Gordon Ramsay - more than a chef

General Facts
Gordon James Ramsay, OBE (born 8 November

1966) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, and

television personality.

Born in Scotland, Ramsay grew up in

Stratford-upon-Avon. His restaurants have been

awarded 16 Michelin stars in total. His signature

restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea,

London, has held 3 Michelin stars since 2001. First

appearing on television in the UK in the late 1990s,

by 2004 Ramsay had become one of the best known celebrity chefs in British popular culture, and,

along with other chefs like Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, and Delia Smith, he has influenced viewers to

become more culinarily adventurous.

Whats he known for by most people?

As a reality television personality, Ramsay is known for his fiery temper, strict demeanour, and

use of expletives. He often makes blunt and controversial comments, including insults and wisecracks

about contestants and their cooking abilities. He combines activities in the television, film, hospitality,

and food industries and has promoted and hired various chefs who have apprenticed under his wing.

Ramsay is known for presenting TV programmes about competitive cookery and food, such as the

British series Hell's Kitchen, The F Word, and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, along with the

American versions of Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, and

Hotel Hell. In 2015, Forbes listed his earnings at $60 million for the previous 12 months, and ranked

him the 21st highest earning celebrity in the world.

Early life
Ramsay was born on 8 November 1966 in Johnstone, Renfrewshire. From the age of five, he

was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Ramsay is the second of four children. He has an older sister,

Diane; a younger brother, Ronnie, who Ramsay revealed had been imprisoned for heroin possession as

a juvenile; and a younger sister, Yvonne. Ramsay's father, Gordon James Senior (died 1997), was at

various times a swimming pool manager, a welder, and a shopkeeper; his sister Yvonne and their

mother, Helen (ne Cosgrove), have been nurses.

Ramsay has described his early life as "hopelessly itinerant", and his family moved constantly

due to the aspirations and failures of his father, who was an at-times-violent alcoholic. In 1976, they

finally settled in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he grew up in the Bishopton area of the town. In his

autobiography, Humble Pie, he describes his early life as being marked by abuse and neglect from this

"hard-drinking womaniser". At the age of 16, Ramsay moved out of the family home and into a flat in

Banbury.

Besides being a chef,

Ramsay played football and was first chosen to play under-14 football at age 12. He was chosen

to play for Warwickshire. His footballing career was marked by injuries, causing him to remark later in

life, "Perhaps I was doomed when it came to football." In mid-1984, Ramsay had a trial with Rangers,

the club he supported as a boy. He seriously injured his knee, smashing the cartilage during training.

Ramsay continued to train and play on the injured knee, tearing a cruciate ligament during a squash

game.

Ramsay has claimed to have played two first team games for Rangers. According to his

autobiography Ramsay played "a couple of non-league matches as a trialist" for Rangers and was signed

by the club at the age of 15.

Allan Cairns, the photographer who took the picture in September 1985, said the photo was not

one of Rangers first team but a side picked to play a testimonial match. A Rangers spokesman said:

"Ramsay was a trialist in that testimonial game. He trained with us for a few months after that but then

got injured."
Quick Facts!
1. Gordon Ramsay was raised from the age of 5 in the same town Shakespeare was born.

2. Gordon has also been the center point of internet fame, through a variety of memes (ideas or

jokes). These include image macros, with texts quoting his very famous lines from reality shows. The

quotes themselves are mostly insults or criticism given to other chefs. Here are just a few examples:

Other memes of him often include parts or screenshots taken directly from his television
shows. There is always room for improvement, so there are very, very many of these image macros,
too many to fit into one page.

3.Gordon cares about fitness as much as he does about filming. Ramsay has participated in
more than a dozen marathons, three ultra-marathons, three half-Ironmans (which span 113 kilometers,
swimming, biking and running) and competed in the Ironman World Championship twice.

4. Gordon Ramsay was once threatened at gunpoint while filming. Apparently, while filming
an episode on a dock, after having fished, an argument appeared between the filming crew and the
fishermen, leading to the latter pointing their rifles at Gordon himself. After leaving, they contacted
the police, which politely invited them to leave the country and never come back.