I didn’t go to school. Correction. I did, for a short time and I hated it. I never really dealt well with the need to ‘’box’’ or ‘’format’’ what a school boy should be and besides, I was way out of the mould anyway. I was a good boy, great with numbers but disliked Maths due to the teacher who took an instant disliking to me. I was also great at sport and could have gone professional, but in those days if you didn’t gain good results academically, opportunities elsewhere were just closed off. So I went off in the direction of the only thing I felt truly comfortable with – cooking. Having watched my mother lovingly preparing food for my family for so many years, I decided to leave school and pursue life as an apprentice chef.