A place on the Great British Bake-Off next?....

Saturday's Daily Mail newspaper on Saturday carried an article in the magazine looking at some of the pioneers of cooking in the UK in the 'sixties, prompted by a new book by Italian cook Anna del Conte with a foreword by Nigella Lawson, lately of the courtroom and TV chef du jour.

The article includes a look at other pioneers alongside del Conte, so naturally they've included a short piece by Len on his role as one of the pioneers of making cooking something in the 1960s which men - even spies like Harry Palmer - could do without feeling embarrassed. Len's rather scornful of the modern trend for TV cookery as education and provides a witty rejoinder.

Len writes:

"All TV programmes are designed as entertainment. Watching cookery shows to learn about cooking is like watching a Grand Prix to learn how to drive."

Thanks to Ron Vaughan for the hat-tip.