SINGING businessman Levi Roots visited a primary school this week to support a nationwide bid to get children excited about cooking and music.

Levi Roots, the man behind Reggae Reggae sauce, visited Lena Gardens Primary School in Hammersmith last Thursday (24) as part of his School of Life Tour.

All 220 of the excited three to 11-year-olds were treated to an assembly where Levi got them to make up a healthy Caribbean fruit smoothie recipe and told them about the virtues of freshly cooked food and music to make them happy and healthy.

Hailing from Jamaica, but living in Brixton for most of his life, Levi shot to fame after appearing on TV's Dragon's Den and persuading entrepreneur Peter Jones to invest in his business. The 54-year-old brought his Caribbean charm to the school by playing his guitar and teaching the children about 'fabulicious' food.

The children asked him a multitude of questions ranging from 'What ingredients are in your sauce?' to 'If you could only choose music or food, which one would it be?'.

The good natured businessman only let slip one of his secret ingredients - allspice - to the sauce which has made him a multi-millionaire and said it would be impossible to choose between music and food because he needed both of them together to make it work.

His visit to Lena Gardens was part of his School of Life Tour, where he is visiting schools across the country in a bid to get young people excited about cooking and steering them away from the bad choices life might present them with.

He said: “I kept on getting requests from schools asking if I could come and do a talk to inspire the students. There were so many letters that in the end I decided I should do a proper tour and visit loads of schools to teach them about cooking, music and how I have become successful. I have seven kids myself so I know how inquisitive children can be!

“For me cooking and music go hand-in-hand and too many youngsters see them as dull or laborious subjects, which is far from the truth. I want to meet as many young people as I can this year and hope that my enthusiasm is infectious – if I can inspire just one person then the tour will have been worth it.”

Calum Fairley, head teacher at the school, said: "Levi was great fun and it was really good for the children to hear him speak as he was very inspirational and passionate. Music is really important in our school so it was great that he was singing and told the kids how important music is to him.

"We've got a lot of children from the Caribbean so it was great for them to hear from someone with the same culture and background.

"The kids were so excited to have a celebrity in school and they haven't stopped talking about him. They really want to make the smoothie they helped him create and actually one of our teachers is going to do it and help them out with using purple packaging which is Levi's favourite colour and our school colour."