We continue our series focusing on people who love their food, with Pavarotti
"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." Luciano Pavarotti, My Own Story
NAME: Luciano Pavarotti
AGE: 69
FAVOURITE FOODS: Pasta, spaghetti with tomato sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano Parmesan cheese, Salami, Parma ham.
Born the only son of a baker in Modena in 1935, Luciano Pavarotti grew up to become, quite literally, the world's biggest opera star.
A boyhood football star, Pavarotti shunned the beautiful game to indulge in his favourite hobby of singing by joining the Modena chorus. A training diet rich in pasta and an aversion for weighing scales quickly led to his rapid expansion around the waistline. However, overindulgence in momma's spaghetti, which he always covers generously with his favourite Parmesan cheese, had little impact on his singing performances, which drew critical acclaim for his debut as Rodolfo in La Boheme at the opera house in Reggio Emilia, Italy in 1961. International recognition soon followed, though Pavarotti's thoughts were never far from his stomach when on tour. On a trip to Miami he is rumoured to have requested that the hotel deliver a large butcher's slicer to his room. Apparently the tenor bought his personal supply of meat on tour for snacking.
Pavarotti boosted his success with televised opera performances in the US in the late 1970s, though it was his association with football's 1990 World Cup in Italy that cemented his fame. Pavarotti's rendition of Nessun Dorma captured all the emotion of Paul Gascoigne's semi-final tears. Pavarotti performed to more than 150,000 people at London's Hyde Park, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and then Prime Minister John Major. He also teamed up with colleagues José Carreras and Plácido Domingo to form the hugely successful three tenors.
However, rumours that success had gone to his stomach resulting in Pavarotti's weight ballooning to 21 stone were refuted by the big tenor. "I don't know who made that up. But no-one will ever know the real truth. Unless they weigh me after I'm dead, that is," he said.
After 40 years the world's best-selling classical artist will soon hang up his white hanky for the final time. Pavarotti is currently completing his farewell tour, though retirement does at least promise a last chance for an encore in the kitchen.