How Mary Berry has risen to the top

Like the best of her foods, Mary Berry was born with the right ingredients.

And as she looks towards her 80th birthday next year, there’s no shortage of things to celebrate.

She was born Mary-Rosa Alleyne Berry in March, 1935, in Bath, but at 13 contracted poliomyelitis and was hospitalised for three months.

It possibly didn’t affect her schooling much, because she describes her early achievements in the classroom as hopeless.

Until, that is, domestic science classes began.

Mary reckons those bad days toughened her up, even if they left her weaker on the one side, and it wasn’t long until her cookery teachers were lavishing praise on her.

None of the other girls could cook this well, they told her, and she just seemed to have a natural talent in the kitchen.

She took home her very first grub, a treacle sponge pudding, and her father gave her the ultimate praise, saying it was as good as her mother’s!

As mum Alleyne who lived until the grand old age of 105 was also a dab hand around the kitchen, that was praise indeed.

Mary’s first proper job was close, but not as close as she’d like, to the world of cooking. Working at the local Electricity Board showroom, the young Mary demonstrated their range of fancy new electric ovens!

Ever since, she’s always tested a new oven by doing her famed Victorian sponge cake.

I was amazed, as a typical bloke who’s just heard about Mary Berry in recent years, to find my missus had cookery books by her from decades ago.

Mary, in fact, published her first one in 1970, but it would be a quarter of a century before she was also creating her own range, including sauces, salads and dressings.

These days, of course, anything bearing her name guarantees a certain quality and expertise, and will sell like hot cakes, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Today, her TV shows with Paul Hollywood are rated the “best reality TV partnerships ever”, and the pair certainly have an undeniable chemistry together.

She swears by her AGA cooker, and an American Kitchen Aid mixer as she’s written over 70 books since that first one 44 years ago, it’s fair to say they’ve served her well.

Mary puts the success of The Great British Bake Off down to simplicity, and its ability to show us how to make things without sounding like a teacher.

“It’s not a teaching programme, but people learn from it,” she says. “If they are doing it incorrectly, we can have a chat with them after filming.”

That polite approach, compared to some of today’s controversial, aggressive shows, is what sets her apart. That, and the fact she has the willpower not to overindulge in her own goodies!

“It’s all about moderation!” she laughs. “I do eat a good portion, but the next day I am very careful.”

The biggest tragedy in her life was the death of son William, aged just 19, in a car crash 23 years ago.

“I dote on all my children,” she says, “and he is missed enormously.”

Mary has been married to husband Paul since 1966 and the couple have two other children, Thomas and Annabel.

As for other parents, many of whom approach her in the street for advice on everything from wedding cakes to fish ’n’ chips, she has some big ideas.

“I can’t understand why children aren’t given domestic science lessons at school,” she says. “Everyone will have to cook, and it is part of our lives.”