27 Facts About Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Hugh Christopher Edmund Fearnley-Whittingstall was born on 14 January 1965 and is an English celebrity chef, television personality, journalist, food writer, and campaigner on food and environmental issues.

Fearnley-Whittingstall hosted the River Cottage series on the UK television channel Channel 4, in which audiences observe his efforts to become a self-reliant, downshifted farmer in rural England; Fearnley-Whittingstall feeds himself, his family and friends with locally produced and sourced fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs, and meat.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has become a campaigner on issues related to food production and the environment, such as fisheries management and animal welfare.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall established River Cottage HQ in Dorset in 2004, and the operation is based at Park Farm near Axminster in Devon.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall continues to teach and host events there on a regular basis.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was born in Hampstead, London, to Robert Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, of a landed gentry family formerly of Watford and Hawkswick, Hertfordshire, and gardener and writer Jane Margaret, daughter of Colonel John Hawdon Lascelles OBE, of the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was educated at Summer Fields School, Eton College, and St Peter's College, Oxford, where he read philosophy and psychology.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has since said that "being messy" and "lacking discipline", though, made him unsuitable for working in the River Cafe kitchen, but that he regards his time there as a period that helped shape his current career.

In 1997, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall moved into River Cottage, a former game-keeper's lodge in the grounds of Slape Manor in Netherbury, Dorset, UK, which he had previously used as a weekend and holiday home.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has become a supporter of the organic movement.

In 2007, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall presented, River Cottage: Gone Fishing, a short series that is the concept's 10th overall, in which he examines some of the lesser-known fish to be caught around the British Isles.

River Cottage Spring ran from 28 May 2008 to 25 June 2008 on Channel 4, and in one of the episodes, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall demonstrated his "holistic" approach to cooking by teaching a vegetarian how to slaughter, prepare, and cook lamb.

In one of the episodes from the winter series, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall captures, prepares, and cooks rabbits that he finds on his property and introduces viewers to salsify; according to the host, salsify was popular during the Victorian era.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall competed against guest chefs in each episode and viewers were invited to challenge the television host with a superior recipe.

In November 2015, Fearnley-Whittingstall presented Hugh's War on Waste on BBC One, campaigning against waste by food producers, retailers, and consumers.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall appeared on Celebrity Countdown in 1998; he was named by former host Richard Whiteley as the de facto champion with the highest score of the series.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall then appeared on the first series of Channel 4's The F Word in 2005, advising Gordon Ramsay on the rearing of turkeys at Ramsay's London home; the turkeys are eaten in the last episode of the series.

In 2009, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall became a permanent team captain, opposing a different guest captain each week, on a food-based panel game, The Big Food Fight, which began on Channel 4 on 8 September; this is not to be confused with the earlier project of the same name.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall appeared on BBC Two's satirical music panel show, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, on an episode recorded in 2008; airing was delayed until 19 January 2011, due to the scandals surrounding Russell Brand that led to his resignation from the BBC.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall wrote the cookbooks, The River Cottage Year, The River Cottage Fish Book, The River Cottage Cookbook, and The River Cottage Meat Book.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has written articles for The Guardian and The Observer since 2001.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall edited The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions, written by Kenji Kawakami.

In January 2008, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall called on hospitality and food-service operators to use less intensively farmed chicken:.

In 2012, Fearnley-Whittingstall filmed a Channel 4 series, Hugh's Fish Fight.

In 2021, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall joined the Green Party, however he tactically voted for the Liberal Democrats in the 2022 Tiverton and Honiton by-election.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a Vice-president of international wildlife conservation NGO Fauna and Flora International.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall married Marie Derome in 2001; the couple live in East Devon with their four children.