English restaurateur, cookery writer, and chef, known for his love of British cuisine and distinctive spiked hair style ....
. Jean Christophe became the head of the blue kitchen. But this time the two chefs had to teach members of the public rather than celebrities.
Other work
In 2006, Novelli appeared on The X Factor: Battle of the StarsThe X Factor: Battle of the Stars
The X Factor: Battle of the Stars was a UK celebrity special edition of The X Factor, which screened on ITV, started on 29 May 2006 and lasting for eight consecutive nights...
, performing in a group with fellow chefs Aldo Zilli
Aldo Zilli
Aldo Zilli is an Italian-born celebrity chef who specialises in Italian cuisine. One of nine children, he was born in the small seaside town of Alba Adriatica in the central Italian region of Abruzzo...
, Paul Rankin
Paul Rankin
Paul Rankin is a Scottish born, Northern Irish celebrity chef from Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland. Born in Glasgow, Scotland his parents moved back to Ballywater, where he grew up. This was stated when he was the subject of an episode of a short programme named Proud Parents on Channel...
and Ross Burden
Ross Burden
Ross Burden is a celebrity chef from New Zealand.Ross Burden's early career was as a model but became a chef later in life. His inspiration for being a chef was his mother's extremely bad cooking skills, which meant that he spent a lot of time cooking with his grandmother.Ross was brought up in...
. Novelli can presently be seen on the new ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
programme …Cooks!
He has been a contestant on Family Fortunes
Family Fortunes
Family Fortunes is a British game show, based on the American game show Family Feud. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 6 December 2002 before being revived by the same channel in 2006 under the title of All Star Family Fortunes...
and on 2 May 2007 appeared on "You're Fired!" on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, the show following "The Apprentice
The Apprentice (UK)
The Apprentice is a British reality television series in which a group of aspiring young businessmen and women compete for the chance to win a £100,000-a-year job as an apprentice to the British business magnate Lord Sugar in series one to six...
" on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
.
In November 2009, he opened his own cooking show called Chef Academy
Chef Academy
Chef Academy was a reality show that premiered on Bravo TV on November 16, 2009 and aired on Mondays at 11 p.m. ET/PT. It followed Jean Christophe Novelli, a world-renowned Michelin star- and 5 AA Rosette-award-winning chef with restaurants in London, France and South Africa...
where he tries to train 9 aspiring chefs into professionals.
In October 2010, he teamed up with the Potato Council for a nationwide competition called Master Spud which will give the winner a chance to star alongside him in a national TV advert.
Trivia
In an interview on the BBC'sBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
, Novelli burnt and scratched (with a knife) Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...
' desk in a cooking demonstration. He was also a member of the celebrity audience in Derren Brown
Derren Brown
Derren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...
's TV special "The Gathering."
Jean-Christophe also gave an interview to The Daily Mail in August 2011 about his daughter Christina Novelli featuring in Channel 5's Candy Bar Girls and how he coped when she came out as a lesbian.
External links
- Saturday Cooks! at itv.comItv.comitv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
- William Sitwell: Jean Christophe Novelli – Renaissance Man
- Pierre Koffmann
- Novelli recipes