Mary Berry

At 89 years old, Mary Berry has this physical status:

Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings (born 24 March 1935), also known as Mary Berry, is a British food writer and television presenter.

She studied culinary science and institutional management at college after being encouraged to enroll in domestic science classes at school.

She then moved to Le Cordon Bleu (French) to study at Le Cordon Bleu University before starting a variety of catering-related jobs. She has written more than 75 cookery books, including her best-selling Baking Bible in 2009.

In 1970, Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook was her first book.

She produced several television shows for the BBC and Thames Television.

Berry is a regular contributor to Woman's Hour and Saturday Kitchen.

She appeared on the BBC One (originally BBC Two) television show The Great British Bake Offchance began in 2010 but then moved to Channel 4, and she was a judge on the BBC One (originally BBC Two) television show The Great British Bake Off from 10 years ago to 2016.

Early life

Berry was born on March 24 1935, the second of three children, to Margaret ('Marjorie', 1905–2011) and Alleyne William Steward Berry (1904–1989). Alleyne, a surveyor and planner who served as Mayor of Bath in 1952 and was closely involved in the establishment of the University of Bath at Claverton Down, was a surveyor and planner who was involved in the establishment of the University of Bath. Robert Houghton, Mary's great-grandfather on her father's side, was a master baker who sold bread for a local workhouse in Norwich in the 1860s. Her mother died in 2011 at the age of 105.

Berry had poliomy and had to spend three months in hospital before reaching the age of 13. She had a twistered spine, a smaller left hand, and a shorter left arm. She has said that the time of coerced separation from her family while in the hospital "toughened [her] up] and taught her to make the most of every opportunity she could have.

Berry attended Bath High School, where she described her academic abilities as "hopeless" before she attended domestic science classes with Miss Date, a teacher who was particularly supportive of her cooking skills. Her first creation in the class was a treacle sponge pudding that she brought home, and her father told her it was as good as her mother's.

She then studied catering at Bath College of Domestic Science.

Personal life

In 1966, Berry married Paul John March Hunnings. He worked with Harvey's of Bristol and also sold antique books and is now retired. The couple have two sons and a daughter; one of the sons died in 1989 in a car accident aged 19. Berry is a patron of Child Bereavement United Kingdom.

Berry was ranked second by The Guardian in March 2013 on a list of the 50 best-dressed over 50s. Berry was the subject of an episode of the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are in September 2014. Among her ancestors' illegitimacy, bankruptcy, and a baker, she discovered a baker.

Berry is a member of the Church of England and has attended Holy Trinity Church in Penn since 1989. Her mother, who died in 2011, was also a member of the Church of Saint Andrew. Berry visited Bishopthorpe Palace, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, at Easter 2016, as part of BBC2's Easter Feast, and filmed a special "Cooking with the Archbishop" segment.

Source

Career

Berry's first work was at the Bath Electricity Board showroom and then went home to show new clients how to use their electric ovens. She would often demonstrate the ovens by making a Victoria sponge, a trick she'll use again in television studios to try out an oven she had never used before. Demonstrators were limited to the greater Bath area, where she rode around in a Ford Popular as a company vehicle.

She wanted to move out of the family's house to London, but her parents were unable to allow this until she was 21 years old. She applied to work at the Dutch Dairy Bureau, while still attending City & Guilds courses in the evenings at the age of 22. She then advised her boss not to pay for her to complete the French Le Cordon Bleu school's professional diploma.

She left the Dutch Dairy Bureau to work as a recipe tester for PR firm Benson's, where she began writing her first book. She has worked for a variety of food-related organizations, including the Egg Council and the Flour Advisory Board. She became Housewife magazine's food editor in 1966. She was food editor for Ideal Home magazine from 1970 to 1973.

The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, her first cookbook, was published in 1970. With her daughter Annabel, she began her own product line in 1994. The salad dressings and sauces were originally only available at Mary's AGA cooking school, but Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, and Tesco have since been available in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ireland.

She has appeared on BBC Two's The Great British Food Revival, as well as her solo show Mary Berry Cooks, which debuted on March 3, 2014.

Berry became the first president of the new Bath Spa University Alumni Association in December 2012.

She uses a KitchenAid mixer, which she describes as being the one thing she could not live without in her own kitchen. She has always had an AGA cooker and has taught cooking classes for AGA students. Raymond Blanc's restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, as well as the Old Queen's Head, is one of her favorite restaurants, as well as the Old Queen's Head, local to where she lives in Penn, High Wycombe.

Berry was featured in a programme in February 2015 in aid of the Third World charity Comic Relief. Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites premiered on BBC Two in May 2015. The Mary Berry Story, a two-part biographical film that was released in November 2015.

She was one of two finalists in a four-week American version of the famous baking competition The Great Holiday Baking Show on ABC, which followed a similar structure to the British competition from the beginning on November 30, 2015.

Berry was named President of the National Garden Scheme in 2016 and spent more than 20 years in her garden.

Berry would debut Mary Berry Everyday, a six-part series in which she would share her cooking tips, family favorites, and special occasion recipes. The programme aired on BBC Two.

Berry introduced a line of cakes in April 2017 that could be purchased from supermarkets. Berry has previously described the cakes as "unwanted extras" because they contain emulsifiers and preservatives.

Berry's Country House Secrets was broadcast on BBC One from 22 November 2017 to December 13, 2017. She travelled to four of the UK's stately homes and explored each one through the prism of food and history. The locations were Highclere Castle, Scone Palace, Powderham Castle, and Goodwood House.

Berry, along with chef Dan Doherty and Chris Bavin, was a judge on Britain's Best Home Cook in 2018.

Simple Comforts, Berry's latest six-part television cookery series, premiered on BBC2, September 9, 2020.

On Christmas Day 2020, Mary Berry Saves Christmas, a BBC1 special in which Berry supports a group of amateur cooks prepare a Christmas feast for their families, was on display.

Berry appeared on the BBC show Celebrity Best Home Cook alongside Angela Hartnett and Chris Bavin in 2021, while Claudia Winkleman was the show's host.

Berry taught three novice cooks how to prepare a Christmas feast in December 2021.

Berry was chosen as one of the judges of the Platinum Pudding 2022, a competition to produce a British pudding to honor Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.

The three-part series Mary Berry's Fantastic Feasts premiered on BBC One in March 2022.

Berry was a judge on BBC One's The Jubile Pudding: 70 Years in Baking, where she helped choose a brand new pudding to commemorate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in May 2022.

The BBC Two series Mary Berry Cook And Share, which premiered on September 7, 2022, was commissioned by the BBC in June 2022.

The BBC commissioned Christmas With Mary Berry And Friends (w/t), a Christmas special that Berry will perform in September 2022.

She appeared on BBC One's (formerly, BBC Two's) The Great British Bake Off pitted baker Paul Hollywood, who specializes in bread, from 2010 to 2016. Berry claims she has learned from him since being together. However, some viewers were outraged during the first series when it was decided to make the contestants use one of Hollywood's recipes for scones rather than one of Berry's.

It was the "best reality TV judging partnership ever" because of her work on Hollywood's show. Love Productions reported in September 2016 that a three-year contract to air the show on Channel 4 rather than the BBC from 2017 had been agreed. Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, the Co-hosts, announced that they would not be continuing with Bake Off on their new network. Berry announced that she would be leaving Bake Off on the same day that fellow judge Paul Hollywood revealed that he would remain with the program.

Source