Never trust a TV chef

You can’t turn the TV on these days without being bombarded with the very latest cookery program, busy telling us what is tasty and what is healthy. But all may not be what it seems.

A television chef recently had to grovel for his celebrity life after he inadvertently recommended a deadly plant as an ingredient in one of his overly fancy salads.

The plant in question was henbane, otherwise known as stinking nightshade – surely the name is a giveaway you great big nonce.

Anyone for some stinking salad?

Henbane is actually toxic and can cause hallucinations, convulsions, vomiting and in extreme cases death. It’s a close relative of deadly nightshade, was used by Dr Crippen to kill his wife in 1910, and is thought to have been the main ingredient in the poison Romeo took in Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet."

The chef in question is quoted as saying the mix up is “all a bit embarrassing”. Possibly the culinary understatement of the year.

For more weird stories try these