After 60 years of marriage to Mary, Paul Hunnings has been the nation’s favourite cook’s chief taster for decades – but he still prefers what he ate as a youngster
Mary and Paul will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary next year
Dame Mary Berry has revealed how her husband Paul prefers his dear old mum’s cooking to hers. The former Bake Off judge, 90, might be the nation’s favourite chef having delivered cookery classes to millions of UK viewers for more than five decades.
And she has published a staggering 30 books full of her own favourite recipes such as cottage pie, lasagne and chicken tray bake for fans to try out. But it seems that at home it is quite a different story.
Mary revealed: “My husband Paul has been my steadfast taster and by my side for 60 years. I am always trying out new recipes on him and Paul appreciates most of them. But he prefers the ones his mother used to make.” Asked if she ever let Paul loose in the kitchen to dish up meals for them, she laughed: “Paul? You must be joking. He is very, very good with a corkscrew.”
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Mary is a national treasure and she says that she her husband is ‘cherished’ and well looked after now that he has become frail(Image: BBC)
Mary spills the beans about her domestic life on the latest episode of her BBC Two series Mary At 90: A Lifetime Of Cooking. She will celebrate her 60 th wedding anniversary to husband Paul Hunnings next year. One of the secrets of their successful marriage is that they like a laugh and he loves to poke fun at her.
And she recalls one time how she had to struggle to do a cookery demonstration in front of a crowd of people despite having broken her wrist. The writer and chef said: “We did a demonstration and I’d just broken my wrist.
“And I came home with my hand in plaster and my husband had a lovely remark. He said ‘I’ll look it up in the Gray’s Anatomy’. And he read out ‘Often happens to the elderly!’ If I had had a spare hand I would have socked him one!”
Her cooking is admired by everyone, including fellow chef Jamie Oliver, who is appearing in her new series(Image: BBC)
Mary has also spoken in the past about why her marriage to Paul, a retired antiquarian book dealer who she recently said had grown “terribly frail”, has lasted so long. She said in an interview: “Love, of course, but respect is so important. And I don’t count the decades too closely. We never raise our voices at each other because, you know, we love each other.
“If I’m a bit miffed, I very often think, ‘Well, I’m not gonna say that right now’. I’ll go to the greenhouse and do some cuttings.”
Also on the BBC Two show, Mary has a giggle about some of the mail she receives from her millions of fans. Her assistant Lucy Young, who has been with her for 35 years, pulls out some envelopes to show how folk address them to the mailman.
Prince William sent birthday wishes to Dame Mary on her 90th birthday in March(Image: PA)
One reads: “Mary Berry, A big house with a nice kitchen, Near Waitrose, Henley on Thames.” Mary said: “These make us laugh. I thought that was lovely.”
And then she is shown another which reads: “Dame Mary Berry, Beautiful farm, Near Henley on Thames, Oxon.” Mary adds: “Well, I don’t live on a farm but it found us. I love them all. Everyone who writes deserves a reply.”
– Mary At 90: A Lifetime In Cooking airs on Wednesday this week at 7.30pm on BBC Two.
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