The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 36

Weekend 36 OBSERVER SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER 1988 I vh JOHN WILOQOOSE Continued from page 35 Red-hot chef SPONSORINGACHILD IS WORTH EVERY PENNY AND MORE! Wl. MARCO PIERRE WHITE, the chef at Harvey's (2 Believue Road, London SW17 7EG, 01-672 0114), London's 'hottest' restaurant, is only 26. The praise heaped upon him by my fellow members of the restaurant reviewing fraternity is only equalled by his standing in the restaurant guides. Though he first opened his doors in January 1987, he has a star in the Michelin, and in the just-published 1989 Good Food Guide he has been elevated from 1420 to 1720 points in one go. This puts him just behind the 1820 establishments of Albert Roux, Raymond Blanc and Pierre Koffmann, with each of whom he has worked or done a stage, and on a par with Alastair Little, Michel Bourdin (of the Connaught) and another of Marco's teachers, Nico Ladenis.

In spring 1990, Thames will transmit a six-part television series starring Marco, to coincide with publication of his 35-recipe cookery book, White Heat. I asked him whether this promotion wasn't perhaps too rapid, and might have the effect of leaving him exposed and vulnerable? Marco admitted to a degree of nervousness. Every cook has his bad nights: he could easily become the prey of a young journalist on the make or an old one trying to burnish a fading reputation. He has a temper. But it is impossible to doubt the man's passion or deny his talent.

The 29 fixed-price menu at Harvey's, where he still does only 45 covers, even in his newly-expanded premises, is one of London's great eating experiences, and great bargains. PAUL LEVY meets Marco of Harvey's restaurant reopening on Thursday. dealer father (there are still traces of Yorkshire in Marco's speech) and an Italian mother (which accounts for his romantic name), Marco grew up, except for six years in Italy, surrounded by grouse moors and rivers. (He remains sentimental about the hare, and though he is one of the country's best game cooks, won't have it on the menu.) With his brooding good looks and Pre-Raphaelite hair, Marco cuts a dramatic figure. During the three months Harvey's has been closed for its refit, he and his wife, Alexandra, have become familiar figures at the tables of London's best restaurants.

It is one of the secrets of Marco's success that he knows how to eat as well as how to cook: all too many chefs don't. Oddly enough, Marco has never been to France or eaten in a three-star restaurant; he has promised the television people that he will eat his first such meal on camera at his hero Michel Guerard's Eugenie-les-Bains. And with the exception of Guerard's Cuisine Gourmande, Marco, who says he is more visual than literary, denies ever having read a cookery book. In the end what matters is the glorious food on the menu: roast lobster with ginger and coriander; fillet of sea bass stuffed with scallops, and fresh noodles on a puddle of intense sauce i made black with squid's ink; Bresse pigeon with cepe ravioli, confit of garlic, and a red wine sauce. It costs just 40p a day to sponsor a child in a poor country, through World Family.

But the difference it can make to a young life is tremendous. It can mean that your child has the chance to go to school, to receive basic medical care and to drink dean water. It Guy Wingate at the former Sussex Operations HQ in St Albans and (inset) in 1943. no sort of reception or any safe house to stay in. Remy, who had run his own Resistance network, rejected this as too dangerous.

He proposed that some of his own agents, who were 'burning to get back to France', should go ahead, on a mission to be known as 'Pathfinder', to prepare the ground. One of these agents was Jeannette Guyot, who, with Jacques Saubestre, Paul Binet and Georges Lasalle, was parachuted into occupied France in the bitterly cold early, months of 1944. In a letter to Remy she describes her arrival. 'I landed pretty heavily as the wind was strong, got rid of my gear and found myself in bright moonlight. I waited a while and suddenly saw a man arrive.

