User:Kitdayan/sandbox/Kit Maharajh

Kit Maharajh new article content ... birth_date = July 12, 1963
 * birth_place = Hampstead, UK
 * death_date =
 * death_place =

}} Kit Maharajh; (born 12 July 1963) is a Britiish, English Entrepreneur.
 * education = "O" Level Maths, English Lang, Technical Drawing, German,
 * restaurants = AC Marriott - Belfast NI - Opening Autumn 2017, Guest Chef @Don Giovanni Manchester UK
 * television =

Early life
Novelli was born in Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France, in 1961. He left school at 14 and worked in a bakery before, at the age of 20, becoming a personal chef to the Rothschild family.

Career
Novelli moved to Britain in 1983, working in several establishments including the Chewton Glen Hotel in New Milton, Hampshire, later running Keith Floyd's Maltster's Arms restaurant in Totnes, Devon. He won the first of two Michelin stars as Chef Patron at Gordleton Mill in Lymington, Hampshire and was awarded Best Outstanding Dessert by Egon Ronay before becoming head chef at the Four Seasons Hotel on Hyde Park Corner, London. In 1996 he founded his restaurant, Maison Novelli, in Clerkenwell, London. He opened further restaurants in London, France and South Africa (where his second wife is from). Novelli also expanded into the gastro-pub market, his first being The White Horse, in Harpenden, Hertfordshire but decided not to get involved in another restaurant due to family commitments until 2015. He opened his first of many brasserie concept restaurants in the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Liverpool but withdrew the brand after a mutual decision between the brand and the owner in January 2016 and is due to open in the soon to be built AC Marriott in the City Quays, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Novelli Restaurants Limited
In 2016 The Novelli Restaurant Limited brand was created and the Restaurant Team devised three offerings mainly aimed at quality hotels. Terrané by Jean-Christophe Novelli - Brasseries, Bistro '61 by Jean-Christophe Novelli - Bistro style and Rapido by JCN Short menu concept and will be developing a further fine dining offering in the near future. Due to be completed in May 2016, Don Giovanni's Restaurant in Manchester will have a concept menu added to compliment their existing menu. More details on how the concepts work and the brand support that is available can be requested via this link to the concept request form.

Accolades
Jean-Christophe Novelli is a 5 out of 5 AA Rosette and multi Michelin Star award winning chef who has also been dubbed “The Nation’s Favourite French Chef”, European Chef of Year finalist representing Great Britain, recipient of the prestigious Egon Ronay Dessert of the Year award. Voted Chef's Chef of the Year by his peers. His Novelli Academy has been voted one of the Top 25 Cooking Academies in the World, which he still owns and performs his own demonstrations. Jean-Christophe has made 'countless' appearances on both British and US TV including Chef Academy for Bravo TV. On 5 September 2007 Novelli was privilaged and very proudly awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts from the University of Bedfordshire.

TV appearances
He appeared in the first series of The Games in 2003 and also became a head chef on Hell's Kitchen in 2005. In the same year he opened his cooking school called the Novelli Academy at his Hertfordshire farmhouse near Luton. In December 2006 Novelli launched a range of frozen ready meals in association with frozen food manufacturer Findus; these ready meals were discontinued in 2008 but the chef continues to endorse a range of various products.

In 2005 Jean-Christophe became one of two Head Chefs in the second series of Hell's Kitchen with Gary Rhodes. Jean-Christophe became the head of the blue kitchen. But this time the two chefs had to teach members of the public rather than celebrities.

In 2006, Novelli appeared on The X Factor: Battle of the Stars, performing in a group with fellow chefs Aldo Zilli, Paul Rankin and Ross Burden.

He has been a contestant on Family Fortunes with his fiancée Michelle Kennedy and on 2 May 2007 appeared on the "You're Fired!" on BBC Two, the show following "The Apprentice" on BBC One.

2009 saw Jean-Christophe presented his own show for Bravo TV (USA) called Chef Academy where he tried to train 9 aspiring chefs into professionals over a 10 part series (originally planned for 6 episodes).

2012 Jean-Christophe was a judge on Britain's Best Chef (ITV) and a welcome guest on Loose Women (ITV) as well as many other shows across the Uk Networks.

2014 JC appeared on ITV's This Morning, ITV Loose Women. the last Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV

2015 Jean-Christophe appeared on the Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2 showing that he had a good sense of humour.

In October 2010, he teamed up with the Potato Council for a nationwide competition called Master Spud which gave the winner a chance to star alongside him in a national TV advert.

Jean-Christophe performs many demonstrations around Europe, Russia and may parts of the World including Taste of Dubai and South Africa passing on his passion for cooking and trying to teach people to cook more healthily using little saturated fats, low sugars and no salt.

Jean-Christophe has in the past put his name on a range of foods including, Findus ready meals.

5 November 2013 Jean-Christophe launched his last recipe book, "Simply Novelli". In it he aimed to eliminate the myth that French cuisine is difficult and time-consuming to prepare. With over 100 recipes, all with fabulously detailed photographs, this recipe book was a must have for any foodie. Written in a clear concise way, Jean-Christophe described how to cook French classics quicker, easier and where possible healthier.

In an interview on the BBC's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Novelli famously burnt and scratched (with a knife) Jonathan Ross' desk in a cooking demonstration.

Late 2015 saw Jean-Christophe feature in BBC1's A Question of Sport helping the mystery guest cook in his academy, David Seaman.

January 2016 saw a lengthy appearance of Jean-Christophe showing the uses and benefits of Rape Seed Oil on the very popular BBC1 show, Countryfile.

He was also a member of the celebrity audience in Derren Brown's TV special "The Gathering."

He regularly appears on day-time TV including Loose Women, This Morning and Alan Titmarsh's past shows including his last show.

The Novelli Academy
Jean-Christophe Novelli opened The Novelli Academy in 2005 and is still based in his Hertfordshire home. He entertains both the voucher buying public but Corporate entertaining is increasingly more popular to the point that external larger premises are having to be used. This enables Jean-Christophe to reach more of the public whilst remaining true to his values and passing his passion for healthy cooking by replacing salt and sugar with his own unique flavours and reduce the amount of saturated fats.

Personal life
Novelli has been divorced twice. His first wife, Tina, was of English descent; he has a daughter from his first marriage, Christina Novelli (born 1985), who is a musician and songwriter. He married his second wife, Anzelle Visser, from Stellenbosch in South Africa, in 1999. At the time she was a model and also worked at Maison Novelli. They divorced in 2005. Novelli got engaged in November 2007 to his girlfriend of 2 years, Michelle Kennedy. On 29 August 2008, Kennedy gave birth to a boy (Jean Frankie) in Los Angeles. In July 2012, Kennedy gave birth to another son (Jacques) in St Johann in Pongau, Austria. In April 2016 Michelle and Jean-Christophe announced in Hello Magazine that they were having another baby due in September 2016.

With nearly 30,000 followers on Twitter and many thousand followers on Facebook, Jean-Christophe Novelli is a very popular chef both for the public and is highly respected in the trade.