Nigella Lawson

Early work

Lawson originally worked in publishing, first taking a job under publisher, Naim Attallah.[9] At 23, she commenced her journalism career after Charles Moore had invited her to write for The Spectator.[9] Her initial work at the magazine consisted of writing book reviews,[19][20] after which period she became a restaurant critic there in 1985.[8] She went on to become the deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986 at the age of 26.[8][21] Lawson occasionally drifted into the public's eye, attracting unwanted publicity in 1989 when she admitted voting for Labour in an election as opposed to her father's Conservative Party, and then criticized Thatcher in print.[5] Regarding her political relationship with her father, Lawson has stated, "My father would never expect me to agree with him about anything in particular. And, to be honest, we never talk about politics much."[22]

After her stint at The Sunday Times, Lawson embarked upon a freelance writing career, realizing that "I was on the wrong ladder. I didn’t want to be an executive, being paid to worry rather than think".[6] In the United Kingdom, she wrote for The Daily Telegraph, The Evening Standard, The Observer, and penned a food column for Vogue[23] and a makeup column for The Times Magazine,[6] as well as working with Gourmet and Bon Appetit in the United States.[24] After just two weeks working on Talk Radio in 1995, Lawson was sacked after she had stated her shopping was done for her which was deemed incompatible with the radio station's desired "common touch".