The secret to a (Paul) Hollywood tan

Anyone who is a guest on Good Morning Britain, the Today programme or the like has an agenda. They want to promote something – themselves, their new film, a charity, a political point of view. Of course, the presenters don’t like being used as stooges. And they have the power, because their show is live, of going off the agreed piste, and the guest has no way of stopping them. Last week I was on GMB with my husband John to talk about our new ITV show, Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen, and to be fair, presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls were hugely welcoming and gave the show a great plug. But our few minutes got chopped in half because the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, was suddenly slotted in on Zoom to talk about mobile phones in schools (admittedly of more interest to most viewers). Then Ed wanted to talk about his grandmother’s shepherd’s pie and whether it should be called cottage pie as she made it with beef (I said yes) and Susanna asked whether John and I still lived in separate houses (no, we don’t). So, was it worth coming up to London the day before, getting up at six, and hanging around until 8.30? Of course it was. The truth is you don’t turn down a slot on any show with a huge audience if you need to get a message across. Besides, I love the attention. I get a buzz from being told to enter by the ‘Talent door’. ‘Talent’? Bring it on. Never mind if that means by the back door, through the prop store and past the bins.

In January, reef fishing in the Bahamas, John hooked a snapper. While he was reeling it in, a barracuda bit off its tail-end with an elegant, powerful swirl, leaving the other half on the hook.