Andrew M. Smyth

Andrew Michael Smyth (born 1991) is a Northern Irish reality television personality, engineer, and baker. He was a finalist on the BBC television programme The Great British Bake Off (Series 7) and appeared in the 2018 Great Festive Bake Off.

Andrew Smyth
Born
Andrew Michael Smyth

1991 (age 29–30)
Holywood, County Down
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (MEng, 2013)
Occupation
  • Engineer
  • Baker
Known forThe Great British Bake Off
Websitecakesmyth.com

Early life and education

Smyth was born in Holywood, County Down.[1] His parents are Kay and Nigel Smyth.[2] He was inspired to start baking as a child by his mother and grandmother.[1] He attended Sullivan Upper School, where he completed the gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award in 2009.[2] He worked at the local Oxfam charity shop and did work experience at George Best Belfast-City Airport.[3] He studied aerospace engineering at the University of Cambridge, where he completed research on satellites at Sidney Sussex College.[1] He graduated from Cambridge in 2013.[4] Smyth sings as a tenor in the Sitwell Singers in Derby.[1]

Career

After graduating, Smyth joined Rolls-Royce on the graduate scheme.[3][5] His role at Rolls-Royce includes developing greener and quieter future aircraft.[3]

The Great British Bake Off

Smyth told Radio Times he has been a fan of the show since the first series.[6] He competed in Series 7, which started on BBC One in August 2016.[7] Smyth was described by The Tab as being one of The Great British Bake Off "heavyweights".[8] His father described his organisational skills as an asset for his baking.[9] In the eighth week of the competition, Smyth constructed a set of pies shaped like mechanical cog-wheels, based on those designed by Leonardo da Vinci.[1] During his time on the show he was featured in several newspapers, and interviewed by the Geekly Chronicles.[10] Heidi Stephens wrote in The Guardian that Smyth should win the competition as he was a "baking assassin" who brought a "bonus ray of sunshine to the Bake Off tent".[11] Whilst the competition was won by Candice Brown, he appeared in the highlights video.[12] One year after he appeared on the show he toured the UK to meet the other competitors one-year on.[13]

Life after Bake Off

Since The Great British Bake Off, Smyth has become a broadcaster and social media chef. He has been involved in several online campaigns, with the British Council, Warner Bros. and Institution of Engineering and Technology. He shocked audience members of the Lorraine show in 2016 when he nearly chopped his fingers off.[14] He discussed flexible working and combining creativity with engineering at the Royal Society.[15] He baked a rotating jet engine cake with gingerbread blades for Prince William when he visited Rolls-Royce in November 2016.[16][17][18] He discussed engineering and baking with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and interviewed Ozak Esu, the winner of the Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2017.[19][20][21] He was a headlining act at the 2017 Maker Faire.[17] He worked with YouTuber Nikki Lilly to create a "cake for space".

Smyth created a series of recipes and videos for Warner Bros. to celebrate the launch of the Fantastic Beasts film series, included a strudel and baked nifflers.[22][23] In 2017 Smyth became an ambassador for the Northern Ireland Pork and Bacon Forum.[2][24] He delivered a TED talk at the University of Cambridge in 2017.[25] Smyth has created a series of videos with the British Council that explore the connection between engineering and baking.[26][27] The series explored caramel, concrete and meringues.[26][27] In 2019 Smyth made a rainbow prism cake and accompanying video for LGBT STEM Day, an annual worldwide celebration of LGBTQ+ scientists and engineers.[28]

References
  1. Saunders, Tristram Fane (2016-10-25). "Who is Andrew Smyth? Everything you need to know about the Great British Bake Off finalist". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  2. "Bake Off's Andrew Smyth: 'I spent hours on Prince William's cake'". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  3. "Catalyst career interview: Andrew Smyth" (PDF). www.stem.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  4. "Cambridge graduate to compete in Great British Bake Off". Varsity Online. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  5. "The BIG difference between this year's Bake Off contestants". Woman Magazine. 2016-08-24. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  6. "Bake Off 2016 finalist Andrew: "I absolutely want to do more baking"". Radio Times. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  7. "Great British Bake Off: Meet the Northern Ireland jet engineer in the mix - whose speciality may just be rolls". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  8. "Bake Off's Andrew: It sounds like Oxford students know how to party". University of Cambridge. 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  9. "GBBO star's parents 'very proud'". BBC News. 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  10. The Geekly Chronicles, Andrew Smyth | Series 5 Episode 1 | Guest Interview, retrieved 2019-01-02
  11. Stephens, Heidi (2016-10-25). "It's always the quiet one: why Andrew should win the Great British Bake Off". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  12. BBC, Celebrating the series and winner - The Great British Bake Off 2016 - BBC One, retrieved 2019-01-02
  13. cakesmyth, Tour De Bakers, retrieved 2019-01-02
  14. "Great British Bake Off's Andrew Smyth nearly chopped off his fingers on live TV". Evening Standard. 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  15. "Research culture: changing expectations" (PDF). royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  16. Derby Telegraph, Prince William and Andrew Smyth, retrieved 2019-01-02
  17. "Bake Off finalist speaks out about programme's move to Channel 4". The Independent. 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  18. "Bake Off star Andrew Smyth makes cake fit for Duke of Cambridge". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  19. IET, IET Andrew Smyth - Engineering a Gingerbread House, retrieved 2019-01-02
  20. cakesmyth, 2017 YWE Ozak Esu Interview, retrieved 2019-01-02
  21. Editorial, E&T (2016-12-16). "GBBO's Andrew Smyth shows the IET how to engineer a perfect gingerbread house". eandt.theiet.org. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  22. Wizarding World, Fantastic Beasts Inspired Apple Strudel Recipe | Wizarding World, retrieved 2019-01-02
  23. Wizarding World, Fantastic Beasts Inspired Baked Nifflers Recipe | Wizarding World, retrieved 2019-01-02
  24. cakesmyth, The Ultimate Bacon Sandwich - Campaign with NI Pork, retrieved 2019-01-02
  25. TEDx Talks, Thinking about thinking: check your mental jenga | Andrew Smyth | TEDxCambridgeUniversity, retrieved 2019-01-02
  26. British Council, What can caramel teach us about concrete bridges? | FameLab, retrieved 2019-01-02
  27. British Council, The science that links space shuttles and meringue | FameLab, retrieved 2019-01-02
  28. Pride In STEM (2019-06-28), Baking with Pride - LGBT+ STEM Day Special, retrieved 2019-07-04
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.