Quotes from Mary Berry

I would always stand up for women, but I don't want women's rights and all that sort of thing. I love to have men around, and I suppose if you're a true feminist, you get on and do it yourself. I love it when someone says, 'I'll get your coat' or, 'I'll look after you', or offers you a seat on the bus. I'm thrilled to bits. I'm not a feminist.

A lot of other reality shows on television can be bullying and aggressive, but we wanted 'The Bake Off' to be an antidote to that.

When I thought I couldn't write recipes, my boss at the time advised, 'Write as you talk.'

I make myself eat one piece of toast for breakfast. When I'm doing 'Bake Off,' I eat soup for lunch. I know what puts on weight for me; it's just over-indulgence.

Looking back, I don't feel that I was the most brilliant mother. I was always very good at giving my children the right food, but it was one of my regrets in life that I didn't spend more time listening to them or playing with them.

It helps to have a happy home life to keep up alongside your career.

I have no burning ambitions, and I can honestly say the thing I love most is 'Bake Off.' That will always come first.

I was rather hopeless at school, but the one subject I seemed to be good at was domestic science.

Many people think children must have chips. I don't think any household should have a deep fat fryer.

I love Michel Roux, Jr., and James Martin - the chefs who are experts in their own right, like Rick Stein on fish. But I don't watch them very much because I don't think it's fair for my husband to be in a total food environment all the time! So we watch programmes about gardening more.

Without doubt, without hesitation, I choose gardening over the gym. I can't stand going to the gym. It doesn't appeal to me at all. Give me gardening every time.

I'm immensely proud to have been made a CBE, but I don't ever use the letters after my name unless someone has included them in correspondence.

When I was paralysed by polio at 13, I went into an isolation hospital and couldn't sit up, so I only took liquid food from spouted cups which the masked nurses would bring in and feed to me. I saw my parents only through glass; we couldn't touch.

My son is a tree surgeon and gets me a lovely tree. I like to put it up early, as I can't wait for Christmas. We dress it with decorations that have been in the family for years.

I won't cook in deep fat. Years ago, I met a fireman who said most kitchen fires were caused by deep fat, and I don't think that's changed. Oven chips are good enough for my grandchildren, and they're chuffed with that.

The very best hotel I've stayed in is the Intercontinental on Park Lane. We went there for the Chelsea Flower Show a few years ago, and it was sheer luxury. Everybody had a smile on their face. I came home and changed all my pillows because the hotel ones were so beautiful.

My bread and croissants wouldn't win a prize! I'm not an expert in yeast cookery.

I don't like showing cleavage because I get cold, and if I had fantastic legs, I might wear short skirts - but I think at 78, one's got to act one's age.

I think to eat cake is very good for us, but it's the size of the slice and how often you have it.

My husband is not in the slightest bit domesticated, but as the years go, by he's getting better. He can make an excellent omelette.

It's so comforting to have a small piece of cake. Just one slice.

I eat carefully because people don't want to see a large person judging cakes. They'll think to themselves, 'That's what happens when you eat cake.'

I think my father couldn't wait to get home to his wife, but I don't know if he was so keen on us children.

One of my first jobs was as a recipe tester for a PR agency. One week, the editor of 'Housewife' magazine called my boss and asked me to write a column - the cookery editor had gone away on a press trip. I was terrified.