Thanks to her candidness on The Great British
Bake Off, viewers got an insight into Mary Berry's life, likes, dislikes and sartorial
preferences. But there's still so much more you can learn
about the talented baker. Here's everything you didn't know about Mary
Berry. If you've noticed that Mary Berry's left arm
seems weak, don't assume it's because she suffers from arthritis as she says many viewers
do. It's actually the result of her battle with
poliomyelitis, a life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus. It affects the spinal cord, and can even cause
permanent paralysis. When Berry was 13, it was 1948 and there was
no vaccine, so the risk of contracting polio was high. Temporarily paralyzed with the virus, she
was put in an isolation hospital, where, as she told The Guardian, she ate nothing but
liquid food and could see her parents only from behind glass. In Mary Berry: The Queen of British Baking
The Biography, she said: "When I came home I just had this weak left
side and I had my arm in a brace that held it above the head. But I recovered remarkably [though] my left
hand is a bit smaller and misshapen." While that affects her to this day, it's wonderful
that she made a full recovery otherwise. It's strange to think of Mary Berry struggling
to make ends meet, but she wasn't always a well-to-do celebrity. She was trained in home economics, but when
she moved to London at 21 years old to work at the Dutch Dairy Bureau, she was bitten
by the professional cooking bug. Not affluent enough to afford it herself,
Berry managed to persuade her boss to sponsor a month-long course at the Le Cordon Bleu
in Paris when she was 25. Here, the first hurdle she had to overcome
was language-related. While talking to students there in 2012, when
she accepted an honorary diploma, she said they were lucky courses were now conducted
in English. During her time in 1960, she had to speak
French well enough to give an oral examination in the language. She was also struggling financially. Even though her boss was sponsoring her tuition,
she had other expenses to worry about. Paying for her own bed and board was beyond
her means, but the resourceful celebrity-in-the-making survived by living in a youth hostel and eating
nothing but baguettes for every meal. Her ability to stick it out paid off of course,
as she's more than comfortable today. Since having polio in her teens, Berry is
no stranger to suffering, but in 1989 she was struck by an even worse tragedy. Her son, 19 years old at the time, died in
a car accident. While she has not gone into too much detail
about the event, she opened up about it in a BBC documentary in 2017. In The Mary Berry Story, she talks about the
night before the accident, when she had a family meal with William, who was visiting
from Bristol where he was at University at the time. "In a way I thought, well, we're just so lucky
to have the other two." In BBC's 2019 Christmas special, A Berry Royal
Christmas, which featured the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, she spoke about how Prince William
lost his mother at a very vulnerable age, and she lost her son in a car accident as
well. "So we know what it is to be without someone
very special." Can you imagine the intimidating judge, Mary
Berry, being camera-shy? She is so confident in interviews, gives great
acceptance speeches, commands attention when she's hosting shows, and doesn't bat an eye
when in the presence of the royal family. But, just like a lot of people, Berry learned
on the job. Starting her career as a writer, it's no surprise
that being a presenter did not come naturally. When she first began a career on television
in the 1970s, she appeared on Afternoon Plus alongside acclaimed television presenter Judith
Chalmers. In an interview with Metro in 2019, Chalmers
said Berry was, in fact, quite nervous to begin with. She explained: "Mary was a little nervous to begin with but
she says I taught her to smile. I said, 'If you could just look up occasionally
into the camera you'll invite the viewers in.'" "I said, 'The trouble is, if you you know
don't smile, they might switch to another channel.'" Just because they're in the same business,
doesn't mean they get along. Mary Berry may have had great camaraderie
with her Bake Off co-judge, Paul Hollywood, but she doesn't get along with all TV chefs. Berry and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver now
seem to be on good terms. She's gone so far as to say he makes cooking
fun. However, there was a time when she found him,
quote, "irritating, bumptious and over-the-top." The celebrity chef she really doesn't get
along with, however, is Gordon Ramsay, who is most famous for his crude language. "Hey bozo." "Yes chef." "Tell me how pink that duck is." "Not pink at all, chef." "Nowhere near it, donkey." On shows like Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares,
he's become especially famous for his quick-temper and use of expletives. All of this doesn't seem to sit well with
Mary, who is picky about what she watches. Not only does she call most television, quote,
"ghastly," she says many shows on television are too, quote, "violent, cruel and noisy"
for her taste. As for Gordon Ramsay's, she says: "I hate Gordon Ramsay's programs: I don't
know if he's been told it makes good television." It's no wonder that she signed up for The
Great British Bake Off, which according to her, is great family entertainment. Mary Berry is slim and stylish well into her
'80s, even though she doesn't believe in going to the gym. "I absolutely loathe going to the gym, and
I would much rather play tennis." "Do you go to the gym?" "No!" She does believe it's important to stay in
shape, so her enviable figure is not that much of a surprise. With her celebrity status added to the mix,
it's not shocking that what she wears is a hot topic. What is surprising is what a fashion icon
she has become especially since she told Lumity in 2019 that she doesn't believe in fashion,
and instead, simply dresses to suit her figure. Nevertheless, her style on The Great British
Bake Off became the subject of much discussion, with viewers raving about her floral jackets. People were soon mimicking her signature style
to such an extent that in 2012, Zara was all sold-out of the silk floral bomber jacket
that began the craze. Since then, she's worn a number of statement
