Mary Berry | |
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_(cropped).jpg) Berry at theChelsea Flower Show in May 2017 | |
| Born | Mary Rosa Alleyne Berry (1935-03-24)24 March 1935 (age 90) Bath, Somerset, England |
| Other names | Mary, Queen of Cakes[1] |
| Education | |
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| Television |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | maryberry |
| British cuisine |
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| National cuisines |
| Regional cuisines |
| Overseas/Fusion cuisine |
| People |
 Food portal |
Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings[3]DBE (néeBerry; born 24 March 1935) is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged indomestic science classes at school, she studied catering at college. She then moved to France at the age of 22 to study atLe Cordon Bleu culinary school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.
Berry has published more than 75 cookery books, including her best-sellingBaking Bible in 2009. Her first book wasThe Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook in 1970. She hosted several television series for theBBC andThames Television. Berry is an occasional contributor toWoman's Hour andSaturday Kitchen. She was a judge on the television programmeThe Great British Bake Off from 2010 until 2016.
Berry was born on 24 March 1935, the second of three children, to Margaret (née Wilson; 1905–2011) and Alleyne William Steward Berry (1904–1989), a chartered surveyor and planner who served asMayor of Bath in 1952 and was closely involved in establishing theUniversity of Bath atClaverton Down. Mary's great-great-grandfather on her father's side, Robert Houghton, was a master baker in the 1860s who provided bread for a localworkhouse in Norwich.[4] Her mother died in 2011, aged 105.[5]
At the age of 13, Berry contractedpolio and had to spend three months in theClaverton DownIsolation Hospital. Her illness resulted in her having a twisted spine, a weaker left hand and thinner left arm. She has said that the period of forced separation from her family while in the hospital "toughened [her] up" and taught her to make the most of every opportunity she would have.[6][7]
Berry attendedBath High School, where she described her academic abilities as "hopeless" until she attendeddomestic science classes with a teacher called Miss Date, who was particularly encouraging of her cooking abilities.[1] Her first creation in the class was atreacle sponge pudding which she took home, and her father told her that it was as good as that made by her mother. She then studied catering atBath College of Domestic Science.[1]
Berry's first job was at the BathElectricity Board showroom and then conducting home visits to show new customers how to use their electric ovens. She would typically demonstrate the ovens by making aVictoria sponge, a technique she would later repeat when in television studios to test out an oven she had not used before.[1] Her catchment area for demonstrations was limited to the greaterBath area, which she drove around in aFord Popular supplied as acompany car.[1]
Her ambition was to move out of the family home to London, which her parents would not allow until she was 21. At the age of 22, she applied to work at the Dutch Dairy Bureau, while takingCity & Guilds courses in the evenings.[1] She then persuaded her manager to pay for her to undertake the professional qualification from the FrenchLe Cordon Bleu school.[8]
She left the Dutch Dairy Bureau to become a recipe tester for PR firm Benson's, where she began to write her first book. She has since cooked for a range of food-related bodies, including the Egg Council and the Flour Advisory Board. In 1966 she became food editor ofHousewife magazine. She was food editor ofIdeal Home magazine from 1970 to 1973.[9]
Her first cookbook,The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, was published in 1970.[10] She launched her own product range in 1994 with her daughter Annabel. The salad dressings and sauces were originally only sold at Mary's AGA cooking school, but have since been sold in Britain, Germany and Ireland with retailers such asHarrods,Fortnum & Mason andTesco.[11]
In December 2012, Berry became the first president of the newBath Spa University Alumni Association.[12] She has also appeared on aBBC Two series calledThe Great British Food Revival, and her solo show,Mary Berry Cooks, began airing on 3 March 2014.[13]
In her own kitchen, she uses aKitchenAid mixer which she describes as being the one gadget she could not live without.[14] She has always had anAGA cooker,[15] and used to run cooking courses for AGA users.[16] She describesRaymond Blanc's restaurantLe Manoir aux Quat' Saisons as one of her favourites, as well as the Old Queen's Head, local to where she lived inPenn,High Wycombe.[14]
In February 2015, Berry featured in a programme in aid of theThird World charityComic Relief.[17] In May 2015, she began presenting a new BBC Two series calledMary Berry's Absolute Favourites. In November 2015, she was the subject of a two-part biographical documentary entitledThe Mary Berry Story.[18] Starting on 30 November 2015, she was one of the two judges for a four-week American edition of the popular baking competitionThe Great Holiday Baking Show onABC, which followed a similar format to the British competition.[19]
Berry became President of the National Garden Scheme in 2016; for over 20 years, she had opened her garden for charity.[20]
In November 2016, it was announced that Berry would present a new six-part series,Mary Berry Everyday in which she would share her cooking tips, family favourites and special occasion recipes. The show aired on BBC Two.[21]
In April 2017, Berry launched a series of cakes that could be bought from supermarkets. The cakes contain emulsifiers and preservatives that Berry has previously described as "unwanted extras".[22] From 22 November 2017 to 13 December 2017, Berry presented a four-part series calledMary Berry's Country House Secrets onBBC One. In this series, she ventured to four of the UK's stately homes and explored each through the prism of food and history. The locations wereHighclere Castle,Scone Palace,Powderham Castle andGoodwood House.[23][24]
In 2018, Berry was a judge onBritain's Best Home Cook alongside chef Dan Doherty andChris Bavin.
