The Way I Am 'Strictly Was Out Of My Comfort Zone'

James Martin, 46, talks about buying dogs on impulse, romantic fish and chips on Whitby seafront and playing lead guitar

- Elisa Roche

What is your earliest memory of food?

I was fortunate and grew up on a pig farm where we ate stuff that we produced at home. So my early meals were always made up of the secondary cuts of meat that we couldn’t sell; the head-to-tail stuff like snout, trotters, liver and all that.

What was your first job?

I cooked my first big meal at about eight years old. I was doing a gourmet dinner at a place called The Mallyan Spout in Goathland, near Whitby. My parents used to know the owners and because I was a wannabe chef they let me in the kitchen at a very young age, working with amazing people like Brian Turner and Keith Floyd, and that was my first ever serious dinner, even though I was mainly turning (peeling) carrots.

Did you ever have a plan B career-wise?

No, cheffing was always it for me. I finished college on Friday and was working in London kitchens by Sunday night. I wanted to be a head chef by the time I was 30 and I got the chance to do that when I was 22 through luck, graft and taking chances. I genuinely enjoy the long hours and I still do them whenever I can.

What’s been your biggest impulse buy?