"All right, old chap?" he whispered and then looking at me closely he added, "Oh sorry, this is the first time a woman's dropped in on Jeannette made her way to Paris to look for safe houses. She had a friend whose husband had been taken prisoner: the young Andree Goubillon, who owned a cafe in the 5th arrondissement. Jeannette went there. 'I remember she came into the Mme Goubillon told me in her Paris flat. 'I knew she did this sort of work, and when she asked me, I agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Although there was a Gestapo post just down the road I knew I wanted to do it. I was not And so began the dangerous job of sheltering the Sussex teams. The young agents who turned up at the cafe would say, 'Bonjour ma tame, comment va mm ancle' (Hello auntie, how is uncle?) and show Mme Goubillon a snapshot of a baby. This baby, known as 'Mic-Mac', was one of Colonel Remy's children. One day, seven men and a cache of arms were hidden in the tiny cellar when a German soldier came in.

'If he had been any says Mme Goubillon, 'I would have knocked him on the head and pushed him down the well; but all he wanted was a glass of white wine and a chat about bis wife and She had to feed her extended family in the near-starvation of Paris. 'People were good. They knew something was going on, no questions asked, and supplied can help a whole village raise itself out of poverty through practical, small-scale development. Benefits like these are worth far more than money. And most precious of all is the bond you create with a child, a family and a community.

It's a wonderful experience to see your child growing up learning, developing and gaining in strength and confidence year by year through letters, photographs and regular progress reports. To discover the joy your help can bring, send for a free copy of the World Family Information Pack. Send to World Family, Freepost, 315 Oxford Street, London W1E5EZ. but I knew that if the Germans searched me they would find all sorts of papers. The lorry I'd been hanging on to was slowing down to see how I was.

There was nothing for it: I got up and walked a few yards, waving to the soldiers and saying "Es geht, kein and to my relief they drove Luckily Bechtel was found by a sympathiser, who took him to a discreet clinic. He had fractured the neck of a femur. In spite of this, Bechtel reorganised his network so that sub-agents called on him daily, and not once did he fail to get his message through to London punctually. After the RAF loosed 150 rockets on German vehicles, destroying General von Kluge's Seventh Army, he was able to signal London from his bed on a fifth floor: 'Apart from me and my equipment, there's not a military objective left in Constant danger All the agents in the Sussex network were in constant and very real danger. The most tragic incident involved six young agents, including 22-year-old Evelyne Clopet.

Guy Wingate me with extras here and One of her Sussex 'boys' is William Bechtel, now 93 and living in Les Invalided. Ex-Legionnaire and veteran of Bir-Hakeim, he was one of the first to be parachuted into France. Installed in Rouen, where he had managed to recruit several sub-agents, Bechtel received a request to relay exact information on troop movements for 48 hours from the night of 5 August 1944. He found a bicycle and set off after a long convoy of German vehicles moving towards Rouen. With the cheek of the devil, he hung on to the back of one of the lorries as it climbed a hill.

'One of the NCOs shouted, "Am, (get off, get off) remembers Bechtel, 'but I replied "Ich bin Elsaiser" (I am from Alsace) and got into conversation with them. I was just congratulating myself that the tow- they were giving me would help me to transmit to London in good time when The wheel of the bike caught in a shell crater and Bechtel and the bike parted company violently. 'The pain was terrible, Please send me my free copy of the World Family Information Pack, and tell me more about sponsorship and how I can help. In particular, I am interested in your work in: K7 Born to a Yorkshire antique Far East Africa Asia Latin America WhtraitMd is greatest Name(MrMrsMs)- Address- No- Postcode. fivEd Send co World Family, Freepost, 315 Oxford Street, LONDON W1E 5EZ.

Registered as Foster Parents Plan (U.K.) No. 276035 RAYMOND BLANC Filets de lievre rotls au lard Roasted fillets of hare, wrapped In bacon, served with a red wine sauce For four people. The hare must not be hung for more than two days (this will make the flavour strong enough). Ask your butcher to fillet two hare saddles, each weighing about 900 (2 lb), to produce four fillets in all; trim them and finely chop the bones, which will be used for the sauce. You will need to marinate the hare for 4-6 hours.

