Quote for the Day

“I was brought up an atheist and have always remained so. But at no time was I led to believe that morality was unimportant or that good and bad did not exist. I believe passionately in the need to distinguish between right and wrong and am somewhat confounded by being told I need God, Jesus or a clergyman to help me to do so.”

- Nigella Lawson (1960 - )

Nigella Lawson at Heathrow Airport with her children Cosima and Bruno Diamond, December 2014

Nigella Lucy Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster, television personality, gourmet and food writer. She is the daughter of Nigel Lawson, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Vanessa (née Salmon) Lawson, whose family owned the J Lyons & Co, food and catering business. After graduating, Lawson started work as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, later becoming the deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986. She then embarked upon a career as a freelance journalist, writing for a number of newspapers and magazines. In 1998, she brought out her first cookery book, How to Eat, which sold 300,000 copies and became a best-seller. She wrote her second book in 2000, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, which won her the British Book Award for Author of the Year.

In 1999, she hosted her own cooking show series, Nigella Bites, accompanied by another best-selling cookbook. Nigella Bites won Lawson a Guild of Food Writers Award; her 2005 ITV daytime chat show Nigella was met with a negative critical reaction and was cancelled after attracting low ratings. She hosted the Food Network’s Nigella Feasts in the United States in 2006, followed by a 3 part BBC Two series, Nigella's Christmas Kitchen, in the UK, which led to the commissioning of Nigella Express on BBC Two in 2007. She has her own cookware range, Living Kitchen, and has sold more than 3 million cookery books worldwide to date.