Paul spends most of his time TEASING ME'

Bake Off's Prue Leith reveals how she manages to still be full of beans at the age of 82!

- VIVKI POWER

Dame Prue Leith is a poster girl for growing old with gusto. She’s shown us all that there’s no need to slow down in our sunset years. Prue got married again in her 70s, and landed her plum role as judge on The Great British Bake Off at 77. But incredibly, she is now embarking on her first-ever theatre tour at the age of 82, telling scandalous and amusing stories about her life and career.

The age-defying Prue says it’s all down to one character quirk. ‘I just don’t know how to say “no”,’ she laughs. She says the idea for the tour came up when a producer who works on Joanna Lumley’s stage shows suggested Prue do one too.

‘I forgot about the suggestion, then I watched Paul Hollywood do his stage show, and he’s really good,’ continues Prue. ‘And I thought that if Paul could pull an audience, perhaps I could too. But I’m not sure that’s true, as he has quite a lot of female followers and I can’t quite claim the same thing!’

When she asked Paul for advice, alas, he warned her that touring was ‘knackering’. ‘He said, “It’s so, so tiring,” and I thought, “Uh oh,” but it was too late,’ she says ruefully.