Knowing where and when you were conceived is not something everyone has to deal with. Some people escape that particular anecdote.
Not me though. The information was foisted on me at the tender age of 15 by my mother when we visited Greece on a family holiday. Nobody wants to be happily eating their moussaka and hear the words “this reminds me of that time when you were conceived”. I tried to fight it. “Please no,” I said, attempting to shield my ears but she plowed on with no regard for my delicate sensibilities. “It was on one of the islands, Mykonos, which is ironic because Mykonos is famous for erotic gay love rather than erotic straight love.” Stop. Saying. Erotic. Please. After a few more embarrassing words on the spirits of Dionysus and Eros she abated thankfully.
Now TV chef Jamie Oliver has confessed that one of his claims that his parents conceived him at the end of the Southend Pier is in fact not true.
He’s admitted that he told the story to wind up his mum, Sally, and then it became apart of his interview repertoire.
“When I started doing interviews, me and my mum have quite a banter-ish relationship and one of the ways of me stitching her up was starting this fallacy about being conceived at the end of Southend Pier on a windswept night.”
“I never stopped telling the story. In actual fact this is the first time I’ve ever said it’s not true,” he told the Mirror.
In many ways, Jamie’s story is probably a whole lot classier than the truth. I wouldn’t exactly want to be broadcasting my son’s conception story, but I will say this; it was no windswept night on Southend Pier.
