Dyslexia sufferer Jamie Oliver reads first book aged 38

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has completed reading a book for the first time and picked The Hunger Games sequel as his chosen novel.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver Photo: Channel 4

By Radhika Sanghani and agencies

The Telegraph -  25 Jun 2013

Jamie Oliver, who has written almost 20 cook books, has just finished reading his first book at the age of 38.

He chose to read Catching Fire, the 391-page sci-fi sequel to Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

The world's richest chef, with a fortune of £150m, said he had "never got through a book" before reading Catching Fire because of his dyslexia.

Speaking at the weekend, when he was asked what the last book he read was, the dad-of-four said: "I'm dyslexic and until recently I'd never got through a book.

"But I read Catching Fire. I loved disappearing into a story."

He had previously admitted that he "got bored easily" when reading, and said: "I've never read a book in my life, which I know sounds incredibly ignorant but I'm dyslexic and I get bored easily.
"The one book I nearly finished was Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.
"But then the author came to Britain and didn't stop slagging me off for five years. So on principle I threw it on the fire. He's since apologised and we've made up.
"I should probably read the rest now."
The chef also admitted that he "secretly collected driftwood" to make chopping boards, which he said cost a "small fortune" in shops.
He said: "I secretly collect driftwood.
"It might sound a bit mad, but a solid bit of driftwood makes for a perfect chopping board, the kind you'd pay a small fortune for in a department store."