Doyen of British baking Mary Berry receives CBE Asked about the show's appeal, she said: "This is not a hyped-up programme. It's totally sincere. We aim to get people baking and to enjoy it and to further their skills. It's very tough but they are friendly to each other and we encourage them, we don't want to make them cry. I think the audience enjoy it because it's fun, and they get attached to the characters who, although they are competing and dying to win, still help the person next to them. As a child Mrs Berry was not academically gifted but in domestic science lessons she discovered her love of cooking and pursued it as a career. After studying cooking in France and the UK she worked for a number of food industry bodies and got her big break when she stepped in to write the recipe pages of Housewife magazine when its cookery editor was away. Her first cookbook, The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, was published in 1970 and she has gone on to write more than 50 others which have sold millions around the world. Regular appearances on television and radio followed and she has remained a favourite with audiences down the decades.