Seva Novgorodsev

Seva Novgorodsev was born in Leningrad, where he trained as a navigator. He started his career as an officer in the Soviet merchant fleet, but soon changed it to become a professional musician. He spent the next 12 years playing in various jazz and rock bands touring all over the Soviet Union, obtaining first-hand knowledge of the original local cuisines. After emigrating in 1975 he went to Italy where he was invited to join the BBC Russian Service in London. He went on to present two hugely successful weekly radio programmes, and became a household name throughout the Soviet Union. He and Karen also ran Russian Roulette Ltd, a consultancy company for films on all things Russian.