The 40-year-old joked: "I still smell of that horse s***. Apparently they didn’t like their starters so I would’ve just given them their money back rather than dumping two tonnes of s*** on my front door.

"It was a bit weird and they’ve got a point, I don’t doubt that but all I said was I loved my time in France and I lived above a horse butchers shop, that’s all I said. I wasn’t actually at the racecourse, that was Janet, yet I took the cop for it."

Gordon’s life on big screen - May 17 2007
Gordon Ramsay has hit new heights of stardom with news he will be immortalised on the big screen - and who would be better than his old pal Russell Crowe to play him?

The celebrity chef, famed for his foul mouth, has sold the rights to his autobiography Humble Pie which will be made into a film due to be released in 2009, the Telegraph reports.

And although Gordon insisted the cast has "nothing to do with him", he said: "I don’t want it to be anyone well known as I’d like an actor to be discovered on the back of this. It would be a tough part. Russell Crowe is a favourite actor of mine - we get on very well."

Gordon refused to elaborate on the size of the deal made with the film’s producers, saying: "It’s not about the money. It was a conscious decision, although I thought it was a bit of a joke when it first came through.

"They likened it to Billy Elliot. From a potentially talented football player I became a chef against my dad’s wishes," he added.

Protest at Gordon’s ’horse meat’ show - May 16 2007
Gordon Ramsay was the target of a pungent protest against eating horse meat.

Demonstrators dressed as horses from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) Europe dumped a tonne of horse manure outside Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s in London.

It was a protest against the chef’s Channel 4 programme The F-Word tonight in which journalist Janet Street-Porter explores the possibility of eating horse meat.

Janet, who cooks and tastes the meat, is seen offering people samples and asking for opinions.

Anita Singh, of Peta Europe, accused Gordon of mounting a ratings-grabbing "gimmick".

She said: "Ramsay has really landed himself in deep dung with his latest ratings gimmick.

"Will it be a family dog next? Chickens, pigs, cows and horses all suffer fear and discomfort when they are robbed of their lives for nothing more than a fleeting taste or a TV rating."

A statement issued for The F-Word said Janet will be "exploring the viability of sourcing an alternative red meat food source - horse meat - and its relative nutritional merits compared with meat more traditionally favoured".

"Although perfectly legal to eat horse meat in Britain, the usual method of obtaining good quality product is to order from abroad," it added.

"While the item includes a visit to rural France where sales of horse meat are rising, it doesn’t extend to a discussion on animals being transported beyond their country of origin.

"Neither does it seek to suggest anything other than the paramount importance of the ethical welfare of any animals bred for consumption."

Gordon: US Nightmares are worse than UK - May 11 2007
Gordon Ramsay says the Kitchen Nightmares he’s come across in the US are 10 times worse than the UK.