Delia Ann Smith CH CBE (born 18 June 1941) is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills in a direct style.

[4] Born to Harold Bartlett Smith (1920–1999), an English RAF radio operator and tool salesman, and a Welsh mother, Etty Jones Lewis (1919–2020),[5] in Woking, Surrey, her parents divorced when she was 15 years old and her brother was aged 7.

Smith became a recognisable figure amongst young people in the 1970s and early 1980s when she was an occasional guest on the BBC's Saturday morning children's programme Multicoloured Swap Shop, giving basic cooking demonstrations.

[18] Smith has twice been the guest for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs: first on 5 June 1982, when her choices included "The Sound of Silence" by Paul Simon and "Llef" by Rhos Male Voice Choir, and again on Christmas Eve 2023, when her choices included "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush and "Happy" by Pharrell Williams.

[19] It has been claimed that Smith's television series Delia's How to Cook led to a 10% rise in egg sales in Britain and her use of ingredients such as frozen mash and tinned minced beef and onions, or utensils such as an omelette pan, could cause sell-outs overnight.

Her fame (and her relatively uncommon name) has meant that her first name has become sufficient to identify her to the public and the "Delia effect" has become a commonly used phrase to describe a run on a previously poor-selling product as a result of a high-profile recommendation.

Smith has developed other business interests outside of her culinary ventures, notably a majority shareholding of 53%[22] in the football team Norwich City, with her husband.

At the time Norwich were fighting an ultimately unsuccessful battle against relegation from the Premier League, and to rally the crowd, Smith grabbed the microphone from the club announcer on the pitch and said: "A message for the best football supporters in the world: we need a 12th man here.

[25] Smith denied suggestions in the media that she had been drunk while delivering the speech though she did concede that "maybe in the heat of the moment I didn't choose the best words".

In August 2011, Smith announced that, anticipating her 70th birthday, she was stepping down from her catering role at Norwich City's Carrow Road football ground: "It is now time for a fresh approach and a younger team who, I am confident, will take the business even further.

In 2012 Smith was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt.

[6][7] In 2012 Smith criticised atheism, stating that "militant neo-atheists and devout secularists are busting a gut to drive us [religious people] off the radar and try to convince us that we hardly exist.