The Magic of Mary

Mary Berry, the much-loved The Great British Bake Off judge, has been teaching the nation to cook since first appearing on our TV screens in the early 1970s – and she remains as popular today as ever. Self-admittedly ‘hopeless’ by academic standards, Mary Berry studied at Bath College of Domestic Science after leaving school, and then at the Paris Le Cordon Bleu when she was 21, recalling: “I didn’t like Paris at all. I stuck it out, but it wasn’t the highlight of my time.” Born in Bath in 1935, it was in the swinging 60s that Mary landed the role of cookery editor of Housewife magazine. That same decade – in 1966 – she married Paul Hunnings but their relationship wasn’t so straightforward, with Mary admitting to Sue Perkins’ podcast, An Hour or So With, that she played the field. “Paul was the London one and I had a Bath one, actually there were several in Bath. You keep your options open.” Taking more attempts than Mary probably ever has to perfect a recipe, it eventually took Paul three proposals to succeed in getting her to say “yes” – she refused the first time because he was drunk. The couple tied the knot at Charlcombe Church, near Bath, with Mary wearing a £5 dress and revealing she made her own wedding cake. Paul and Mary had three children, two sons and a daughter. Tragically, their second-born son, William, died aged nineteen in a car crash. On The Mary Berry Show she recalled the moment police knocked on the door to tell her the news. Mary and Paul rushed immediately to the hospital. “He just looked so beautiful and so lovely, his little cold face and it was nice to say farewell.” Today, home for Mary and retired antique bookseller Paul is a four-bedroom home, with separate cottage, indoor pool and gym, in Henley, Oxfordshire. “Paul is wonderful. He is always there for me…but him do the cooking? You must be joking! I do the cooking at home and on the rare occasion I’m not well, he will always make an omelette. After two or three omelettes, I’m normally better!” With more than 80 books to her credit – her first published in 1966 – how does Mary, who was made a CBE in 2012 and the honour of Damehood in 2020, keep her classic recipes modern and relevant? “I adapt them by updating and using new ingredients, such as baking spreads, new fruits and vegetables, new grains like quinoa and puy lentils. These are all modern ingredients if you compare them to when the classics were invented.” With Christmas upon us, Mary and Paul, who have five grandchildren – son Thomas’ two girls Abby and Grace, and daughter Annabel’s three children Louise, Tobie and Atlanta – have previously told how they refuse to spoil them over the festive season. Said Mary: “We’re good at keeping to a budget and nearly always give them an experience, like sailing lessons or tennis lessons.” The couple entertain family at home for Christmas. “We always have the family over…We have a turkey with all the trimmings, fresh veg, Christmas pudding, trifle, mince pies. I love doing the cooking but we share it on Christmas Day,” said Mary.

Mary Berry’s Cook and Share is out now, published by BBC Books, priced £26, with photography by Laura Edwards.