Last summer, TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall got into some trouble while sailing with his 10 year old son Oliver off the coast of Devon…

In scary sea conditions, Hugh’s boat began taking on water off Beer Head in the picturesque seaside county, so he called 999.

The Sidmouth lifeboat crew launched, and crew member Naomi Firth – one of the five-strong crew of the Pride of Sidmouth lifeboat – swam out to Hugh’s boat and attached a tow rope, enabling the boat to be winched ashore.

Hugh and his son were thankfully unhurt, but they were shaken up by the experience.

At the time, a spokesman for the Sidmouth Lifeboat crew said, “Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall was very embarrassed but very happy to be saved…

“We were glad we got to him before the rocks holed his boat.”

And Hugh told the Daily Mail, “We got ourselves into a sticky situation and their response was fantastic.

“It is great to know that when things go wrong at sea we have a brilliant and dedicated team of men and women standing by to make sure incidents and accidents don’t become disasters.”

Today, the Daily Star reports that, as mentioned, Hugh treated the Sidmouth Lifeboat crew to a slap up meal, which he of course cooked.

It was apparently served to the brave men and women of the crew by an array of Channel 4’s newscasters, including veteran Jon Snow.

There was no mention in the paper as to whether the dinner will be televised, but we’ll keep you posted as to when it will be broadcast if we hear that it was filmed.