"Marguerite Patten gave me my first inspiration to cook."  so says Gary Rhodes.
"I had decided to do this lemon sponge for Sunday lunch one day. I remember turning it out at table and seeing everyone drool as this intense smell of lemon filled the room and the thick lemon sauce dripped down over the sponge."
Nigel Slater writes of happy hours spent lost in her 'Cookery in Colour' as a boy.
They were not the first and nor will they be the last to be inspired by this extraordinary woman.

Our full interview with Marguerite includes contributions from Brian Turner, Valentine Warner and her daughter, Judith Patten.

Germany 1944. Christmas Day in Stalag Luft 1 PoW Camp where Potage Churchill is on the menu... and a home-brewed cocktail of dubious origins...

Geoff Rothwell joined the RAF in 1939 at the age of 19. He miraculously survived 71 operations as a bomber pilot, but in September 1944 his plane crashed on the Dutch island of Texel and he spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft 1 in Germany.

He talks about the food experiences of the 'kriegies' (prisoners of war) while looking at the illustrated diary kept by his room-mate, Bohdan Arct , later published as Prisoner of war: my secret journal.

Part One - Oberürsel Interrogation Centre 

Part Two - Stalag Luft 1 - Red Cross Parcels

Part Three - "Belt Up" - German Rations

Part Four - Kriegie Recipes and Spam