Berry's new six-part television cookery series calledMary Berry's Simple Comforts premiered on BBC Two, 9 September 2020.[25]
Mary Berry Saves Christmas, a BBC One special in which Berry helps a group of amateur cooks make a Christmas feast for their families, was shown onChristmas Day 2020.[26]
In 2021, Berry was a celebrity judge on theBBC seriesCelebrity Best Home Cook alongsideAngela Hartnett andChris Bavin; whileClaudia Winkleman was the show's presenter.[27] In December 2021, Berry presentedMary Berry's Festive Feasts, a BBC TV special in which she teaches three novice cooks to create a Christmas feast.[28]
In 2022, Berry was named as one of the judges for thePlatinum Pudding, a competition to create a British pudding to celebrate thePlatinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.[29] In March 2022 BBC One aired the three-part seriesMary Berry's Fantastic Feasts.[30] In May 2022, Berry was a judge on the BBC One programmeThe Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking, where she helped choose a brand new pudding to mark theQueen's Platinum Jubilee.[31] In June 2022, theBBC commissioned the BBC Two seriesMary Berry Cook And Share; which premiered on 7 September 2022.[32][33]
In September 2022, theBBC commissionedMary Berry's Ultimate Christmas, aChristmas special that Berry presented.[34][35]
During November and December 2023, Berry presentedMary Makes It Easy; a six-part series that aired on BBC Two.[36] In December 2023, BBC One airedMary Berry's Highland Christmas; a festive cookery special presented by Berry.[37]
In July 2024 theBBC commissioned the six-part seriesMary's Foolproof Dinners.[38] It aired later in the year on BBC Two,[citation needed] and was accompanied by a book of the same name, that includes 120 new recipes from the series and fromMary Berry's Highland Christmas.[39]
Mary Makes Christmas, a one-off festive television special aired in December 2024 onBBC1.[40]
On 24 March 2025 a special live edition of BBC'sThe One Show featured Berry for a celebration of her 90th birthday.[41]
Due to air later in Autumn 2025, Berry will presentMary at 90: A Lifetime of Cooking; a six-part cookery series featuring some of Berry's favourite recipes.[42]
From 2010 to 2016, Berry was one of the judges on BBC One's (formerly, BBC Two's)The Great British Bake Off alongside bakerPaul Hollywood, who specialises in bread. Berry says that since working together, she has learned from him. However, some viewers were outraged during the first series when a decision was made to make the contestants use one of Hollywood's recipes forscones instead of one of Berry's.[1]
Berry's work on the show with Hollywood led toThe Guardian suggesting that it was the "best reality TV judging partnership ever."[43] In September 2016,Love Productions announced that a three-year deal to broadcast the show onChannel 4 instead of the BBC from 2017 had been agreed.[44] Co-hostsMel Giedroyc andSue Perkins announced that they would not be continuing withBake Off on its new network.[45] Berry announced she was also leavingBake Off[46] on the same day that fellow judge Paul Hollywood announced he would be staying with the show.[47] She was replaced on the show byPrue Leith.
In January 2022, it was announced that Berry would chair and sit as a judge onThe Platinum Pudding Competition, a nationwide baking competition launched throughout the United Kingdom on 10 January 2022 byBuckingham Palace,Fortnum & Mason and The Big Jubilee Lunch. The competition sought a new pudding dedicated toQueen Elizabeth II as part of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 marking the70th anniversary of her accession on 6 February 1952.[48][49][50]
Berry married Paul John March Hunnings in 1966.[51] He worked forHarvey's of Bristol, selling antique books, and is now retired. The couple had two sons and a daughter; in 1989, one of their sons died aged 19, in a car accident.[52] In 2011, Berry's mother Marjorie died, aged 105.[53]
In March 2013, Berry was placed second in a list of the fifty best-dressed over 50s byThe Guardian.[54] In September 2014, Berry was the subject of an episode of the BBC genealogy seriesWho Do You Think You Are? and discovered among her ancestors illegitimacy, bankruptcy and a baker.[55]
In 2018 Berry and her husband moved toHenley-on-Thames,Oxfordshire.[56] The couple had previously lived inPenn, Buckinghamshire for more than 40 years.[57]
Berry is a member of theChurch of England and has worshipped at Holy Trinity Church in Penn since 1989.[58] Her mother, who died in 2011, had also been an active church member. As part of theBBC Two programmeMary Berry's Easter Feast at Easter 2016, Berry visitedBishopthorpe Palace, theofficial residence of theArchbishop of York, who is the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, and filmed a special "Cooking with the Archbishop" segment.[59]
Berry is a patron of Child Bereavement UK.[60]
Berry has written more than 70 cookery books since her first book was published in 1970,[61] and has sold over five million copies.[10] She regularly works on her cookery books with Lucy Young, who has been her assistant for over 20 years.[62] Her best-sellingBaking Bible was rated one of the ten best baking books byThe Independent.[63]
Since September 2014, Berry's recipes have also been packaged in an interactive mobile app called "Mary Berry: In Mary We Trust".[64]
Her autobiography,Recipe for Life, was published in 2013 by Michael Joseph.
In June 2009, Berry was awarded the Guild of Food Writers Lifetime Achievement Award.[65]
Berry was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to culinary arts.[66][67]
In 2012, she was awarded an honorary degree byBath Spa University which incorporates the formerBath College of Domestic Science.[68]
On 7 June 2014, Berry was awarded theFreedom of the City ofBath;[69][70] and, having already received theFreedom of the City of London, on 19 November 2014, she was made aliveryman of theWorshipful Company of Bakers.[71]
She was awarded theSpecsavers National Book Awards "Outstanding Achievement" prize in December 2014.[72]
On 25 January 2017, Berry won the award for Best TV Judge at theNational Television Awards forGreat British Bake Off.[73]
Berry was appointedDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the2020 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting, the culinary arts and charity.[74][75] She received the honour on 20 October 2021 atWindsor Castle.[76]
