You're not the original, Jamie

When Jamie Oliver burst into our lives six years ago, an instant celebrity at the age of 23, he came with a nickname that was catchy and a little bit saucy: The Naked Chef. The title of his first book and television series, it was so successful that it was used time and time again.

Since 1999 his books have included Return Of The Naked Chef, Happy Days With The Naked Chef and The Naked Chef Takes Off. There has even been a Naked Chef calendar.

Whoever came up with it must have congratulated themselves on such a brilliant name...as did Billie Young nearly 30 years before. Young was the first to bring out a cookbook called The Naked Chef, in 1971.

But while Oliver used "naked" to convey pared-down recipes and fuss-free cooking, Young's book is subtitled An Aphrodisiac Cook Book and is full of recipes with erotic names. It details the aphrodisiac qualities of everything from oysters to birds' nest soup.

Although her book may be long forgotten, Young is not best pleased with Oliver. She knows exactly what she would say to him if she met him: "Why did you steal my title?" She divides her time between Florida and Australia, where Oliver is a household name.

She said today: "My husband was furious. I said, 'You can't copyright
a title'. If you could, Jamie Oliver would be in court right now with me. I think he has infringed on what I've done by using that title. It was way ahead of its time when I did it."

A spokesman for Oliver said they had no idea there had been an earlier Naked Chef; the name was coined by the boyfriend of Pat Llewellyn, the producer who discovered Oliver. He said: "We've not used the phrase The Naked Chef for about four years."

Young wrote her book after being involved in a celebrated literary hoax. An American journalist, Mike McGrady of Newsday, was so appalled by the success of Harold Robbins-style blockbuster novels that he decided to write a book with no redeeming features, but lots of sex.

He got 24 colleagues to write a chapter each and published it in 1969 under the pseudonym Penelope Ashe - allegedly "a demure Long Island housewife". Naked Came The Stranger became a bestseller, substantiating his fears about the taste of the US public.

Young, McGrady's sister-in-law, pretended to be Ashe, giving interviews in low-cut dresses and extolling the joys of sexual liberation. "I did all the TV interviews," she said. "Everybody fell for it. I loved it."