>A self-taught chef, Heston Blumenthal’s route to the top has been an unconventional one, involving rule-breaking, unusual experiments and an exploding oven.
In 1982, when Heston was sixteen, he and his family went to a three-star restaurant situated beneath towering cliffs in Provence.  None of them had experienced anything like it before-not just the extraordinary food but the beauty of the surroundings, the delightful smell of lavender in the air, the sounds of chirruping cicadas and splashing fountains, and the sheer theatre of waiters carving lamb at the table or pouring lobster sauce unto soufflés.
At that moment, Heston fell in love with cooking and the idea of being a chef.