Presenter biographies: D to F

Many chefs have had colourful lives but few can match Gino D'Acampo's. Born into a poor Neapolitan family, he has cooked in France, Spain and the UK, cooked for Pavarotti and has now forged a successful career in ready-made meals and TV.

Gino caught the cooking bug from his grandfather (a head chef in Naples) and entered the Luigi de Medici Catering College at the age of fifteen, where each summer he was sent to different kitchens across Europe to gain experience.

He came over to England where he capitalised on the incredible growth in prepared foods by joining a major Italian food supplier.

His knowledge of olive oil led to a first TV appearance and soon after a series for UK Food's Good Food Live and guest slots on BBC TWO's Saturday Kitchen. Gino lives in north London with his wife Jessica and son Luciano.

Clarissa Dickson-Wright was no stranger to good food as a child. She was born into a home where eating caviar and pheasant shooting were the norm and pigeons were flown in from Cairo for supper.

Her father was a respected surgeon, but also a violent alcoholic. When Clarissa won a place at Oxford, he refused to subsidise her unless she read medicine. So she went to University College London to study law and was called to the bar aged 21.

She practised successfully as a barrister for several years, before settling on cooking as her true calling. She ran her own catering business, cooked on a yacht in the Caribbean and served 60 meals a day at her London luncheon club.

Her 12-year bout of alcoholism, triggered by the death of her mother in 1978, has been well documented. She eventually turned to Alcoholics Anonymous and, while in a halfway house, she started working at Books for Cooks in Notting Hill, London.

Along the way, she also became one of only two women in England to become a guild butcher (the other is the Queen Mother). She is also the first woman to be rector at the University of Aberdeen. Clarissa now owns the Parachute Café at the Museum of Flight in East Lothian and the Cook's Bookshop in Edinburgh.

She rode into fame in the sidecar of Jennifer Paterson's motorcycle in the TV series Two Fat Ladies and she was often seen as the slightly saner sidekick.

However, Clarissa refused to make another series of Two Fat Ladies after her co-star's death in 1998. In her latest TV project - Clarissa and the Countryman - she joins her lifelong friend sheep farmer Sir Johnny Scott to pay homage to rural Britain, sharing their passion for field sports and traditional country activities.

There's no denying she's a survivor, and her ability to talk on almost any subject along with her down-to-earth philosophy and straight-forwardness makes her a natural star. It's unlikely we'll see her cooking on our screens again, but she has published six books on food and cookery, and it's a sure thing that food will always be part of this lady's life!

Jill Dupleix was born on a sheep farm in Victoria, Australia, and worked as an advertising copywriter for eight years before combining her two great loves - writing and food.

She was the food editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Melbourne Age for six years, from 1994 to 2000, when she was offered the job of The Times Cook with The Times. There had only been three previous Times Cooks since the position was created in 1955. Less than 18 months later, Jill was named Cookery Writer of The Year, by The British Guild of Food Writers.

Jill has written several cook books, including Simple Food (2002), New Food (1993) and its sequel Old Food (1998) and Very Simple Food (2003). Jill also shoots her own food photographs too, and her pictures appear in The Times and in her new book, Simple Food.

She has also written several books with her husband Terry Durack, notably the CD/cook book compilations Allegro Al Dente and Hot Food Cool Jazz. Terry and Jill also edited the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide for six years. Jill makes regular appearances on TV and radio and has been invited as guest chef to hotels and food seminars around the world - from Melbourne's Masterclass to London's Covent Garden.

She has also contributed to Food & Travel magazine (UK), BBC Good Food magazine (UK) and delicious magazine (Australia), and has monthly chats with Sally Loane on ABC National in Australia.

Jill lives with her husband, Terry Durack in Notting Hill. He is a restaurant critic for the Independent on Sunday, and the European Editor for Australian Gourmet Traveller, in which her travel photographs appear. She knows it's quite a life, so you don't have to tell her how lucky she is.

As maître chef des cuisines at the Savoy hotel for 21 years, from 1982 to 2003, German-born Anton Edelmann was worthy of following in the tradition of the great Auguste Escoffier.

After serving an apprenticeship in a small Bavarian village near Munich, Anton got his first professional job at the Savoy as a commis saucier. He later moved back to Germany, then to Geneva before returning to London to work under Anton Mosimann at another of London's great hotels - The Dorchester.

After proving his talents at the Grosvenor House, he was offered the grand job at the Savoy, running the River Restaurant, eight private dinning rooms and three banquet rooms. His cooking is modern international, with English classics and a strong French influence. While he was at the Savoy, a young Giorgio Locatelli was one of his protégés.

In 2003, he left the Savoy to become principal chef at the Directors' Table, the fine dining division of catering company Sodexho.

He has written several books, including Taking Tea at the Savoy and Perfect Pastries. He has also won the Chef of the Year award from Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine and made numerous appearances on TV.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has become known for his earthy, back-to-basics approach to cooking.

At the Glenfiddich Food & Drink Awards in May 2002, Hugh was awarded the Glenfiddich Trophy for his outstanding contribution towards widening the understanding and appreciation of excellent food and drink in Britain and for his ambition to alter people's perception of food. His River Cottage Cookbook won the best food book award.

Born in London, but raised in Gloucestershire, Hugh has been keen on cookery since he was a child. He didn't train professionally, but instead studied at Oxford and travelled to Africa to do conservation work.

When he came back to England, he joined the River Café in London as a sous chef, although he had to leave because he was too messy!

Hugh has since become a familiar face on TV with his series Cook on the Wild Side and TV Dinners. In 1997, he found River Cottage in Dorset which led to three TV series being filmed there. He is also a keen supporter of the organic movement.

Born and raised in Derby to a large Italian family, Silvana Franco enjoyed home-cooked food throughout her childhood. She trained as a chef at High Peak College in Buxton and then went on to finish her studies with a degree in Home Economy at Southbank University.

Silvana got a college work placement at BBC Worldwide writing for BBC Vegetarian Good Food magazine. She soon progressed to senior writer on its sister paper, BBC Good Food, and later moved on to work as Food Editor for M&S Magazine before moving into the world of TV.

She began behind the scenes, working as a food stylist and writer on Can't Cook, Won't Cook, Ainsley's Meals in Minutes, Ainsley's Big Cook Out, Gourmet Express and Friends for Dinner. Her association with Ainsley Harriott continued in New York, where she whipped the Manhattan food team into shape for his NBC series.

However, Silvana's engaging personality soon attracted producers and she soon started to appear on screen, working alongside Ainsley as his sidekick in Gourmet Express 2, and featuring on BBC Two's Saturday Kitchen and Ready Steady Cook.

As well as her TV appearances, Silvana continues to write. In 1998 she worked on Can't Cook, Won't Cook Leaves Home for BBC Books, and in 2001 and 2002 she published two books - Pizza and Pasta, for Ryland Peters & Small.

She also runs a food media company called Fork with two former work colleagues. The girls wrote a weekly column for The Sun called Grill Power that gave cookery advice and recipes to an audience of three and a half million.