Bobby Davro’s Diet Tips (and Jon Pertwee Looking Cool), 1986

It’s not all Victoriana and Chomondley-Warners around these parts.

I love a recipe in any form, and I find this 1986 TV Times All Star Cookery by Jill Cox fascinating. Apart from the too many pictures of a breakfast-tellying Richard Keys. It purports to let you into the food secrets of the TV stars but, for the most part, the celebrities recipes are tailored to the theme of their current TV programme.

Therefore, Cilla Black with “Surprise, Surprise!” has a selection of vaguely “surprising” recipes, like “Gosh! Pots” which are, in fact, stuffed peppers. Gian Sammarco, TV’s Adrian Mole, has lunchbox ideas, and some reason Benny Hill is the master of kids cooking. Stan Boardman has a selection of German recipes and Derek Jameson has a load of food named after the newspaper industry.

There are a few show-offy types who parade their actual recipes on show – Michael and Cheryl Barrymore are wearing their fanciest 80s jumpers (it is pretty much a book demonstrating patterned jumpers in many ways) and demonstrating what they’d make for a dinner party.

Bobby Davro is the resident diet expert, with his “year of the body”. And by the way he describes how “the ounces creep on” (ounces!) I’m guessing it wasn’t a serious weight problem he had.

This book got dusted off again by me fairly recently when my small son became quite the scarecrow nerd. We watched endless episodes of Worzel Gummidge (still brilliant) and I remembered the Worzel-themed recipes in here. Hence this pic of Jon Pertwee looking rather dashing and a collection of scarecrow recipes that he definitely used to eat all the time.

(And “Aunt Sally Colly” is the maddest way to cook cauliflower ever)

Added for Gallifrey Base – the missing Pertwee recipe page: