Antonio Carluccio is a new client we are looking forward to working with. The man has lived the life of three human beings, having survived war-torn Italy, moved to Austria and then built a high profile successful career in the UK. He may have passed 70, but he has the energy of a man 40 years younger and a style and panache that puts Englishmen to shame.

So watch out for Antonio on a TV set near you, as well as in our finest magazines and bookstalls! We are kicking off the process by spending a day with the wonderful Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine, edited by my old friend William Sitwell.  The writer James Steen is a food buff and a colorful character himself, so it promises to be quite a day… and quite a lunch!!

Antonio Carluccio popped into the office for a chat and promptly charmed the female element of our staff  and woo-ed the rest of us with his humour and sense of mischief! He was so refreshingly honest, no false platitudes about this cook or that cook. The ones he admires he praises, the ones he feels are false - well he says that too.

It is a travesty this man is not on TV more regularly. In times of recession people return to what they know and love and the frills tends to go. Antonio is man who believes in traditional cooking and preparing food in a practical way.

Well let’s see if we can cook up some new projects for him…