Personality of the Year
Since including a recipe for human placenta in one of his cookery books, aided by his wife Marie, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has matured into a much-loved TV chef, self sufficiency devotee and fisheries campaigner.
In June he was credited with playing a key role in persuading EU government ministers to lay the foundations for a ban on the controversial practice of dumping fish at sea to avoid exceeding fishing quotas.
Quitting his kitchen, he led a high-profile campaign to ban fish discards based on his Channel 4 TV series Fish Fight. More than 650,000 people – including celebrity supporters Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais and Jeremy Paxman – have signed a petition supporting an end to discards.
The eccentric TV chef’s acclaimed River Cottage series, also for Channel 4, chronicled his efforts to become a self-reliant smallholder feeding himself, family and friends from home- and locally-produced vegetables, eggs and fish.
As well as striving to reconnect people with the food on their plates, he has also found the time to team up with Compassion in World Farming to run the Chicken Out campaign.