peter griffiths
1. What was your first job?
Paper boy, James's Newsagent, Marston Green, Birmingham
2. What was your first job connected with cooking?
Commis chef, Kunzle's Confectioners & Restaurants, Birmingham
3. What is your favourite restaurant?
Pierre Orsi, Lyon, France
4. What is your favourite hotel?
Grand Hyatt, Taipei, Republic of China
5. Are there any foods/ingredients you refuse to eat or cook with? If so, why?
Squid - it is uninspiring in flavour and texture
6. What is your favourite prepared food product?
Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate
7. Who is your favourite supplier of the moment and why?
Love's fruit and vegetables suppliers (0121-377 6418) - it always maintains very high standards and nothing is too much trouble
8. Describe an eating-out experience that turned into a nightmare
Celebrating my 50th birthday with friends at Le Chantilly in New York, I was told that the $50 tip we left was not enough. I was still arguing with the head waiter as I left
9. Where is your favourite holiday destination?
Barbados
10. What do you do to relax?
Play golf
11. Who would be in your ultimate "fantasy brigade"?
International Youth Skill Olympics medal winners Colin Sayers and Simon Hulstone, and any of the gold medal winners from Hotelympia 1996, plus a few chefs from my judging team
12. Which person do you aspire to be like, and why?
Richard Branson. What achievement. What a bank account!
13. If not yourself, who would you rather be?
The Prime Minister
14. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My inside leg measurement.