Ruth Rogers

[7] Her brother is screenwriter Michael Elias, who co-wrote the movie The Jerk and co-created the TV sitcom Head of the Class.

[8] The family moved to Woodstock in the early 1960s; she recounts an anecdote of turning down an invitation to watch Bob Dylan and his band rehearsing in 1965.

They lived above a market in Le Marais, where she learnt the importance of seasonality, before moving to the Place des Vosges.

The River Café developed a strong reputation for the seasonality and quality of its food, and its intense focus on authentic Italian cooking.

Its cookbooks, such as The River Café Cook Book (first published in 1995), have become best-sellers, and Gray and Rogers presented The Italian Kitchen on Channel 4 in 1998.

The restaurant has trained a series of successful chefs, including April Bloomfield, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, and Theo Randall, and it has held a Michelin star since 1998.