Mary Berry recalls ‘drugs bust’
MARY BERRY may have a whiter than white reputation, but it was some little bags of white powder that got her into trouble at an airport one time.
The TV chef revealed the unlikely-sounding incident in an interview with host Graham Norton after fellow guest Claudia Winkleman joked she had a ‘much darker side’.
Explaining that the incident happened 25 years ago, she said: ‘I was going to the US to do some cookery demonstrations and was worried that there might be problems, so I weighed out all the ingredients — flour, sugar — and put them all in little plastic bags.
‘When I arrived at the airport, the sniffer dogs made a bee-line for me.
‘Suddenly I was surrounded by uniformed people, and my assistant and I were put in separate cells.’
Even the ever-cool under pressure Mary admits that this turn of events was ‘alarming’ — and not really understanding what was going on, she said the worst thing possible under interrogation.
‘When I was asked if I was going to make money from the stuff, I said, “I do — and my fee has already been agreed!”‘
Luckily, Mary did not become the Walter White of the baking world and she appears on tonight’s Graham Norton Show to promote her new cookery show Britain’s Best Home Cook.
The veteran baker is a judge on the show and Claudia said she leapt at the chance to appear too once she heard Mary was ‘on board’.
Also appearing on Graham’s sofa tonight are actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Maxine Peake and Matt LeBlanc and musicians Dua Lipa and Calvin Harris.
The Graham Norton Show airs on Friday at 10.35pm, on BBC One
Author: Anna Thomson
