Delia Smith

Is an English television cook, known for her interest in teaching basic cookery skills. She is the UK's best-selling cookery author, with more than 18 million copies sold.

Born in Woking, Surrey, Delia left school at 16 without a single O-level. Her first job was as a hairdresser, and she also worked as a shop assistant and in a travel agency before starting her career in cookery. At 21, she started work in a tiny restaurant in Paddington called The Singing Chef. She started as a washer-upper, then moved on to waitressing, and then was allowed to help with the cooking. She started reading English cookery books in the Reading Room at the British Museum, trying out the recipes on a Harley Street family with whom she was living at the time.

In 1969, Delia was taken on as the cookery writer for the Daily Mirror's new magazine. Their Deputy Editor was Michael Wynn-Jones whom she later married. Her first piece featured kipper pâté, beef in beer, and cheesecake. Her first cookery book (1971) was How to Cheat at Cooking. In 1972 she started a column in the Evening Standard which she was to write for 12 years. Later she wrote a successful column for the Radio Times until 1986. Delia became famous by hosting a cookery television show Family Fare which ran between 1973-1975.

Delia approached BBC Further Education with an idea for their first televised cookery course. Her aim was to educate people in how to cook, take them back to basics and cover all the classic techniques. Accompanying books were needed to explain not only how, but why things happen. This led to her three Cookery Course books. Eventually, a new phrase was coined called the 'Delia Effect', which usually involves a huge surge in purchases for a food item or utensil after it has been featured on her show or referenced in one of her books. This effect was most recently seen in 2008 after her new book How to Cheat at Cooking was published.

Her television series Delia's How to Cook (1998) reportedly led to a 10% rise in egg sales in Britain, and her use of ingredients (such as cranberries) or utensils (such as an omelette pan) can cause sell-outs overnight. Because of this fame, her first name has become sufficient to identify her to the public, and 'the Delia effect' has become a commonly used phrase to describe a run on a previously poor-selling product, on the basis of a high-profile recommendation.

In 2003 Delia announced her retirement from television. However, she returned for an eponymously-titled six-part series airing on the BBC in Spring 2008. The accompanying book, an update of her original best-selling 1971 book How to Cheat at Cooking, was publushed by Ebury Press in February 2008, immediately becoming a number one best-seller. Items to have benefitted from the Delia effect as a result include the Kenwood mini-chopper, Martelli pasta and Aunt Bessie's mashed potato.

Cookery books

• How to Cheat at Cooking (1971)
• Recipes from Country Inns and Restaurants (1973)
• The Evening Standard Cookbook (1974)
• Frugal Food (1976)
• Cakes, Bakes & Steaks (1977)
• Delia Smith's Book of Cakes (1977)
• Delia Smith's Cookery Course (3 volumes: 1978, 1979 & 1980)
• One is Fun (1986)
• Complete Illustrated Cookery Course (1989)
• Delia Smith's Christmas (1990)
• Delia Smith's Summer Collection (1993)
• Delia Smith's Winter Collection (1995) (winner of the 1996 British Book of the Year award).
• Delia's How to Cook—Book 1 (1998) (based on the television series)
• Delia's How to Cook—Book 2 (1999)
• Delia's How to Cook—Book 3 (2001)
• The Delia Collection (2003) (several themed volumes)
• Delia's Kitchen Garden: A Beginners' Guide to Growing and Cooking Fruit and Vegetables (2004)
• The Delia Collection - Puddings (2006)
• Smith, Delia (February 2007). Delia's Kitchen Garden. BBC Books.
• Smith, Delia (February 2008). How to Cheat at Cooking. Ebury Press.