Nigella Lawson, Food & Drink, Debrett's 500 2016, People of Influence

Nigella Lawson

Food Writer and TV chef

Nigella Lawson returned triumphantly to television screens in 2014 with US-import The Taste. Late 2015 saw the launch of her new show and its recipe book offshoot Simply Nigella. Lawson’s father Nigel was chancellor of the exchequer under Margaret Thatcher and she enjoyed a privileged upbringing, though she makes no secret of the fact that her politics are very different from his. Lawson studied medieval and modern languages at Oxford and, after an early career in publishing and as a journalist, found fame in 1998 with her bestselling book How to Eat, which was shortly followed by How to Be a Domestic Goddess. Having never formally trained as a chef, Lawson advocates taking pleasure in food and the therapeutic effect of cooking, and her intimate, no-frills approach has proved an enduring hit with the British public.