Happy Birthday Dame Mary Berry

Dame Mary Berry is a renowned British food writer, television presenter, and baker, best known for her role as a judge on The Great British Bake Off from 2010 to 2016. She was born on March 24, 1935, in Bath, and celebrated her 90th birthday this week.

Mary trained at catering college, then moved to France at the age of 22 to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. She started her career in food writing in the 1960s and has published over 70 cookbooks. Her first book was The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook in 1970. Known for her baking and traditional British cuisine, and her warm and encouraging personality, she specialises in classic, simple, and elegant home cooking. One of her most famous books is the best selling Mary Berry’s Baking Bible.

Besides Bake Off, she has appeared in many other cooking shows, including two six-part BBC series: Mary Berry’s Absolute Favourites and Mary Berry’s Simple Comforts.

Mary became associated with two products in particular: the KitchenAid mixer which she described as being the one gadget she could not live without, and the AGA cooker. But did you know that she also promoted teasmades? Here's a BSR advertising hanger which we have dated to 1979 using the model range featured. Mary would have been 44 at the time - half a lifetime ago!