Changing the world one child at a time (.4 4 fillets of hare; 6 bacon rashers with rinds removed, finely chopped; salt and pepper; 1 Tbs vegetable oil Barnardo's care about my son For the marinade: 100 ml (4 fl oz) red wine; 3 Tbsp port; 2 Tbsp cognac; 1 sprig thyme; 1 bayleaf the same way I For the sauce: finely chopped bones from hare; 100 ml (4 fl oz) oil; 1 medium onion, diced; 1 celery stick, diced; 1 carrot, diced; 1 Tbsp flow; 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar; 400 ml (14 fl oz) red wine; remembers her as a 'blonde cheerful girl admired by all'. The Germans were in retreat, and Resistance workers had pro-, cured a German lorry for these three Sussex teams. On 9 August 1944, this lorry was stopped by some fleeing German soldiers, who, astonished to see it driven by civilians, demanded the occupants' papers. The false papers were in order, but none of the recruits spoke German. The soldiers began to suspect that they had stolen the lorry, and got them out at gunpoint.

Even then they might have got away with it if the soldiers had not searched the lorry, but arms and transmitters were found. The agents were told to get back into the lorry and the Germans drove, them at top speed towards Vendome. During the journey two- of the agents managed to tear up papers and throw them out of the window, and on arrival one ran away, but the others were taken by the Feld-gendarmen and tortured. Evelyne was seen by a woman employee unconscious on the ground with a rifle bruise on her forehead, her legs scoured by a whip. None of them.

gave anything away, and at 1.30 in the morning they were taken to a quarry near the Paris road and shot. Most missions, however, were successful. If the main purpose of the operation was as an insurance against a last-minute cipher change by the enemy, some very real information was relayed too. The Sussex team at Evreux relayed Field Marshal Rommel's movements from La Roche Guyon which resulted in an RAF raid within minutes. Sussex teams gave confirmation; of the precise VI rocket sites in Northern.

France. Guy Wingate sailed into Normandy in a fishing boat just before the invasion as part of a sub-detachment sent to recover the agents, who stood the risk of being taken for collaborators, a role they sometimes played. Wingate also went with Remy to Brittany, to boost the morale of the local Maquis and to create a 'commando group to assist at the liberation of Paris. This he remembers vividly. 'I came in with Leclerc himself.

We went from building to building near the Arc de Triomphe, clearing Germans out. When we got to the Hotel Majestic some high-ranking officers tried to escape down the metro but we chased them and took them prisoner between Bossiere and Kleber stations. 'I'll never forget how General Stulnagel's suite at the Hotel Raphael smelted of jack-boot It was at this euphoric time that members of the Sussex network got together and renamed Mme Goubillon's cafe and redecorated it with members' photographs. They held regular reunions in Paris, at the cafe, until it closed two years ago. Now that those of the ISO original agents who are left are getting old, it seems a good moment, 45 years after the scheme's formation, to break the silence this side of the Channel and celebrate the bravery of all connected with the Sussex Network.

lumper names, crusnea; i nandful button mushroi chopped; 1 top redcurrant jelly; 2 Tbsp whipping cream MsTFHOO 11 Marinatina and nrnnarinn the hum fillata Mi hu marinade ingredfents together and add the hare Cover with cHngtim. fo, 4-6 hours. Remove fillets from marinade and season witn sail ana pepper. Place 3 bacon rashers so that they overlap one another by 1 cm inch) and then tiahtlv enclose two fillets, securing with string. Repeat for the other two fillets.

Reserve. 2) Making the sauce. Preheat oven to 230 (450 mark 8)ln a frying pan lightly brown the bones in the oil for 3-4 minutes, then transfer into baking tin and roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Add vegetables and roast for further 5 min. Remove the fat, sprinkle with flour and roast for another 10 min.

