Nico Ladenis, a self-taught star who only ever did things his way

TIME is a filter that warps. It's often repeated that the first British chef to win three Michelin stars was Marco Pierre White, but he didn't cross the finish line alone: in 1995, the guide that year awarded two restaurants run by Brits the highest accolade - one was White's, the other was Park Lane's Chez Nico, run by Nico Ladenis. Ladenis died on September 10, aged 89.

- David Ellis

While White was lauded for his youth - he was just 33 at the time-Ladenis arguably had the more impressive boast: he was entirely self-taught. Few chefs of his calibre ever are.

Born in Tanganyika and of Greek descent, Ladenis had never trained as he'd never planned to cook. Armed with an economics degree, and with a few years in the gas and oil industry in him, the gig he was gunning for was one with Shell. They told him he wasn't a company man - given his incandescent temper, perhaps they were right-and so Ladenis, having helped a pal open a restaurant, headed to France with his wife Dinah-Jane. They lived for a year dining out for lunch and supper. That was 1972; in '73, aged 37, he opened Chez Nico on Lordship Lane. It was far more expensive than anything else around; it was also immediately full.

It was one of those restaurants - like Le Gavroche that changed the way the British ate, that stirred spice into the staid London dining scene. It was not just the food, which was classically French Ladenis apparently taught himself using Masterpieces of French Cuisine by Francis Amunategui - it was his uncompromising attitude.