Mary Berry

Mary Berry is one of UK's best-known and respected cookery writers, a TV cook and Aga expert. From an early age Mary knew she wanted to pursue a career in food and at the age of 18 trained at the Bath College of Home Economics, followed by a Paris Cordon Bleu course and she is a qualified teacher. In the 1960 Mary became Cookery Editor of Housewife and later Ideal Home Magazine. Then in 1966 she published her first cookery book, The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook. Some 34 years after her first book, Mary has published over 70 cookery books, selling over five million copies around the world. In January 2004, Mary was voted Top 3 by BBC Good Food for the category "Most Reliable Celebrity Cook Books", alongside Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith. Throughout the years, Mary has established her style as "family food", with practical healthy recipes containing lots of fresh ingredients. Appearing on numerous TV and Radio programmes, she has shared her culinary secrets with the nation, initially appearing on Judith Chalmers' Afternoon Plus show in the 1970s. Since then Mary has become a household name, hosting seven cookery series for Thames Television as well as several series for the BBC including Mary Berry at Home and Mary Berry's Ultimate Cakes, which were filmed at Mary's home in Buckinghamshire. She is also, of course, a judge on BBC 2's Great British Bake Off.