William Sitwell

William Ronald Sacheverell Sitwell DL (born 2 October 1969) is a British editor, writer and broadcaster. He is also a restaurant critic for The Daily Telegraph.

William Sitwell
Born
William Ronald Sacheverell Sitwell

(1969-10-02) 2 October 1969
London, England
EducationEton College
Alma materUniversity of Kent
OccupationEditor, columnist
EmployerThe Daily Telegraph

Life and work

Sitwell is the grandson of Sacheverell Sitwell, the British writer and critic, the great-nephew of Edith Sitwell, poet and critic, and is the heir presumptive to the Sitwell Baronetcy.[1][2][3][4] He was educated at Eton College and the University of Kent, where he 'wrote a stupid kind of gossip column in the student newspaper.'[5][6]

He has written several internationally successful books on food: Eggs or Anarchy: The Remarkable Story of the Man Tasked with the Impossible: to Feed a Nation at War (2016), A History of Food in 100 Recipes (2017), The Really Quite Good British Cookbook (2017), and The Restaurant: A 2,000-Year History of Dining Out (2020).[7]

Controversy

He is the former editor of Waitrose Food. In 2018 freelance journalist Selene Nelson emailed Sitwell, suggesting features on vegan-friendly recipes. Sitwell replied "How about a series on killing vegans, one by one. Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly? Expose their hypocrisy? Force-feed them meat?".

After Nelson made Sitwell's response public, Sitwell resigned.[8][9] The row caused much controversy over free speech and whether making an offensive joke was a sackable offence.[10] Sitwell later met Nelson in person to apologise.[11] He has since joined The Daily Telegraph as a restaurant critic, and hosts a dining programme with the paper called William Sitwell's Supper Club.[12][13] In April 2020 he appeared as a guest in an episode of the MasterChef TV programme, challenging contestants to produce "a plant-based dish".[14]

References
  1. Sansom, Ian (6 May 2011). "Great dynasties of the world: The Sitwells". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  2. Sitwell, William (11 March 2011). "Edith Sitwell, eccentric genius". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  3. Latham, Laura (9 June 2019). "Inside William Sitwell's historic family home". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  4. "Person Page". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  5. Sitwell, William (2 October 2019). "Eton's Tory alumni are part and parcel of what makes my old school so great". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  6. "William Sitwell: My Life in Media". The Independent. 10 September 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  7. "William Sitwell books and biography | Waterstones". waterstones.com. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  8. "Waitrose Food editor quits over vegan row". 31 October 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  9. editor, Jim Waterson Media (31 October 2018). "Waitrose magazine editor quits after joke about killing vegans". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 November 2019.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  10. Williams, Zoe (31 October 2018). "Why William Sitwell's vegan mockery is not a sackable offence | Zoe Williams". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  11. Sitwell, William (5 January 2019). "William Sitwell meets the woman who called him out for 'vegan-killing' comments: This time I'd 'gone too far'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  12. "'Killing vegans' ex-editor joins Telegraph". 3 January 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  13. "The Telegraph presents William Sitwell's Supper Club – Telegraph Events". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  14. "BBC MasterChef, Series 16 Episode 9". Retrieved 17 April 2019.
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