The stylish doyenne of British cookery and Great British Bake Off judge talks about bringing her new cookery book, her first in 25 years, to the Bridport Literary Festival
Prue Leith CBE is a tour de force. She’s been a restaurateur, chef, caterer, television presenter, businesswoman, journalist, cookery writer and novelist. And now, thanks to The Great British Bake Off (GBBO), she is known to millions more as the judge of one of the most popular cookery shows on British television.
One might expect her to have been apprehensive about taking over from Mary Berry when the show swapped channels last year. But Prue insists she had no idea how popular it was, or how much the public worshipped Mary. She’d never even seen it, except hastily watching a Christmas episode when she thought she might get the job.
“It was only when I had to go through two auditions with a camera crew, home economists pretending to be bakers and Paul (Hollywood) doing his steely-blue-eyes bit, that I woke up to just how serious it was,” she confesses. “But the production company are so nice to work with and Paul really mothered me at first, so I had an easy ride.”
There is also a great deal of humour between Prue, Paul Hollywood, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding who make up the GBBO presentation team. “Sandi and Noel are just the same as they are on camera - funny, witty, kind, affectionate to everyone.”
The 78-year-old admits that she is rather enjoying being in the spotlight once again. “I’m a terrible ego-ist and I like the attention. And most people (apart from a few twitter trolls) are kind, and fun to engage with.”
Prue is known for her wonderful sense of style almost as much as her no-nonsense approach to food - there are no lingering close-ups of sensuous spoon licking in her pantry. When friends found out I was interviewing Prue, several wanted to know about her choice of clothing and eyewear.
“I’ve always liked bright colours, verging on the vulgar,” she says. “But what really encouraged this was meeting my husband, John (Playfair), eight years ago. He had been a fashion designer and manufacturer. He loathes what he calls ‘Greige’.
“And then, when I was filming My Kitchen Rules, I was dressed by Jane Galpin of How To Look Good. She, and her partner Claire, always find the sort of stuff they know I will like.”
So where does she find her distinctive spectacles?
“Jane gets some of my glasses from an Israeli woman who hand-paints the frames. Others come from a British designer. If you’re looking for something a little different you’re more likely to find them in small local opticians,” she tells me. “My first pairs came from my local optician in the Cotswolds. When I asked for bright colours, he produced a couple of brochures. We ordered a few in and I chose what I wanted.”
When she was about fifty, Prue sold her eponymous cookery school, restaurant and catering company and turned her hand to writing novels.
“I’d written 12 cookbooks and, frankly, I felt stale. There were younger writers producing great stuff. I started writing fiction. I’ve published eight novels and an autobiography, Relish: My Life on a Plate. But then along came Bake Off and a whole new audience and I thought, why not?”
Her latest publication marks her return to the cookbook genre, her first in 25 years. “Writing cookbooks is a bit like writing a maths book. You can’t afford to make a mistake,” she explains. “It’s all about checking and testing again and again. These days I can afford buckets of help so it’s been an absolute pleasure to do.”
Georgina Fuggle has done all the endless testing and checking on Prue: My All-Time Favourite Recipes, while the author had the fun of dreaming up the ideas, writing the introduction to each of the 100 recipes from her own kitchen table, sharing tips and, most importantly, tasting the delicious results from Fast Roast Teriyaki Lamb to Slow-cooked Rat-a-tat-touille.
Prue is looking forward to sharing stories from this latest book as well as behind-the-scenes gossip from The Great British Bake Off at this year’s Bridport Literary Festival, where she will be in conversation with Val Hudson (10 November).
“My husband John and I have had many weekend jaunts to Dorset and we love it, around every corner is a lovely view,” she says. “I’ve always enjoyed coming to Bridport for its literary festival, and Sherborne (where one of my oldest friends lives) is a lovely town. For coastal views it has to be Lulworth Cove, especially in winter when you can have it to yourself.”
In a long and varied career Prue says the thing she found most satisfying was getting the sculptures on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. “That took five years of lobbying and fundraising.”
The most important job, she says, was chair of the School Food Trust (which became The Children’s Food Trust, Prue is now patron of their Let’s Get Cooking programme), a government quango set up by Tony Blair to get junk food and fizzy drink out of schools.
“Our aim was to change school meals to healthy ones and encourage food education and cooking classes.”
With such a stellar career in the kitchen, and being a GBBO judge, it’s hard to imagine Prue ever having a baking disaster. But there was one, back in primary school, involving a Christmas cake.
“I failed to put glycerine in the royal icing so it set like concrete. Dad broke my mum’s best ivory-handled carving knife by using it like a chisel, hitting it with a hammer. In the end we turned it upside down, and scooped out the cake!”
Prue: My All-Time Favourite Recipes is published by Pan Macmillan. Find out more at prue-leith.com.
Follow on Twitter @PrueLeith
10 November: Prue Leith at Bridport Literary Festival
Prue Leith is in conversation with Val Hudson at the Bridport Literary Festival at 2.30pm at The Electric Palace where she will be signing copies of her new book. Tickets cost £10, available from Bridport Tourist Information Centre on 01308 424901. Find out more at bridlit.com
Prue’s Favourite Food
Meal you like to cook for yourself: A baked potato filled with bone marrow and bacon, or home grown peas, newly shelled, with mint and butter
Guilty pleasure: Bounty bars!
Favourite last supper: What I had on my wedding day: oysters to start, oysters to follow and treacle tart to finish.