jackets from Oasis, Damart and Ted Baker that have all become incredibly popular, cementing
her status as a trendsetter. Most people make the bulk of their food safety
decisions by reading expiration dates. Not Mary Berry, though. In 2017, she told the Cheltenham Literature
Festival that she had picked up several tips from her mother when she was growing up, and
since there were no freezers at the time, this was one of them. She doesn't bother checking whether her food
has gone off by looking at the dates. Instead, she does what most people are more
familiar with doing with flowers she smells them. She's said: "I don't do sell-by dates but I have to confess
if there is a pot of cream I just lift the lid and smell it. If it's all right, I have it." She does emphasize, however, that you have
to be extra careful with meat, which is one thing she does consider keeping within the
dates. Viewers were crushed when in 2016, news outlets
announced that Berry would not return to The Great British Bake Off. Many saw it as a betrayal and wondered how
the show could go on without her. Of course, it did, switching her out for another
celebrity chef, Prue Leith. However, few people know that the real reason
Berry decided to leave had to do with loyalty, not betrayal. The Great British Bake Off began on the BBC,
which Berry told RadioTimes she has been watching since she was a child. When it decided to move to Channel 4, she
stayed loyal to the BBC and along with co-hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, decided not
to move with the show. They replaced Sue and Mel with comedian Noel
Fielding and quiz show host Sandi Toksvig, though Paul Hollywood stayed with the show. Fans could still see Berry on the US adaptation,
The Great American Baking Show, although she left the series after 2019 to focus on other
projects. From struggling to make ends meet to becoming
a renaissance woman, Berry has come a long way since culinary school. While her stints on television are well-known
and her cookbooks are bestsellers, did you know she also has her own brand of food products? As a food entrepreneur, she introduced her
own line of salad dressings and sauces. This was initially an idea suggested by her
husband, Paul Hunnings, and encouraged by her daughter, Annabelle who loved the sauces
Berry made at home for the family. "The sauce has got to be the right consistency,
and for me, it's got to have some texture to it." In 1994, she and Annabelle launched a few
dressings under the brand Mary Berry & Daughter. The range has since expanded and become incredibly
popular, although, in 2018, it had a slight setback. The Telegraph reported one of the batches
was being recalled, and The Food Standards Agency said it was because of undeclared egg,
an allergy-causing food for some, in the ingredients. Now called Mary Berry's Recipes to Inspire,
the range has since been revamped. It's been repackaged and presumably re-labeled
to include everything that goes into the products. Mary Berry is quite a formidable lady and
it's easy to imagine the British chef in a garden somewhere, sipping tea and nibbling
on a scone. Imagining her at a cricket match, or cheering
on her favorite players at Wimbledon is pretty easy too. But you'll never guess what sport she is actually
a big fan of. It's not soccer, although she does have quite
an affection for English football, telling her co-host Paul Hollywood on The Great British
Bake Off in 2016 that she's a fan of the Liverpool-based Premier League team, Everton. However, more surprising than that is her
real love of rugby. That's right, she's a fan of the English contact-sport,
even going so far as to attend the games in person to support England during the World
Cup in 2015. She's such a big fan, she also supports local
teams, even hosting an Afternoon Tea event in 2015 for her home team Bath Rugby. She's beloved the world over, but Mary Berry
has not been without fault. She's made some pretty controversial statements
over the years that have sparked ire from several of her viewers. In 2018, she was accused of fat-shaming a
Michelin-starred chef who appeared on her show, Classic Mary Berry. She made the remarks after chef Nathan Outlaw
revealed he loved wind-surfing. "You, surfing." "Can you believe it?" "Well, you must go very fast, a bit of weight
on that board." Apart from talking about how much weight there
would be on the board, she also suggested his large size meant he would be good at crushing
garlic, comments that some of her viewers were not in the least bit amused by. "I think you're cruel, Mary. I really do." One viewer tweeted: "Mary Berry has gone down in my estimations. Just casually fat shamed a chef twice, like
just because you're Mary Berry you don't get to be rude?!" It's not the only time she has been accused
of being somewhat insensitive, as she has been quoted by the Sunday Times food magazine
saying she watched what she ate because she didn't want to be a large person on a food
show. Berry went on to say that large people shouldn't
be judging cakes on food shows because it's not what people want. She explained: "Or else people will say, 'Look what happens
when you eat cake.'" Berry is an almost unrivaled doyenne of the
baking world. In fact, she's called the queen of baking
and is known for her delicious Victoria Sponge recipe. However, that's not all Mary Berry can do. She's written more than 75 cook books over
the course of her career, not all baking related. One of her longest-standing passions is using
an AGA, a heavy-duty stove and cooker made of cast iron, which was invented by Swedish
physicist, Dr. Gustaf Dalén. In fact, she is such a big fan, she has held
workshops and written The Complete AGA Cookbook to help people use the kitchen appliance better. Her versatility doesn't end there. While Mary Berry's Baking Bible is undoubtedly
one of her most popular books, she has expertise in several other schools, culinary and beyond. From fresh, light food in a jiffy in Real
Food Fast and classic family recipes in At Home, to prepare ahead meals in Cook Now Eat
Later and even one on running the household called Mary's Household Tips and Tricks, she's
got a book for almost everything. Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite
celebrity chefs are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the
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