Gordon Ramsay in Cook Coat.

Gordon Ramsay was born in Scotland, but his folks moved to Stratford-upon-Avon in Britain when he was 5 years of age. He first planned to become a pro football player. Nevertheless a rather serious injury finished his athletic desires in his uniform polo shirt, so he came back to school and took a course in hotel management. His early coaching in the kitchen was spent working with such luminaries as Albert Roux and Marco Pierre White in London. Gordon released his first book, Enthusiasm for Flavor , in 1996. Since that point he has released a couple more books which were very successful, the latest being Gordon Ramsays World Kitchen in 2009. In 1998, when he was 31, Gordon opened up his first wholly-owned bistro in Chelsea, and it won 3 Michelin stars 3 years on. He opened Gordon Ramsay at Claridges in 2001, and it won a Michelin star 2 years after. In the subsequent 2 years he opened 6 more trattorias and gathered 4 more Michelin stars. But due to the books setting in 1930s France, there's also much historic and political color that noticeably expands the stories scope. In Annes case there had been also guilty secrets. So she was orphaned, and maybe never actually had a home she could call her very own. That some place else is Janvilliers, a provincial city, where she's reluctantly accepted as a waitress in the little hotel of the books title. One such customer is a middle class entrepreneur called Hartmann. There are more characters, naturally, and these are convincingly portrayed to form an image of French inter-war provincial life. B&B. Theres the owner of the hotel, as an example, who appears unwilling to leave his flat.

Theres the domineering - maybe threatening - manageress who aims to higher ethical ground. But also this is France just before the flare-up of World War 2. The 2005 New Years Honours list awarded Gordon an O.