Olivia Potts Explained
Olivia "Livvy" Potts is a British food writer and caterer.[1] [2] [3]
Early life, education and legal career
She grew up in Newcastle and studied English at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[4] During her time at Cambridge she was president of the Cambridge Union.[4] She then studied law at City, University of London[5] and was called to the bar in 2011, practising criminal law for five years.
Food career
Soon after Potts had qualified as a barrister, her mother died suddenly aged 54. Potts found that cooking, especially baking, helped her to cope with her loss, and took this further by enrolling for a nine-month pâtisserie diploma course at Le Cordon Bleu in London. She wrote about this part of her life in a memoir, A Half Baked Idea, which was published in 2020,[6] [7] and won the Debut Book section of the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. She won the Guild of Food Writers award for Food Writing in 2020, for her writing in Slightly Foxed, The Guardian, Grazia, The Spectator and Glamour.[8] Her second book, Butter, a cookery book, appeared in 2022;[9] [10] Nigella Lawson said of it that Potts "explains, educates, inspires, and writes like an angel with devilish wit".[11]
She writes on food for publications including The Spectator[12] and North-West England website Confidentials.com.[13]
On 27 February 2023, Potts was a guest on BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity.[14] Her hypothetical donation to this imaginary museum was a jar of marmalade.
Personal life
Potts lives with her husband and child in the west of Greater Manchester.
Selected publications
- Book: Potts . Olivia . Butter: a celebration . 2022 . Headline Home . London . 978-1472284648.
- Book: Potts . Olivia . A half baked idea: how grief, love and cake took me from the courtroom to Le Cordon Bleu . 2020 . Penguin . 978-0241380468.
Notes and References
- Web site: Olivia Potts . United Agents . 21 February 2023.
- Web site: Alumna Olivia Potts Success Story . www.cordonbleu.edu . Le Cordon Bleu London . 21 February 2023.
- News: Girling . Anna . A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts book review . 21 February 2023 . TLS . 14 August 2020.
- Potts, Livvy. "President of the Cambridge Union". The Pelican, Issue 17, Lent term, 2009, pp. 20-1. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- Web site: Olivia Potts: Education . LinkedIn . 21 February 2023.
- News: Smith . P. D. . A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts review – from crown court to creme caramel . 21 February 2023 . The Guardian . 1 August 2019.
- News: Morris . Sophie . A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts: how baking saved writer from grief . 21 February 2023 . inews.co.uk . 2 August 2019 . en.
- Web site: Awards 2020 Winners: Judges' Comments . www.gfw.co.uk . . 21 February 2023.
- News: Ferrier . Morwenna . Whipped, hip and drizzled in honey: why Britain is back in love with butter . 21 February 2023 . The Guardian . 7 October 2022.
- Web site: BBC Radio 4 - The Food Programme - The Food Programme’s Books of 2022 . BBC . 21 February 2023.
- Web site: Lawson . Nigella . Butter by Olivia Potts . Nigella.com . 21 February 2023 . en . 15 September 2022.
- News: Olivia Potts . 21 February 2023 . The Spectator.
- Web site: Celebrated food writer Olivia Potts joins the Confidentials.com team . Confidentials . 21 February 2023 . en . 13 January 2023.
- Web site: BBC Radio 4 - The Museum of Curiosity, Series 17, Episode 2 . BBC . 21 February 2023.