I cheated at school. I remember on one occasion I wrote some history dates in pen on my leg. So when there was a question like 'What year did that happen?', I'd lift my skirt up and have a look.

Although a food processor is not an absolutely essential piece of equipment, because you can certainly chop, grate, slice, knead and mix everything by hand, it does do all these things very quickly and efficiently and saves you time and energy

Memories are fallible and a timer can save a lot of hard work from going out of the window

I cannot for the life of me understand what the Minister Of Transport does every day. He goes to the office at 9am and leaves at 5pm and the traffic in London is still horrendous.

My agent, Debbie, saying, 'Don't get involved in advertising.' She gets so many calls a day about me promoting a product, but I am really pleased I have never gone down that route. I don't want somebody else to make a saucepan with my name on it.

I have always read all the latest cookery books and magazines, from all over the world

A cake is a very good test of an oven: if it browns too much on one side and not on the other, it's not your fault - you need to have your oven checked.