There are only a handful of personalities whose enduring popularity places them in that rare category where they are instantly recognized simply by their first name. “Ainsley” can only mean Ainsley Harriott, who, after fifteen years as one of the country’s favourite TV chefs and presenters is something of a national institution. Best known for his twenty series of Ready Steady Cook, which continue to air on tv channels around the world, and with eight solo primetime cooking series under his belt, he has become the master of fresh, fun, accessible cuisine. Ainsley’s food reflects the needs of real life. It is diverse and delicious but easy to prepare and speedy to cook.

Aged 16, Ainsley trained at Westminster College and embarked on a career in London’s top hotels and restaurants, starting out as a junior trainee at West End restaurant Verrey’s, where he graduated to commis chef before moving to The Strand Palace as Chef Tournant. He also started his own catering company. “It was an exciting period,” says Ainsley. “One day I’d be creating posh nosh for Elton John; the next I’d be making steak and kidney pud for Princess Margaret. I’ve worked at every level of the catering business - and I think that it’s an enormous advantage to know how to make delicious beans on toast as well as Lobster Thermidor.” With over twenty years experience working in professional kitchens, Ainsley has a very wide understanding of his craft. Hotels and restaurants include The Dorchester, Brown’s, The Hilton, The Westbury, Café Pelican and Quaglino’s.

In the early 1990s Ainsley worked as Head Chef of the Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground and it was during one cricket season that BBC Radio asked him to present More Nosh, Less Dosh for BBC Radio 5. A call from BBC Pebble Mill soon followed and Ainsley moved in to become resident chef on BBC tv’s Good Morning With Anne And Nick. This in turn led to Ready Steady Cook and his tv career took off.

Ready Steady Cook started airing in 1994. Sixteen series and well over a thousand episodes later, it celebrated twelve happy years in 2006. When he became series host in 2000, the show gained a new lease of life and extra viewers. During 2009, the show will approach two thousand episodes.

Can’t Cook Won’t Cook, his popular daytime cookery challenge, ran on BBC1 for several seasons.

In the late 1990s, Ainsley starred in a number of solo cookery series on BBC2; Ainsley’s Barbeque Bible, Ainsley’s Meals in Minutes (two series), and Ainsley’s Big Cook Out. He also hosted BBC1 lifestyle series Party of a Lifetime, and The Hidden Camera Show, which took him to new audiences with a Saturday night entertainment series.

In an exciting and groundbreaking move, Ainsley arrived on screen in the USA in January 2000 with The Ainsley Harriott Show. Produced by Buena Vista TV in conjunction with Merv Griffin Productions, this innovative “talk show in the kitchen” aired nationwide and brought a new look to American daytime television. On completion of more than 100 shows for NBC, Ainsley moved on to host the US version of his UK show, Ready Set Cook, for The Food Network.

Back on BBC2, Gourmet Express ran for two series in 2000 and 2001. In a logical next step to the ‘meals in minutes’ theme, Ainsley explored interesting recipes from around the world that could be ready in a flash. During 2004/2005, Ainsley taped two series of Off The Menu - a thirteen part cookery challenge show especially for South African television while for the BBC he made 50 Things To Eat Before You Die, a prime time special for BBC1 in 2004, which took him around the world hunting for our ‘must taste’ foods.

In 2005, the BBC invited Ainsley to present their long-running daytime series, City Hospital. He proved very popular in the role, and hosted over 100 live daily shows from one of the UK's busiest hospitals. During 2007, he also hosted The National Lottery Draw Live on Saturday nights and appeared in the BBC’s Take on The Takeaway. September 2008 saw Ainsley tracing his ancestors in BBC1’s prestigious primetime hit, Who Do You Think You Are?

Ainsley is also a No.1 best selling author, and has twelve solo books to his name. He has sold more than two million books worldwide, with co-editions in Dutch, Danish, Slovenian, Romanian and American.

Titles include; In The Kitchen (1996), Can’t Cook Won’t Cook (1997), Ainsley’s Barbecue Bible (1997) and The Big Cook Out (1999).

Meals In Minutes (1997) has been his biggest selling title to date. The theme is quality, delicious and interesting recipes, from kitchen to table in minutes. Gourmet Express One and Two (2000 and 2001) took this theme to a new level, with more exotic flavours and ingredients, but still accessible, practical and easy to prepare. In 2002 and 2003, Ainsley revisited the ‘meals in minutes’ theme with Low Fat Meals in Minutes and All New Meals in Minutes.

My Favourite Hot & Spicy Recipes (2003) is a compilation of his international favourites and in 2004, Ainsley joined forces with the British Olympic Team to produce a cookbook of healthy fun recipes in Olympic Cookbook. The autumn saw the launch of his Friends & Family Cookbook and, in 2006, the publication of The Feel Good Cookbook which became the 2008 paperback, Fresh and Fabulous Meals in Minutes.

His upcoming book, Just Five Ingredients is due to be published by BBC Books in summer 2009.

For the last eight years Ainsley has been the tv voice of Covonia cough mixture and in 2002 Ainsley teamed up with Procter and Gamble to become the face of Fairy. Over the past seven years they have created a successful series of tv advertisements for their famous washing-up liquid and new power spray products.

Ainsley’s own-brand food products have gone from strength to strength and are a familiar sight not only in the UK’s supermarkets, but worldwide. 2008 has seen sales reach new heights, particularly in his cous-cous and soup range. And his popularity continues to take him round the world; over the past few years he has made riotously successful appearances at live events and on major tv programmes in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and most European countries.