Better than a Paul Hollywood handshake: Former Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry to be ‘made a dame’ in Queen’s Birthday Honours list
- Mary Berry, 85, was included in ‘bumper’ Queen’s Birthday Honours list this year
- She was named alongside medics, fundraisers and volunteers involved in Covid
- The food writer has been awarded damehood after six decades of broadcasting
Former Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry will be made a dame as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, it has been revealed.
Berry, 85, was included in a ‘bumper’ list that includes medics, fundraisers and volunteers involved in the coronavirus response in Britain.
The honours list was postponed from June this year to allow for the names of those who made a special impact during the pandemic to be added.
The food writer has been awarded the honour after six decades of broadcasting, reported the Sunday Telegraph.
It comes eight years after she was handed a CBE for services to culinary arts. Berry trained at Le Cordon Bleu – a cooking school in Paris – before becoming the cookery editor of Housewife magazine, followed by Ideal Home magazine in the 1960s.
Mary Berry’s Simple Comforts. Berry, 85, was included in a ‘bumper’ list that includes medics, fundraisers and volunteers involved in the coronavirus response in Britain
By the 1970s she had moved on to TV, with her first television series Afternoon Plus.
Berry was quickly a household name and won a number of awards including the National Television Award for Best TV Judge in 2017.
She once said her ‘greatest’ career memory was being invited to dinner with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
‘I had a phone call saying the Queen would like me to go to the Palace for dinner,’ she told Cambridge University students in 2017. ‘When I first got the call to invite me I had thought it was a joke.
The honours list was postponed from June this year to allow for the names of those who made a special impact during the pandemic to be added. Pictured, th Queen in July
‘Thomas [her son] answered the phone and said, “It’s Buckingham Palace for you”. ‘Well, I just assumed he was taking the Michael out of his mother.
‘Then I took the call and they said, “It’s Buckingham Palace here. Her Majesty would like you to come for lunch.” Gosh, I thought, how lovely.’
Berry was later pictured speaking to the Queen at the Chelsea Flower Show.