THE Festival of Literature is used to serving up tasty treats and Prue Leith proved to be the perfect recipe for a Monday lunchtime.

She drew a large crowd to listen to her talk about her newly-published autobiography, Relish – My Life On A Plate, as well as how she ended up in the position she is in and tales of how she manages to eat so many plates of food while judging on the Great British Menu (answer: a lot of restraint).

During the talk she revealed that her brother calls her Merseymouth and that her son bought her a megaphone after reading some of the revelations from her life during the 1960s that involved drugs and free love from her memoirs, “just in case there was anyone who hadn’t heard about them”.

With a whole host of jobs under her belt – including cook, caterer, restaurater, food writer, journalist, novelist, businesswoman, teacher, charity worker and televison presenter to name a few – it came as no surprise t hear that Prue initally struggled to find her true vocation.

But once she settled on a career in food, she went from strength to strength and has received a CBE, opened cookery schools around the world and been named Businesswoman of the Year, among other things.

Prue came across as a real inspiration and talked passionately about all topics she touched upon and gave a real insight into her life and the world of food.

STEPHANIE TYE