Delia denies retirement reports

Delia, who became famous for teaching cookery basics, was reported to say she was "reciped out".

TALKING POINT
Did Delia teach the nation to cook? " Delia doesn't like food at all. She has no grace or passion when she cooks "
Christian Tiburtius, UK

But she told the BBC that while her famous How to Cook book and TV series had been "a very, very stiff project", she had other cookery books in the pipeline.

She joked: "I'm getting to be a bit like Frank Sinatra with all these farewell concerts."

Catering company

Delia has been on the board of Norwich City Football Club since the 1990s, and has since taken over catering for the club and set up an upmarket restaurant there.

She said she was planning to continue to combine football and cooking.

"If football's going to survive - and we've suffered a great blow with the Carlton and Granada debacle - we have to have an income.

"What comes through the gate doesn't pay for the football.

"We are filling the restaurant every day of the year, not just on match days, and that's bringing in vital income."

Delia has a multi-book contract with BBC Books, and the first four titles are due out in the autumn.

More than 10 million of her books have sold over the years.