Boar Books interviews Dame Prue Leith at the Stratford Literary Festival

Until recently, Dame Prue Leith was most well-known for putting amateur bakers to the test in her role as a judge on Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off. Since stepping back from the tent, Leith has been busy promoting her latest book, Being Old… and Learning to Love It! – a candid, warm, and incredibly funny read, interlaced with her quintessential charm. The Boar’s Books team caught up with Leith at the Stratford Literary Festival, where the chef-turned-author spoke about the process of writing the book, her feelings on getting older, and her plans for life after Bake Off – including her new-found modelling career.

Leith described the process of her writing her new book as “dead easy to write”, with it only taking “about three months”. She went on to describe it as “a series of essays about aspects of old age” written as “a kind of rant against the idea that old age is all miserable”.

Leith’s book seems to have entered the conversation at a vital time, amongst discourse surrounding ageing, populated by prominent voices such as Kate Winslet and Dawn French. In our conversation, Leith explained that ageing is “not all grim”. “We need people to stop going on about being older as if it’s terrible. It’s true that all old age ends badly if you regard death as the end of the world. And I don’t worry about death, because I think I’ll manage to do it so that it won’t be painful, and I’ll do it when I want to do it. I just think that our attitude to old age is all wrong.”

When you’re young, you have to care what people think: life depends on what people think

Dame Prue Leith

The 86-year-old reflects on ageing not as a burden, but as something that “can be great”: “When you’re young, you have to care what people think: life depends on what people think. I know at my age, you don’t give a toss. You can say what you like, do what you like. You have an amazing amount of freedom.”

While her book might be titled Being Old…, Leith also touches upon the struggles faced by young people – particularly university students – in her writing. She reflects on how young people are often shaped by social media expectations that set them up to have body image issues: “I think it’s terribly sad that young people, who don’t have much money, are spending it on boob enhancement and Botox – and they don’t need to.”

“Youth has its own beauty; it doesn’t need any help. I think it’s really dangerous. Not only is it a waste of money, but it’s dangerous to do things to your body that are very difficult and expensive to reverse when, next year, that won’t be the fashion.”

With writing credits as a food columnist, freelance journalist, and successful author, I was keen to uncover what drives Leith to write. When asked about this, she exclaimed: “I just have to write! Writing is a kind of disease. You think, oh my God, this book is finally finished, isn’t that wonderful? You have this fantastic breath, [and think] I’ll never write another novel. And then you start to get this kind of slightly uneasy feeling that you need to open your laptop and start writing. It doesn’t have to be a novel. I just have to write something.”

You can knock it off in a morning, and it’s [like] conversation. You can write in your own voice. I think it’s helped

Dame Prue Leith

While the chef has written a number of books, her “writing bug” is also kept at bay through a column she writes for The Oldie magazine, which she describes as “very journalistic”. Journalistic writing is also where she finds herself at her “happiest”, because “it’s short… You can knock it off in a morning, and it’s [like] conversation. You can write in your own voice. I think it’s helped.”

After an incredible nine seasons as a host on The Great British Bake Off, I asked Leith what she has found herself missing the most after she announced in January that she would be stepping down from the show.

Smiling warmly, she answered: “It sounds rather cliché, but I think what I’ll never forget is the friendship of people like Paul [Hollywood], Noel Fielding, and Alison Hammond. They’re all good friends, and I see them still. I was talking to Paul yesterday. I don’t think I’ll lose them, but I will lose that camaraderie in the tent. There’s just an atmosphere. I will miss the atmosphere.”

After discussing how the programme has become a comfort watch for so many people, Leith expressed: “I’m glad it makes people happy, because it certainly makes me happy. I think we all enjoy it and long may it last. What is so extraordinary is that when that show was started, the original idea was to pitch it at middle-aged, middle-class women, the kind who make cakes for the local fete, [who] were ill-served by afternoon television. Nobody thought it would take off. Then they discovered that whole families were watching. It just exploded and it’s been going for 16 years.”

Leith also provided insight into her latest show Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen on ITV. “I love it”, she said, “because it’s in our house. It’s all done in our kitchen. John [Leith’s husband] is in it, and he goes around seeing what’s going on in the Cotswolds: learning how to lay a hedge, drive a tractor, [meeting] beekeepers or somebody who makes amazing fudge. And then I have guests, and the lovely thing is that I choose the guests who come. It’s a good mix and it’s fun.”

If it’s a miserable, cold, wretched day, do you really want to put on a black coat?

Dame Prue Leith

If you have watched Leith on that programme or seen her in any capacity (including on the striking illustration of her latest book’s front cover), you will also know her love for wearing bright colours. Asked why she wears these colourful numbers, she explained: “If it’s a miserable, cold, wretched day, do you really want to put on a black coat? Black is what you wear to go to a funeral. It’s a sad colour. I think on a wet, cold, and miserable day, you put on a yellow coat and feel better immediately. But I also like the act of dressing. I like choosing stuff that goes. I mean, my daughter teases me. She says it’s all too matchy, matchy – but I like it.”

Her love for fashion also led her to walk her first catwalk – in her 80s – at London Fashion Week in 2025. Leith said the experience, which she described as “hilarious”, came about after a chance encounter with fashion designer Omi (of the sustainable fashion duo VIN + OMI) on a train. After becoming instant friends, Leith agreed to walk the catwalk twice, on one occasion finding herself dressed in “a latex black sheath”. Though, despite the initial shock of this, she said she “absolutely loved” the experience, finding it to be “huge fun”, a sentiment which appears to radiate in all aspects of her life.

Leith’s latest book Being Old… and Learning to Love It! is available to buy now in all good bookshops and online retailers, as well as an eBook.