From humble radiator to hot work of art

Financial Times | 10 Feb 2004

In 1982, the late Geoffrey Ward had a plumbing installation company. Camden Council insisted that he could not run his business from retail premises – without a window display, he could no longer be classified as a shop and would have to close.

Mr Ward had a zany designer radiator that he had imported for fun. He put it into the window of his Kilburn premises. People started asking to buy it – those were the days of the ubiquitous white panel radiator – so Mr. Ward decided to change jobs. He started to import sculptural radiators.

• Homes, Interiors & Property

Heston Blumenthal: The big cheese of the Fat Duck

Financial Times | 31 Jan 2004

The former debt collector has some extraordinary kit in his kitchen. A rotavapor machine that distills natural essences, a water and oil bath, a canister containing liquid nitrogen and a gleaming machine that turns purees into edible shaving foam. There’s a desiccator and pump to suck moisture out of chips, test tubes, overhead stirrers, mini filtration units and magnetic mixers. And now he falls delightedly upon Fishers laboratory catalogue. “Heat pads! You put them in a beaker of water with magnets underneath and it keeps it stirred. Can you see the vortex it’s creating?” he asks ecstatically.

• Food

I like to go against the grain

Financial Times | 17 Jan 2004

Top chef Rowley Leigh starts his FT cookery column this week and tells Caroline Phillips about his robust, refined style.

• Food,
• Interviews

Sandwich man has an appetite for spreading

Financial Times | 6 Jan 2004

Niall MacArthur, the founder of Eat, tells Caroline Phillips about his ambitions to expand his 26-strong chain beyond its base in London.

• Food

The big cheese of the Fat Duck

Financial Times | 1 Jan 2004

Caroline Phillips meets Heston Blumenthal, the Willy Wonka of modern British cooking, and samples his distinctive brand of innovative and investigative cuisine.

• Food

Patricia O’Neill: Animal House

The Sunday Times Magazine | 19 Sep 1999

They call it, with some affection, Broadmoor. At least, that’s what they say in the family. To others, however, it is Broadlands, the stud farm belonging to the horse breeder and animal conservationist the Hon Patricia O’Neill.

She has 42 stray dogs who move in packs through her house, and a kitchen carpeted with yapping Pekingese. She also has a donkey, jackal, lynx, chimp, 200 parrots, 40 stud ponies, a cage shared by a tortoise, cockerel, monkey and rabbit, plus 19 rescued baboons – some living in a room with filing cabinets and books.

• Interviews

In serious de-stress

Woman & Home | 19 Oct 1998

Complementary therapy gourmet Caroline Phillips has sought stress relief with pretty much every treatment going. Here, she describes the most effective.

• Health, Beauty & Spa

Did I let teacher take a crisp from between my thighs? Yes! Yes! Yes!

The Express | 11 Oct 1997

The designer turned novelist tells how real life has inspired her first foray into fiction. Bella Pollen, once an internationally known fashion designer trading under the name Arabella Pollen, has just published her first novel, All About Men.

• Interviews

Perhaps I was promiscuous but now I wouldn’t even cross the road for an affair

The Express | 11 Oct 1997

After three failed marriages, the time has arrived for Sian Phillips to dote on her cats.

• Interviews

I don’t feel at all guilty about my affair with Harold Pinter

The Express | 11 Oct 1997

For Joan Bakewell, it has been The Unmentionable. Ever since it was “exposed”, the broadcaster has refused staunchly to discuss her seven-year affair with playwright Harold Pinter.

• Interviews

Ingrams on death

The Week | 4 Oct 1997

Richard Ingrams, the former editor of Private Eye and now editor of The Oldie, has been dwelling on mortality.

• Interviews

He’s 60. She’s 33 and pregnant by another man. Why is Richard Ingrams thinking of death?

The Express | 27 Sep 1997

Richard Ingrams, former editor of Private Eye, looks away as he shakes my hand. He’s imposingly tall and wearing his habitual cords, a jumper full of holes and undone laces.

• Interviews