Before you start listening to this podcast, we've got a special subscription offer.

You can get 12 issues of The Spectator for £12, which will give you full access to everything on our website,

and we'll also throw in a free £20 £20,000, Amazon voucher.

Just go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher if you'd like to get this offer.

Hello and welcome to Women with Balls, where I, Katie Balls, talked to today's trailblazers.

My guest today is a cookery writer, chef and British bake-off judge, as well as a sometimes spectator contributor.

I'm delighted to be joined by Prue Leif.

She grew up in South Africa, but left those

jewels after convincing her parents to let her study at the University of Paris. It was there that

she decided the career she wanted was in the food industry. Since then, she has become a respected

name in the sector from opening her first Michelin restaurant, Leifes, in Notting Hill, to the

creation of Leif's School of Food and Wine. She's also a household name owing in part to her numerous

television appearances. This came to a peak in 2017 when she was brought in to replace Mary Berry

on Channel Falls the Great British Bake Off. Speaking after the appointment and whether she'd been frightened to step into Barry's shoes,

she said, I'd never watch Bake Off, so I had no idea that it mattered so much to so many people.

But that was a nice surprise, because I'm quite an egotist, really,

and I like being stopped in the supermarket by people wanting selfies and all that.

More recently, Leif who voted Leave in the EU referendum has become involved with politics in a sense,

as an advisor for the government review into hospital food following the deaths of six people due to a hysteria outbreak.

So thank you very much for joining us today, Peru.

On this podcast, we like to begin by

rewinding the hands of time. You grew up in South Africa. I think I'm correct in saying your

...