Artistes of the Month
Also featured:Lesley WatersLord Lamont
Lord
Lamont (Norman Lamont) has been at the centre of British politics for
many years and was the Conservative M.P. for Kingston upon Thames for
25 years. He was a Cabinet Minister under both Margaret Thatcher and John
Major. He was heavily involved in the Thatcher reforms including privatisation
that transformed the British economy.
Norman Lamont was Chancellor of the Exchequer from l990-l993 and introduced three Budgets. This was a difficult and controversial time with a deep recession and Britain's exit from the ERM on "Black Wednesday".
Despite all the criticisms made at the time, today many economists consider that the tough decisions taken laid the foundations for the boom that started in l992 and continued right up to the present day. Sir Alan Walters, economic advisor to Lady Thatcher, in a letter to the Times recently described Lord Lamont in his post ERM situation "to be not only the most effective but also the bravest Chancellor since the war".
Recently Norman Lamont published a self-deprecating and amusing account of his time as Chancellor under the title "In Office". His book was described in the Independent newspaper as "Out of the top drawer of political memoirs".
Prior to becoming a MP, Norman Lamont was a Merchant Banker with NM Rothschild and Sons, whom he joined after reading Economics at Cambridge.
Norman Lamont was made a Life Peer in July 1998.
Currently he is a director of Balli Group plc, and a director of a number of other financial companies.
Norman Lamont is a fierce critic of the Euro.
Lesley Waters
A
former chef and cookery demonstrator, Lesley's lively personality makes
her a popular television cook whose credits include regular appearances
on Ready Steady Cook.
She studied French Cuisine for three years at Ealing College, which included
time as a chef at the Waldorf Hotel. During this training period, she
won one gold and two silver medals at Hotelympia and was awarded a scholarship
to the Hotel Intercontinental, Dusseldorf.
In 1978 Lesley joined Prue Leith's Restaurant and was quickly promoted to position of senior chef. She then worked as a freelance corporate chef and caterer for government officials before joining Leith's School of Food and Wine as an instructor, rising to head teacher. Here she perfected her cookery demonstration and food photography skills. She often represented British food at international cookery displays, taking as her theme 'good food for health's sake'.
She has worked in television since 1989. In addition to GMTV and Bazaar her work has included writing and presenting a series of network Cookery Club programmes for Chrysalis TV, resident cook for Lifestyle Channel and currently for UK Living. In 1992 she teamed up with Malcolm Gluck to present the Superplonk video, the guide to 101 top supermarket wines, produced by Chrysalis.
During 1994 she co-presented a 12 part TV series for Anglia about healthy living, called Bodyworks. She was one of the major presenters of Can't Cook Won't Cook and is a Ready Steady Cook regular. In 1999 she completed the incredibly successful Ready Steady Cook Roadshow playing to packed theatre houses across the UK. Lesley also co-presents Surprise Chefs for the Meridian region and has guested on Food & Drink, flying to Thailand for the programme to record a number of Thai cooking demonstrations, Celebrity Ready Steady Cook, Light Lunch and the BBC daytime show Who'll Do The Pudding. She is also resident chef for the annual BBC Primetime Show Weight Of The Nation. Lesley is currently recording a series for Carlton Food Network, Flavours From Abroad to be broadcast later this year.
Lesley has written a number of books including Fifteen Minute Feasts
for BBC Books, Four Seasons Cookery for BBC Books, Sainsbury's Quick and
Easy Food for Friends (Martin Books, 1995), Weight Watchers Carefree Christmas
(Simon & Schuster, 1996), Ready Steady Cook Book 3 (BBC Books, 1997),
and Weight Watchers Store Cupboard Cookery (Simon & Schuster, 1997).
Her most recent books are Classic Starters and Juice Up Your Energy Levels
both for Orion and The Essential Pasta Book for Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Broader Than Beans a major vegetarian cook book was published by Headline
last year and the follow up Cooler Than Chillies was published last spring.
In her spare time Lesley teaches fitness classes
Further Information
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