How Mary Berry rose to become the Queen of Baking

Mary Berry won viewers' hearts on the Great British Bake Off with her hatred of 'soggy bottoms', her floral blazers and her encyclopaedic knowledge of baking.
Mary BerryMary Berry
Mary Berry

The 81-year-old brought over six decades of experience in the kitchen, but will now be leaving the show as it moves from the BBC to Channel 4.

Her first job in her hometown of Bath was to make home visits and demonstrate electric ovens by producing a Victoria sponge - a cake which soon became one of her signature bakes.

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The English food writer and TV presenter was ambitious to learn more and moved to Paris as a young woman to train at the famed Le Cordon Bleu school.

She quickly established herself as a leading cookery writer, publishing over 70 books starting with her debut, The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook.

She became food editor of Ideal Home magazine for three years from 1970, and got her first TV break in 1973 on The Good Afternoon Show, establishing her as a familiar face on television.

Berry married at the age of 31 and went on to have three children. After her son William died in 1989 in a car accident, she has spoken about her grief and is a patron of Child Bereavement UK.

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Alongside bread expert Paul Hollywood, Berry became a judge on The Great British Bake Off when it launched in 2010.

This brought her to ever-greater public attention as the audience swelled to over 10 million, with viewers enjoying her relationship with Hollywood as well as hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2012.

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