The big interview
Dame Prue Leith talks to Nathalie Whittle about stamping out sexism, going on pub crawls in the Cotswolds and her cake-free home
In a career spanning seven decades, Prue Leith has made a habit of being ahead of the curve. When she opened her Michelin-starred restaurant, Leith’s, in 1969, it was the first highend restaurant in London owned by a woman – and it didn’t faze her one bit. ‘It never occurred to me that the fact that I’m a woman meant I shouldn’t be there,’ she reflects. ‘I’d only ever done the washing-up in a tiny restaurant in Paris, but even that didn’t stop me!’
Since then, Prue has helped develop a new generation of chefs with the launch of her cookery school, Leiths School of Food and Wine, become a successful writer, publishing 14 cookbooks, eight novels and a memoir – and even become a TV star. At 82, her triumphs continue; she’s shortly returning as a judge on her sixth series of The Great British Bake Off this September, and releasing a new cookbook, Bliss On Toast.
In her ninth decade, she’s also relishing being married for a second time, having recently moved to a new home in the Cotswolds with her husband of six years, John Playfair. Prue’s first husband, Rayne Kruger, with whom she had two children, Danny and Li-Da, died of emphysema in 2002. Here, Prue, who was made a Dame last year, shares why it’s never too late to shake things up…
You’re as busy as ever. How does it feel to be in such demand at 82?
It’s extraordinary – I thought I’d be under the sod by the time I was 82! It’s wonderful that people still want to employ me and people are still interested in me. But what I’m most pleased about is that I still have the energy and enthusiasm to do it all. It has nothing to do with trying to prove some ageist theory; I keep working because I enjoy it. So, why would I stop?
You were 77 when GBBO came along. Did it feel like a second act?
In many ways, it felt like a third act. I devoted the first 25 years of my life to cooking, then I decided I wanted to write novels, so I sold my restaurant and cookery school and got stuck into that. When Bake Off came along, I thought, ‘Right, it’s time for another revolution.’ I think it’s good to stir things up every so often, whatever age you are.
Can you ever imagine giving up Bake Off?
I imagine giving it up all the time because I’m sure there will come a day when they won’t employ me any more! They’ll say, ‘Good God, the woman’s 84 and nobody will insure her.’ Or I’ll start falling over, or I won’t be able to remember my lines. So, I’m enjoying it while it lasts.
What has been the secret to opening new windows of opportunity at different stages of your life?
Being curious. For me, the worst words in the world are, ‘I
