CELEBRITY chef turned soccer tycoon, Delia Smith, has made it into a dictionary of quotations... for her love of eggs.The nation's favourite recipe-spinner, who lives near Stowmarket, cooked up a storm when she told viewers of her How To Cook TV series – in no uncertain terms – how to boil an egg.

By James Fraser

CELEBRITY chef turned soccer tycoon, Delia Smith, has made it into a dictionary of quotations... for her love of eggs.

The nation's favourite recipe-spinner, who lives near Stowmarket, cooked up a storm when she told viewers of her How To Cook TV series – in no uncertain terms – how to boil an egg.

Hardly rocket science, one may think – but now her fancy description of the humble egg will join other new entrants into the second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, published today.

The cracking quote in full reads: "A hen's egg is, simply, a work of art, a masterpiece of design, construction and brilliant packaging".

The director of Norwich FC is joined in the book by one-time Felixstowe resident, the actor Sir John Mills, whose famous line "I have worked with more submarines than leading ladies" is also included.

It is not the first time the cookery writer, who published her first recipe in 1969, has found herself in a dictionary.

Last year, her reputation for concocting no-nonsense dishes was recognised in the Collins English Dictionary as "doing a Delia".

Her London-based spokes-man said that she was "surprised but delighted" with the news.

weblinks

www.deliaonline.com

www.askoxford.com

NEW quotations in the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, which spans from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, include:

Supermodel Linda Evangelista, far left: "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day."

John Cleese, left: "It's probably why I've had to have a hip replacement." (on the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch).

Fat Lady Clarissa Dickson Wright, right: "The feminist movement seems to have beaten the manners out of men, but I didn't see them put up a lot of resistance."

Playwright Arnold Wesker: "A journalist is somebody who possesses himself of a fantasy and lures the truth towards it."

Sir John Mills, far right: "I have worked with more submarines than leading ladies."

The second edition, which adds to the Oxford English Dictionary of Modern Quotations, edited by Elizabeth Knowles, is published today.

Who was the political wife?

The Evening Star has three copies of the book to give away to the first three correct answers to this simple question: "Which long-suffering political wife and scientist (and new entrant into the book) said in a sensational perjury trial: "I think we explored the further reaches of 'for better or for worse' more than some other married couples"? Answers on a postcard please, by Monday, to James Fraser, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN.