James Martin is a British chef and television presenter best known for hosting Saturday Kitchen on BBC One from 2006 to 2016.
Since leaving the BBC, he has presented James Martin’s Saturday Morning on ITV and built a growing restaurant and cookbook empire across the UK.
Who is James Martin?
James Martin was born on 30 June 1972 in Malton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England.
His family worked as farmers on the Castle Howard estate, and growing up on that land shaped his deep interest in seasonal British produce and unpretentious cooking.
He started washing pots in kitchens at age eight and was working alongside professional chefs before he reached his teens.
By his early twenties, he had trained in Michelin-starred restaurants in France and become head chef at Hotel du Vin in Winchester.
Martin is a Fellow of the Craft Guild of Chefs and a permanent member of the Roux Scholarship judging panel.
He is also an Honorary Professor of the University of West London School of Hospitality and Tourism and an Honorary Graduate of York St John University.
Beyond the stove, he is a confessed petrolhead who races vintage cars, flies private aircraft, and has driven round the Monza circuit in Jackie Stewart’s Formula One car.
His passions for food and motorsport have shaped much of his television work and public persona.
Early Life of James Martin
James grew up in Welburn in North Yorkshire, where his father Ian Martin worked as a catering manager on the Castle Howard estate.
His mother Sue Martin helped in the estate kitchen, and watching her cook gave James his earliest experience of food preparation.
He attended Amotherby School in Malton and later Malton School, where he played rugby and cricket. At Malton School, his undiagnosed dyslexia made academic life difficult.
He has spoken openly about the condition in interviews, saying he mainly failed cookery class because of his severe dyslexia, while also joking that the same condition often makes reading an autocue on live television a challenge.
At 13, a trip through the south of France in an HGV with his father introduced him to the chateaux kitchens of Saint-Émilion.
That experience, tasting fine food and wine at the source, hooked him on the idea of becoming a professional chef.
James Martin Age / Birthday
James Martin is 54 years old as of 2026, born on 30 June 1972. His zodiac sign is Cancer, a sign often associated with a strong bond to home, comfort, and nurturing through food.
He has spent his career making precisely that kind of cooking his trademark on television.
James Martin Ethnicity and Nationality
James Martin is British by nationality, born and raised in North Yorkshire, England. His ethnic background is White British.
His family’s deep roots in the Yorkshire farming community have influenced both his cooking philosophy and his on-screen personality.
James Martin Education
Martin enrolled at Scarborough Technical College at 16 to study catering formally. He became Student of the Year for three years running, a turnaround from his difficult secondary school years.
He has credited head lecturer Ken Allanson at Scarborough with giving him the confidence to push himself as a young chef.
Martin later said that Allanson managed to keep him both humble and hungry enough to learn, taking him from the bottom of the class to the top.
After Scarborough, he trained in France at the Hostellerie de Plaisance in Saint-Émilion and at the three Michelin-starred Maison Troisgros in Roanne.
Back in England, he worked under Antony Worrall Thompson at One Ninety Queen’s Gate in London and spent time in the kitchens of The Square and Harvey’s before joining Chewton Glen as junior pastry chef.
James Martin Career
James Martin’s career spans more than three decades, covering restaurant kitchens, BBC and ITV television, a growing catalogue of cookbooks, live touring shows, and a chain of restaurants and cookery schools across the UK.
Early Career and Television Debut (1994–2005)
In 1994, just before his 22nd birthday, Martin became head chef at the original Hotel du Vin in Winchester, one of the first properties in the group.
His menus attracted critical attention and gave him a platform to move into television.
His TV debut came in 1996 on Ready Steady Cook, where his natural energy in front of the camera quickly won an audience. He also joined The Big Breakfast as a regular cooking contributor during the same period.
He has described those years as exhausting but formative: starting prep at 4 am, driving to the Big Breakfast set, filming by 7.30 am, then heading straight back to start lunch service in the kitchen.
Other early credits include James Martin: Yorkshire’s Finest, a series exploring Yorkshire cuisine, and Stately Suppers, which he co-presented with Alistair Appleton for BBC Food.
He also appeared on Channel 4’s Richard & Judy, cooking comfort food in viewers’ homes.
In 2005, he partnered with Camilla Dallerup on Strictly Come Dancing, finishing in fourth place.
He published his first cookbook, Eating in with James Martin, in 1998, opening a run of bestselling titles that would stretch across more than two decades.
Saturday Kitchen and BBC Years (2006–2016)
Martin became the lead presenter of BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen in 2006, a role he held for ten years. The show made him one of the most recognised faces in British food television.
His run on Saturday Kitchen produced a string of highlight moments, guest chefs, and live cooking challenges that kept the programme at the top of Saturday morning ratings. He left the BBC in 2016 after a decade at the show.
The BBC years also included James Martin: Home Comforts (2014-2016), which ran for three series on BBC One, and the BAFTA-winning Junior Bake Off in 2013, which he co-hosted with Mary Berry.
He also presented Operation Hospital Food from 2011 to 2014, and hosted United Cakes of America and The Great British Budget Menu.
His 2006 autobiography noted it as a landmark year: Strictly, a number one book, and his first major solo presenting role all arrived at the same time.
ITV, Adventures, and Current Work (2017–Present)
After leaving the BBC, Martin joined ITV and, in 2017, launched James Martin’s Saturday Morning, which is filmed from his Hampshire home.
