need maybe seven hours, perhaps a nap at the weekend.
What time do you wake up (and why)?
Some time before 5 a.m. in summer, a little later in winter. I sleep with sliding doors open, no curtains. It is usually the birds that wake me, even gulls a joyful thing. It is the time I write or summer-garden, though I sometimes get caught up in social media, before my wife gets up.
Do you have a morning ritual?
I like to make tea in the dark. I think my senses may be heightened. Earl Grey in a pot, no milk.
How does being awake early affect your life?
It gives me time to be me, before the day begins.
What time do you sleep?
Mostly around ten-ish, give or take.
Does your sleep vary through the year?
I am up earlier in summer, more energetic, more excitable and so are the birds. I don’t know that I get more done.
Has your sleep pattern changed?
Maybe less sleep with age, though it is more likely I have carved out time to write and/or garden that I don’t have in the evening when I need to cook and digest the day.
Is the light important?
It is everything. I think I am addicted. The shift from night, the sometimes timid start of day. My world wakes. Particularly if there is sun, of course. I write by an open window facing south-east; the light draws me outside, catches the vase of flowers beside me (there are always flowers). Most mornings I take a photo, same photo, same view, of the sunrise. I tell myself it is like Monet’s water lilies or haystacks but I think I am mapping my life in mornings.
What do you like least about being awake early?
I can lose an hour reading useless links to politics or old YouTube, purely because I can.
What do you like best about being awake early?
The energy, the time it gives; it feels like a gift (apologies for romance but it is true). Sometimes it allows me to escape to the allotment, feed it, water it, sow seeds, connect with land and wild.
How would you sum up your thoughts on your mornings in 100 words or less?
Sometimes I feel it is my secret, like Narnia, outside time or at least the rest of the day. I cannot believe everyone doesn’t know about it and take an occasional step through the wardrobe.
First, could you tell me a little about yourself?
My name is Jamie Oliver, I’m a chef, writer and child health campaigner. I was born in 1975 in Southend, Essex. I have five fantastic kids and live mainly in north London.
What time do you wake up (and why)?
Work days I tend to wake up at 4.45 a.m. by my phone and the gentle music of a band called Aqualung. Saying that, I’ve normally switched it off within three seconds. I get up that early because I start official work at 7.30 a.m., where time is planned within an inch of its life, so if I want to go to the gym or squeeze a meeting in that can’t wait I use early mornings as my trump card to do what I want. I find it really useful. If I was off work and didn’t have kids jumping on me I probably could easily lie in. I don’t remember when that last happened.
Do you have a morning ritual?
I tiptoe to my bathroom where I fill a big bath with hot water full to the brim with a squeeze of Johnson’s purple baby bubble bath which I’ve taken a shine to. I have a thing about the ritual of the bath. I found my dream tub in a scrapyard eighteen years ago: a lucky find, Clarice Cliff made it, solid porcelain. The bath is my only quiet time, true relaxation, to relieve my aching muscles. I take thirty minutes to try to think and visualise my day ahead. I then pack my clothes, get in my gym gear and run, cycle or scooter to the gym.
How does being awake early affect your life?
I think it arms me to be more productive, more creative, gives me a head start that I feel I need as many people look to me for answers and clarity from 7.30 a.m. onwards so I need to start before others tend to. The effect is, I think, you have a different rhythm, maybe it feels like a cheat. I crave early morning peace and quiet and space for thought and to appreciate nature, particularly birds singing. Dad used to wake me up early as a kid, he said people died in bed – so I guess it’s stuck.
What time do you sleep?
I go to bed about 10 p.m. if I can and I sleep very well, but actually physically going to bed is one of my hardest challenges in the day. I think there’s always so many reasons not to just go to bed, so like a baby I set my watch to remind me to get in bed. Pathetic, but it works really well.
Does your sleep vary through the year?
No, it’s always the same unless I’m on holiday when I tend to chill out more and have a lie in.
Has your sleep pattern changed?
Yes. I used to get sleep very wrong. I didn’t understand it or respect it, I took it for granted like a luxury not a necessity. I only used to get three or so hours’ sleep for about six years, which got me in the end. For the first time I felt really sad, which has never been my default as I’m a very positive person most of the time so I had to change my thinking and doing this has changed my life. Sleep is as important as nutrition.
Is the light important?
Oh yeah, I crave a little kiss of sun, it feels like a charge, comfort, joy. I’ll follow light like I follow the smell of good food, never direct light unless it’s sunrise or sunset. To have a power nap facing autumn orange light on your face is true luxury joy.
What do you like least about being awake early?
The fear of waking up the kids and especially the baby.
What do you like best about being awake early?
The chance to be one step ahead of most.
How would you sum up your thoughts on your mornings in 100 words or less?
My early mornings are a lonely, self-indulgent, special space that I choose to create for myself because we can. Where time goes at normal speed instead of fast forward.
The little violets’ heads bowed on their stems,
The pre-dawn gossamers, all dew and scrim
And star-lace
Seamus Heaney, Mycenae Lookout, ‘His Dawn Vision’
