Prue Leith opened her restaurant, Leith’s, in west London in 1969
(Picture: Kirsty O'Connor/PA)Chef Prue Leith is a chef, writer, restaurateur, campaigner, designer and co-host of Channel 4’s popular show The Great British Bake Off.
The South African-born food lover has become a common fixture on British television with her passion and knowledge on all things delicious evident.
She will be on our screens on Thursday February 16, to debate assisted dying with her son, Tory MP Danny Kruger. The programme Prue and Danny’s Death Road Trip, will air on Channel 4 at 9pm.
But how much do we know about Prue Leith and how did she make her name?
When did Prue Leith start her cooking career?
Prue Leith was born in South Africa, where she said she was “shamefully unaware of the horrors of apartheid”.
While working as an au pair in France, she fell in love with cooking and decided to learn the tricks of the trade at the coveted Le Cordon Bleu in London.
She went on to open her restaurant, Leith's, in Kensington Park Road, west London in 1969. It was a success, and Leith earned a Michelin star before going on to open Leith's School of Food and Wine in 1975.
She also opened up Prue Leith's Chef's Academy in South Africa in 1997.
How old is Prue Leith?
Lieth was born on February 18, 1940 making her 82 years old. Despite her age, Leith can be described as sprightly and energetic, which she puts down to a bit of exercise here and there.
“I exercise in fits and starts,” she said in an interview with the Telegraph Magazine.
She also makes sure her hobbies and passions help her to keep fit and added: “My two cavalier spaniels force me out for walks and I love gardening.”
Is Prue Leith married?
Prue married South African novelist Rayne Kruger in 1974. The pair had a son called Daniel and then adopted another child from war-torn Cambodia, Li-Da. Daniel Kruger went on to become a Tory MP.
Kruger, 20 years' Prue's senior, died in 2002. She later had a relationship with pianist Ernest Hall, before splitting in 2010.
In 2016, she married John Playfair and says she feels “lucky” to have fallen in love again.
Who is Prue Leith’s son, Danny Kruger?
Daniel Kruger, 48, has been a Tory MP for Devizes in Wiltshire since 2019.
He worked in journalism before entering politics, and was political secretary to the former prime minister, Boris Johnson. Kruger also worked at a centre-right thinktank and as former prime minister David Cameron’s speech writer.
He founded Only Connect, a project working in prisons to stop criminals from re-offending, with his wife Emma, with who he has three children.
Kruger has consistently voted against measures to prevent climate change, voted for a stricter asylum system, and voted against more EU integration.
The Tory MP was criticised last June for his comments on women’s bodily autonomy. After the overturning of Roe v Wade, he said: “They think that women have an absolute right to bodily autonomy in this matter, whereas I think in the case of abortion that right is qualified by the fact that another body is involved.”
How much does Prue earn from Bake Off?
She is said to have bagged £200,000 from her Bake Off deal. This means she was or is still being paid at least three times what Mary Berry was during her stint as Paul Hollywood’s judging partner.