The show earned Best Food Show at the TV Choice Awards, cementing his continued place at the top of the weekend cooking slot.
That same year he presented James Martin’s French Adventure, revisiting the French chateaux and kitchens that first inspired him as a teenager.
James Martin’s American Adventure followed in 2018, and James Martin’s Great British Adventure expanded the format to the UK.
He has been a regular presence on ITV’s This Morning since 2016. In 2025, he embarked on his first major UK live tour, Plates, Mates and Automobiles, selling out venues including the Hammersmith Apollo.
The tour combined cooking demonstrations with storytelling and his trademark car content.
Martin is also a columnist for the Financial Times and teaches at The Kitchen Cookery School at Chewton Glen. He is a permanent member of the Roux Scholarship judging panel.
James Martin Restaurants and Business
Martin’s restaurant business has grown steadily alongside his television career. His flagship restaurant is James Martin Manchester, which The Sunday Times listed in its Top 100 UK Restaurants.
He also runs The Kitchen Cookery School and restaurant at Chewton Glen in Hampshire, which he opened in 2017.
The James Martin Kitchen chain operates in several travel hubs, including Stansted Airport, Lakeside, Manchester Piccadilly train station, and Glasgow Airport.
He also has a restaurant at the Talbot Hotel in Malton, his hometown in Yorkshire.
Martin has been a keynote speaker at events across the UK, USA, India, South Africa, Australia, and beyond, commanding significant appearance fees as a recognised culinary authority.
James Martin Cookbooks
Martin has written more than 20 bestselling cookbooks across his career. Below is a selection of his major titles:
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Eating in with James Martin |
| 2008 | Sweet Baby James |
| 2014 | Home Comforts |
| 2016 | More Home Comforts |
| 2017 | James Martin’s French Adventure |
| 2019 | James Martin’s Great British Adventure |
| 2020 | Islands to Highlands |
| 2021 | Butter |
| 2022 | Potato |
James Martin Awards and Recognition
Martin has received several significant honours across his career:
- Craft Guild of Chefs Special Award (2013)
- Named TV Personality of the Year at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards (twice, including 2021)
- Honorary Professor, University of West London School of Hospitality and Tourism (2010)
- Honorary Graduate, York St John University
- James Martin’s Saturday Morning won Best Food Show at the TV Choice Awards
- James Martin’s Food Map of Britain won the RTS Daytime and Early Peak Award
- Permanent member of the Roux Scholarship judging panel
James Martin Net Worth and Salary
James Martin’s estimated net worth is $5 million as of 2026.
His income flows from a combination of his long-running television career, restaurant business, cookbook royalties, live touring, and commercial endorsements.
Television Income
Martin has worked continuously in television since 1996, first with the BBC and from 2017 onward with ITV.
His decade presenting Saturday Kitchen on BBC One and his ongoing role on James Martin’s Saturday Morning for ITV represent his core broadcasting income over thirty years.
He has also been a regular on This Morning and appeared across multiple BBC and ITV documentary series.
Restaurants and Business Ventures
His restaurant business spans James Martin Manchester, the Chewton Glen cookery school and restaurant, the James Martin Kitchen airport chain, and the Talbot Hotel restaurant in Malton.
Together, these operations represent a substantial commercial enterprise built around his brand.
His live touring, with sell-out dates at major UK venues, adds a further income stream that his early BBC years did not include.
Cookbooks
With more than 20 titles across nearly three decades, Martin’s cookbook catalogue generates consistent royalty income.
Titles like Butter (2021), Potato (2022), and Islands to Highlands (2020) have sold well on the back of his ITV Saturday morning profile.
Each new TV series typically produces a companion book, giving him a recurring commercial cycle of screen and print income.
James Martin’s Partner Kim Johnson
James Martin is engaged to personal trainer Kim Johnson. The two first appeared together publicly in March 2024 when they were spotted shopping in London’s Mayfair.
That summer, they took a trip to France, and by October 2025 Kim moved into James’s country home in Hampshire.
Martin reportedly proposed to Kim over the Christmas period in late 2025. Kim appeared to confirm the engagement in January 2026 when she shared a photo on Instagram captioned “So proud of my fiancé.”
The couple appeared together on the red carpet at the TV Choice Awards in early 2026, with Kim wearing her engagement ring on full display.
James Martin First Wife
James Martin has never been married. Before Kim Johnson, Martin dated TV producer Louise Davies for 12 years.
They had met on the set of Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2011 and split at the end of 2023. Martin has no children from any relationship.
James Martin Social Media
Martin is active on Instagram under the handle @jamesmartinchef, where he posts recipes, behind-the-scenes footage, and updates on his restaurants and tours.
He is also on X (formerly Twitter) at @jamesmartinchef, where he has been active since February 2013.
His personal website, jamesmartinchef.co.uk, carries his full biography, event listings, and recipe archive.
He also regularly cooks live on This Morning and posts those clips across his social channels.
Summary
James Martin built one of British television’s most durable cooking careers by combining serious culinary training with a warm, straight-talking Yorkshire personality that worked equally well in a Michelin-starred kitchen and on a Saturday morning sofa.
His move from the BBC to ITV in 2017, the continued growth of his restaurant business, his live touring, and his 2025 engagement to Kim Johnson mark a new chapter for the chef who long said he would never settle down.
