COOKING mashed potatoes for Princess Anne and preparing lunch for pop legend Neil Diamond are all in a day’s work for Bolton chef Martyn Rigby.

For the two VIPs have been among the star-studded guests the 22-year-old has catered for at the plush five-star Royal Garden Hotel in London’s Kensington High Street.

But Martyn’s biggest thrill is cooking for the Bolton Wanderers players and staff who often use the hotel while playing fixtures in the capital.

The former Bolton News paperboy is even making the headlines himself. Earlier this year, he and a colleague emerged with a bronze medal in a prestigious UK-wide cookery competition at the Birmingham NEC. And Martyn was up against older chefs with much more experience.

He said: “We were given an hour to prepare two pre-starters, a fish starter and a main course.

Apart from taking bronze, we won the hygiene award for having the cleanest work area.”

Martyn, currently back in Bolton to visit his parents Carol and Peter Rigby at the family home in Sweetloves Lane, Sharples, always wanted to become the next Jamie Oliver.

He studied food technology at Sharples School and later enrolled at Bolton College’s Manchester Road campus to take a level one National Vocational Qualification in catering and hospitality.

Later, he was “headhunted” and asked if he wanted to work at a top London hotel.

In 2006, he began a two-year apprenticeship at the Royal Garden. Since then, he’s been promoted three times and, as Martyn says, he’s working his way up the ladder.

“I want to keep doing that, but hoping eventually to be able to move around in my job,” he added.

“Star-gazing” has become something of an occupation too for the chef. Apart from the likes of Neil Diamond and Princess Anne, Martyn has spied other celebrities in the hotel such as Elvis Costello and Susan Boyle.