Gordon Ramsay on living in Oxfordshire council flats

The Michelin-starred chef, 56, was born in Johnstone and grew up in Scotland until the age of nine, before moving to England with his family.

The renowned chef has since found worldwide success with an empire consisting of numerous TV Series and 58 restaurants across the globe.

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However, he recently spoke about his tough upbringing on the High Performance podcast, revealing his mum Helen Cosgrove acted as his “mother and father” and described as having an “amazing bond” with her.

Gordon Ramsay and his mum Helen Cosgrove (Image: PA)

Mr Ramsay was scouted by Rangers whilst playing in youth team football in Oxfordshire but moved back down to the county after a "devastating" knee injury cut his promising football career in Scotland short.

He said: “I came back down to Banbury in Oxfordshire and lived in a council flat with my sister and got into college and into catering as a way of becoming independent and moving further away from the upset that was in my mind in a daily basis.

"It was really painful, brutally painful, especially when your mates are making it and you're seeing the headlines, and purposely not watching the news and not finding out the scores on a Saturday afternoon as you want to move away from that.

"It was that moment my mum taught me ‘pick yourself up, dust yourself down and go again’.”

He went on to speak about the pride of buying his first flat which he did at age 19.

He said: "At the age of 19 I bought my first flat, a tiny little one-bedroom flat in Banbury.

"That was my payoff. I felt then, s*** I am proud. I have a mortgage and a flat. I have a mate staying there but I am also progressing my career.

"I was in this cycle to better myself quickly because of the letdown of my father."

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He also praised The Banbury Roundtable, a local charity that helped with the buy his first kitchen equipment.

He said: “There was a charity called the Banbury Round Table, I think every town has these round table charities, they paid for my first set of f****** whites, they bought my first set of knives, they bought my first floppy hat.

“Everyone asks why I do so much for charity, it started with charity.

"If it wasn’t for that incredible moment, it was £62 for a set of knives, two chefs' jackets and horrendous trousers and f****** ridiculous clogs that no one could walk in and all of a sudden these knives where my possession and my tools."

Mr Ramsay has previously claimed he was involved in Oxford United’s youth team during his younger years.

He told BBC Radio Four’s Desert Island Discs in 2002 he was spotted by a Rangers scout while playing for Oxford United's youth team.

And in an interview with the Evening Standard in 1998 he was also quoted as saying: “It was during a county match when I was 15 that I was spotted by an Oxford United scout.

“Then, during an FA Youth Cup match against Arsenal when I was 16, I was spotted by a Glasgow Rangers scout.”

In his autobiography, Humble Pie, Mr Ramsay said he played for Broughton and North Newington FC and Banbury United while studying at North Oxfordshire Technical College.

Phil Lines, Banbury’s manager at the time, said: “He was a young left-back who played for our reserve team and had a few games for the first team. He was an excellent prospect. He reminded me of Stuart Pearce.

“He was actually a very quiet and introverted kid, he was very focused on his own game.”