Career
lieutenant was here that the talents of Jamie Oliver were first spotted. She had a profound influence on a generation of celebrity chefs including Oliver, Theo Randall and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the latter stating that she had had more influence on him than any other person he had worked with. She wrote a series of cookery books and presented a twelve-part television programme for Channel Four, "The Italian Kitchen", in 1998.
She was born Clemency Anne Rosemary Swann in Bedford.
Six months before her birth, her father, Flight Lieutenant Clement Nelson Swann, age 26, and a seven-month-old sister were killed in a domestic fire. She was brought up in Scotland and Surrey.
Her mother, (Elizabeth) Anne Lawrence, daughter of Sir William Lawrence, 3rd Baronet, settled near Guildford, Surrey, and Rose studied at the Guildford College of Art, where she gained a Bachelor in Fine Artist Her career as a professional chef began at Nell"s restaurant in New York, after which time she returned to London.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001.
She was in remission from breast cancer for five years before it returned and metastasised to her brain in late 2009 or early 2010. She died at home in Marylebone, London, aged 71, on 28 February 2010. She had been working on what was to be her last book (with Ruth Rogers), the River Café Classic Italian Cookery Book.
Her other works (many of which were co-authored with Ruth Rogers) include the River Café Cookbook, the River Café Cookbook Green and River Café Pocket Books: Salads and Vegetables.
