Ruthie gets Beckham to dish up some spice

HER Thames-side restaurant, the River Cafe, has long attracted some of the world’s most famous names, and now Ruth Rogers has persuaded dozens of them to spill their secrets for a new podcast.

David Beckham (pictured with Ruth), Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Michael Caine are among 38 stars who will appear on the podcast, called River Cafe Table 4, after the table where Lady Rogers oversees the dining room. Her first guest is Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal.

‘There are parallels between theatre and a restaurant,’ Ruthie says. ‘Everybody has to know their lines and everybody has to have made the sauce.’

Caine, whose father was a Billingsgate fish market porter, speaks about his comfort food of choice: ‘Years ago it was sausage and mash, now it’s caviar.’