One day, a chef moaned that he was too hot, so I took a carving knife in one hand, held his jacket with the other, and slashed it. Then I slashed his trousers. Both garments were still on his body at the time.

The day I stopped fearing my father was the day I could enjoy him.

You'll never see me at award ceremonies.

I don't like London. I'm not happy here. I don't even own a flat here.

Remember, restaurateurs are only shopkeepers; that's all we are. It's no different from the supermarket down the road.

I think what you got to do is to create an environment which people wish to sit in. You have to create a menu which is interesting to people. You have to create food which is delicious and affordable. I think that's what's important.

I love gardens!

The reason I do television is because we all have to work and earn a living, as I have four children. It's also a platform for me to share my knowledge and inspire the young.

The only time I am seen in public is when I go to work. When I go home to England, I never leave my home.

My tortured life - with its extremes and conflicts - might have been difficult for me to deal with, but the press couldn't get enough of it. I was in the papers every day, 'the enfant terrible of the culinary world.'

The newspapers had described me as the Jagger of the Aga. It wasn't hard living up to the reputation.

Rudeness is not having fun, and if it is, it's at the expense of another person.

I leave my emotions at home.

When I look at old pictures, I see my son Luciano, not me. Luciano looks identical. That's what's extraordinary, the power of a gene pool.

When you roast a chicken perfectly, there's nothing more delicious.

My cooking attracted celebrities. I met Sylvester Stallone. He squeezed my bicep and said: 'I don't usually eat your kind of food, but for you, I ate it.' I haven't got a clue what he'd eaten but he asked me to cook for his wedding feast when he married Jennifer Flavin at Blenheim Palace.

'Kitchen Wars' makes 'MasterChef' look like a walk in the park!

People still think I led a rock and roll lifestyle. I was in my kitchen 100 hours a week; I didn't have time to do that.

My children are, without question, the most wonderful thing. I've learnt more about myself through my children than any other experience in my life.

I don't need Michelin, and they don't need me.

I wouldn't want to be in one room, 20 hours a day, 52 weeks a year, with four white walls and a stove. I think it stunts your growth as a human being.

I think Singapore is one of the great cities of the world.

Oh, I love ladies in hats! One rule of restaurants: never take a hat from a lady; wait for her to offer you the hat because she might not want to take it off - she might not have had time to do her hair properly.

I met my first wife at the fishmonger's in the summer of 1987, some six months after opening Harveys.