Terry O'Neill
British photographer
A jazz drummer.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
Who helps you get things done?
Craft & work
Question
Which writers or artists most influenced your work?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What made you decide to stop something you were known for, and how did you know it was time?
Time & hindsight
Question
What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?
Time & hindsight
Question
What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Craft & work
Question
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
No, not at all. I grew up on an estate in Gloucester, with no real sense of what I wanted to do, but I was never afraid of hard work or getting stuck in. School didn't always suit me, but when I found myself in a kitchen at 18, washing up, everything clicked. It was the energy of the space, the pace and the teamwork that I fell in love with.
Tripsmiths source ↗
Others on this question
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Jenny Agutter
English actress
When I was very little, I thought it might be possible to be an angel.
Paterson Joseph
British actor and author
A private detective.
Robert Bathurst
English theatre and television actor
Wimbledon champion. I won the title frequently when playing against a pebbledash wall at home in Ireland.
More from Tom Kerridge
View profile →The people that already do it, Lourdes Dooley, Aaron Mulliss, Nick Bearshaw, Claire Kreigenfeld and all of their amazing support team, and of course the amazing Alex Longstaff who has to deal with my childish antics on an hourly basis.
There’s a huge amount of chefs that I find inspiring and have been influential in my career from early days. People like Marco Pierre White and the Roux brothers are amazing, but even now there's some fantastic young chefs that are creative and exciting.
It’s very easy to get caught up in a habit of work hard and play hard. I couldn’t tell you how much I used to drink in a week – I haven’t got enough fingers. I own two pubs and had built up a reputation of being the best party person in the industry. It got to a point where I realised I was getting too old to be that guy. Now I enjoy the challenge of being on a stag weekend for three days, but drinking Diet Coke and coffee.
Everything that’s happened to me was because I said yes to everything and gave it a go. I never thought, wouldn’t it be good if I got two Michelin stars and my own TV shows. I just tried my hardest at everything I got the chance to do. If I could give the younger me advice I’d just say, never underestimate graft. Give up on sleep, work very hard, and it will pay off. Graft graft graft. And never give up.
For me, too many chefs and too many restaurants are too precious about what they serve. They create what they see as a temple of gastronomy and it becomes an experience of how fantastic everything is, rather than 'just come and have a nice time'. That's it... it's that simple.
Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma. I’m a big sports fan and Italia 90 was such a massive part of my life when I’d just turned 17. That tune just builds and builds. I can imagine a massive coffin disappearing down while he’s singing. What better way to go?
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