Five Mary Berry facts we bet you didn’t know

It’s happening: Dame Mary Berry is back. She’s gracing our screens from 28 October in a brand new BBC Two series.

Mary at 90: A Lifetime of Cooking has the usual helping of easy-to-follow recipes and cookery advice, alongside a fascinating look back at her TV career, which so far spans more than half a century.

Here are just some of the surprising facts about this cookery icon that you might not have known before.

1. Her school cookery teacher became a lifelong friend

“The first piece of cookery advice I had was from my domestic science teacher at school – Miss Date.

“She gave me confidence and clearly explained how to make family meals. I kept in touch with her and visited her in the care home until she died.”

Now, Mary aims to pass on that same feeling of confidence to as many home cooks as possible.

Her best piece of advice for finding it is, “Choose a simple recipe your family are going to enjoy. Read it two or three times before you start so you know the various stages. Weigh accurately and carefully.”

2. She didn’t start out in the industry you might expect

“My very first job from college was a home service advisor, working for the South Western electricity board.

“I had to tell people how wonderful electricity was and how to use these new thermostatically controlled ovens. I loved it!

“I would do demonstrations to women’s institutes, often in the evening, out in church halls, and would also visit people in their homes. If someone had bought an electric cooker and was having trouble, I would do a home visit and make a Victoria sandwich cake to test the oven was working properly.”

That recipe is one of her ultimate classics, and so reliable you could set your oven by it.

To get such consistent results with your own baking at home, Mary says, “Follow a good recipe. Make sure you have the right size tins (too large a tin and the cake will be flat and thin) and that the oven is at the correct temperature. Weigh carefully.”

3. Mary helped pioneer the freezer

Mary worked in magazines for some years – and it was a job at a particularly unusual title that led to her TV break.

“I was the cookery editor of a publication called Home and Freezer Digest. That’s when I was spotted by the producer of Good Afternoon with Judith Chalmers.

“It’s so strange now to think we had a magazine that only dealt with freezing!”

But it really was a big talking point at the time: “Freezers were introduced in the 50s and 60s, and people needed advice about freezing and storing food,” she remembers.

Nearly 60 years on, Mary is still encouraging us all to make friends with our freezer.

She’s always keen to remind people how well cake freezes – so if your baking activity outstrips your appetite, just wrap the leftovers carefully and store in the freezer, she says.

4. Mary didn’t just learn on the job – she’s spent years studying

Mary went to the world-famous Parisian culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu back in 1960.

You might presume that perfectly honed cooking techniques were her biggest takeaway but, actually, it was learning “The importance of presentation!”

Previously, at 22, Mary had moved to London. By day, she worked for the Dutch Dairy Bureau creating cheese recipes, while by night, she trained with City and Guilds. This is something she still recommends to any hopeful future food stars.

“Make sure it is a passion, because catering, or working in pubs and restaurants is hard. You’ll be working when other people are playing! But it is a wonderful, rewarding career.”

5. She still uses a 60-year-old tip when filming her TV shows

Having spent six decades on TV sets and in front of cameras, Mary sure knows what she’s doing when it comes to putting new shows together.

Still, it’s a nugget of wisdom she was given right at the beginning that she swears by to this day: “Whenever I’m filming for television, I always imagine I’m talking to just one person.

“Judith Chalmers gave me this advice, and I still follow it. She said, ‘You’re talking to one person, they might be doing the ironing, they might be feeding their baby at two o’clock, but if you can keep that interest and inspire them to get cooking, they won’t change show.’”

So next time you’re watching Mary and feeling suddenly so reassured and comforted, it’s because she is, actually, talking directly to you.

Sort of.

**Watch Mary at 90: A Lifetime of Cooking on Tuesdays at 7.30pm on BBC Two. Or catch-up on BBC iplayer.

Originally published October 2025

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