Life's not supposed to be easy'

Is there anyone as successful yet down to earth as Jamie Oliver? Here, the bestselling author talks about how a bit of the tough stuff can make you strive harder

He's adored the world over, is the top-selling non-fiction author in UK history, has a TV career spanning quarter of a century and, somehow, always seems so normal.

Maybe it's Jamie Oliver's enormous brood of kids; him and wife Jools have five children, aged between seven and 22-years-old, which must surely keep him in touch and on his toes. Or maybe it's the fact that he's neurodiverse.

Now, Oliver, 49, is back in the limelight, with his second children's book, Billy And The Epic Escape (Puffin Books, £14.99), and he's talking openly about his struggles growing up with dyslexia and ADHD. He knows that being the second most successful British author alive today is an incredible feat for a man who looks at a page and sees the words jump around. But he also knows that being neurodiverse has made him and kept him- who he is today.

'Conventional writing has never worked for me,' says the chef and author, noting he uses dictation as his weapon in order to visually tell a story.

There's an important message about confidence within the book, something Oliver struggled to grapple with.