Remove from oven, add vinegar and boil briskly. Add liquid from marinade and 400 ml (14 fl oz) red wine and reduce by half. Cover with water, bring to the boil and skim off fat. Add juniper berries, chopped mushrooms, redcurrant iellv and whiDDina cream and simmer for "I think you should have seen me in 1975, after my wife died. I was completely round the bend, worried about my boy.

"I think someone might try to take my Milan away and I say listen, if anyone tries, they have no chance. I'll fight to my last drop of blood. i hour. Strain and reduce until you obtain 150 ml (i pfj sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.

3) Cooking the fillets: Pre-heat oven to 230 (450 mark 8). Pan-fry fillets in 1 Tbsp hot oil for 3 min, turning them continuously so that they do not colour. Roast in the oven for 5 min. Discard fat, cover with aluminium foil and return to oven for another 4 min. 4) Serving.

Warm up a serving dish. Remove string from the fillets and cut into 1-cm (i-inch) medallions. Place them in serving dish and pour sauce around. vvax 1 f) XtfGOS. Far be it from us to suggest that the French are not largely responsible for the superior quality of Bordeaux wines.

We merely wish to point out that the iut English did, in their own way, play a part. In medieval times, Bordeaux fell into English hands and its wines were exported to this country for the first time. Anxious that their countrymen would enjoy the finest of wines, the English merchants demanded the best of the bunch tMdtirmal 1 GARDEN GIFT TOKENS When Calvet Reserve delights your palate, don't give all the credit to the French. don't because of Barnardo's. They people are marvellous.

I won't be They're the ideal present for every gardener and plant lover -offering such freedom of choke and solving so many knotty giff problems. They can be used to buy evcryinq for the garden at all our 1500 member Garden Centres and Shops and at Interf lora florists nationwide. Sold all over the UK at the same 1500 Centres and Shops, inl. 5. 5 and 10 values.

they'reeasy to post, easy to redeem rTTiL-ttial "Then one night a woman comes from Barnardo's and says she can help. Milan can stay with me and together we can help Milan because Barnardo's knows how." Milan and his father joined a Barnardo's 'family support project' designed to enable young people with disabilities to stay with their families. These projects largely pioneered by Barnardo's provide a highly professional team of staff and volunteers helping each child to achieve his or her full potential. "Barnardo's teach my lad a lot. He is happy and learning to be a baker.

But I am getting on. I ask what will happen when I am gone? "So even though I am happy, 97 of the time I was thinking of committing suicide because I was worried about him. But now I GARDEN GIFT TOKENS show you care have made a plan for Milan in case I suddenly collapse and die." The plan is part of another Barnardo's innovation the Advocacy Service. Currently for young people with Barnardo links in Scotland and Northwest England, the service protects the life-long interests of young people with disabilities when their parents die or are incapacitated. "I am more happy today than anyone in the world because I am sure Barnardo's care about Milan the same way as I do.

Their Ring (0734) 303998 They insisted that any wines to be shipped back to England were matured in oak barrels and could be pronounced This could only be the case if the wines in question were marvellously clear, and pale red in colour. The 'clairet' wines soon became known as and the fine wines of the Bordeaux region have been referred to as such ever since. Matured in oak barrels for two years before bolt ling, Calvet Reserve is a vintage claret of such superior taste that it's clear the old high standards still apply. scared a little bit what is going to happen to him." Today, Milan trains in a bakery run by the Brothers of Charity. His chances of a permanent job, his instructor says, are good.

a young man of more ability than disability. But without the caring support of his father -and Barnardo's the story could easily have been the other way around. Barnaraos Give young people a chance or write Tor details of nearest SIOCKISIS. Horticultural Trades Association Berkshire Rti7 5AM You won't find it everywhere, but when you do enjoy a glass or two, spare a thought for those English merchants of medieval times who clearly had your interests at heart. CXlvetReserve BOfUKAUX j.

cum in If you'd like further information or would like to make a donation, write to: Barnardo's, Tanners Lane, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex IG6 1QG CALVET THE REAL TASTE OF BORDEAUX.