In the world of sustainable food production, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is someone everyone will recognise. From River Cottage to Hugh’s War on Waste, the multi-award-winning television personality has been teaching viewers about food waste and the environment for more than two decades but little remains known about his personal life.
Born in Hampstead but raised in Gloucestershire, he returned to the south of England to attend Eton College. Fans may be surprised to learn that Hugh is acquainted with former prime minister David Cameron who was in the year below Hugh at Eton. Hugh’s cousin, Sarah, is also married to Cameron’s brother, Alexander. After Eton, Hugh studied at St Peter’s College in Oxford, where he read philosophy and psychology.
It is not clear exactly how much Hugh is worth although publicly available data suggests his company, River Cottage Limited, has £2.8 million in assets. In 2012, Hugh’s barn at River Cottage was badly damaged by fire and, although The River Cottage Canteen was unaffected, cookery school courses offered at the cottage were temporarily suspended. Thankfully, no people, or animals, were hurt.
Hugh has been married to his wife, Marie Derome, since 2001. The couple and their four children, Chloe, Oscar, Freddy, and Louisa, divide their time between East Devon and Bristol. Hugh and Marie adopted their fourth child Chloe after her birth mother, BBC journalist Kate Peyton, was shot dead whilst reporting from Somalia. In an interview with The Guardian at the time of adoption, Hugh said the family had grown “330% louder” since Chloe’s arrival.
The 57-year-old celebrity chef is best known for hosting the Channel 4 River Cottage series in which he becomes a self-sustainable farmer in rural England to feed his friends and family. His dedication to sustainable food production and the environment has earned him a BAFTA as well as awards from Radio 4 and The Observer.
Besides more than 20 cookery-based series, Hugh’s TV work includes hard-hitting campaigns such as Hugh’s Fish Fight, which brought about changes in fisheries law at the European level.
Hugh will appear on the celebrity version of BBC Pointless tonight (February 26) in which contestants try to score as few points as possible by coming up with the most unlikely answers to questions.
The chef will appear alongside Alex Hollywood, Nancy Lam, Suzie Lee, Liam Charles, Shivi Ramoutar, Rahul Mandal, and Ellis Barrie. You can watch Hugh on BBC One at 7.50 pm.
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