EXCLUSIVEHer husband says she's a poster girl for geriatric sex. Just don't ask Prue Leith how often they do it!

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His wife may be Queen of the Kitchen ― of all the kitchens, really ― but it is Mr Prue Leith who is 主要な this 小旅行する of the 結婚の／夫婦の ４半期/4分の1s. 十分である to say there is nothing beige here, either in the d?cor or the marriage.

The 塀で囲むs of the master bedroom, where Dame Prue is having her make-up done, are festooned with around 200 of her 声明 necklaces, the brightest and blingiest of which were bought by the man who doesn't mind 存在 called her toyboy.

John Playfair is 77 ― his wife will be 84 tomorrow ― and used to work in the fashion 産業. He once helped dress Elizabeth Taylor (although かもしれない not in yellow plastic earrings he'd sourced online for £2 a pop), and when he met Prue, who had been 未亡人d, he felt she needed more colour in her life.?

'She was on all these boards of big companies. Very 法人組織の／企業の,' he shudders. 'Everything was 黒人／ボイコット or 海軍. I bought her a pair of red reading glasses. She said, 'I can't!', and I said, 'Yes, you can', and it's been like that ever since.'

And how. Through the couple's bedroom we go (aquamarine 塀で囲むs and 天井), and on to another bedroom, The Red Room.

Icing on the cake: Prue with husband John Playfair

Prue?on Bake Off with Paul Hollywood, left, Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding

'This is the banishment room, where she can send me if I misbehave,' he explains.

John, a say-it-as-it-is Scot, is 永久的に banished from Prue's bathroom (he has his own en 控訴), but rarely from her bed: 'Often there are three of us in the bed: Prue, me and Prue's laptop.'

A quick step over the tiger rug and we are in Prue's dressing room, where the rails sing with vivid y ellows and oranges, blues and pinks. 'We call it a Pruesplosion,' John says, proudly. He opens a drawer 十分な of earrings, and a Pantone colour chart come to life.

'Are you going to show her my knicker drawer, too?' shouts Prue. He isn't, but now she について言及するs it, I have to ask: 'Are your undies all brightly coloured too, Prue?'

'No, they are 黒人／ボイコット and white from M&S. Very boring.'

This is an 業績／成就, finding one thing that is boring about Dame Prue, and the man who 株 her life.

It is eight years since Prue Leith eschewed a 静かな 退職 and 受託するd a 職業 at the 舵輪／支配 of The 広大な／多数の／重要な British Bake Off, 取って代わるing Mary Berry.?

Although a 完全に different character ('yes Mary is very proper; Prue is . . . 妥当でない,' says John), she was certainly qualified for the 職業, having run a catering company, acclaimed cookery school and a Michelin starred restaurant, but John likes to think it was her vibrancy, 反映するd in her dress, that gave her the 辛勝する／優位.

She once said she'd love to equal Mary Berry's 任期 on Bake Off ? and here we are! When the next series is filmed, Prue will have spent longer at the Bake Off 舵輪／支配 than the blessed Mary.

Now, she finally has her own cookery show, Prue's Cotswold Kitchen. And on it, 同様に as the obligatory celeb guests, she'll have her very own sideki ck ― John. She tells me she was thrilled to be able to 含む him because the show is filmed at their home, 'and I worried he would resent the TV cameras taking over'.

By the end of our afternoon together, when John has 流出／こぼすd all the secrets about their sex life, she is rather regretting 説 he could 株 the スポットライト.

'He's such a chatterbox that I worry he is going to be the 星／主役にする of the show,' she wails. 'I'm supposed to be the TV 星／主役にする.'

やめる where Prue sits in the long history of our 女性（の） TV cooks is up for 審議. She's appalled at the suggestion she might be more Fanny Cradock than Nigella Lawson. 'I always 設立する Fanny Cradock やめる embarrassing, although like her I am often inappropriately dressed for cooking.'?

Fanny famously cooked at the 王室の Albert Hall in 十分な evening attire. Prue's clobber is more casual, but still 'very far from chef's whites'. In the first episode she 追跡するs her (colourful) cuffs in the flour.

Is she やめる messy in the kitchen at home? I ask John. 'F***ing shambles,' he nods. 'I'm forever 説 'get your sleeves out'.'

No （民事の）告訴s about the food, though: 'You never get the same meal twice. You can get leftovers, but with her creativity, it's delicious.' 贈呈, though? He blows a raspberry. 'I'd give her a 7 to 9. Her idea of heaven is a bowl and . . . splat.' He mimes dispensing slop from a 広大な／多数の／重要な 高さ. 'But 追加する a big glass of ワイン and good company. That's Prue.'

It's not 広範囲にわたって known, but before she 投げつけるd herself into a 範囲 of 商売／仕事s and 調書をとる／予約する 令状ing, Prue 前線d 36 episodes of a women's magazine show on Tyne-Tees.

'It was in the 早期に days of colour TV. I hated the director, a very pernickety man who 手配中の，お尋ね者 everything scripted. I thought all TV was like that, so I really 避けるd doing any for 30 years.'

She does smile at the olden-days content, though, 解任するing 実験（する）ing out a 'new-fangled' hairdryer. And the 早期に guest 論証するing how to use a thing called a freezer? It was a young Mary Berry.

'I remember she had a pig's trotter in hers, and it had been there for years,' Prue laughs. Then Mary's career took off. 'She really took over from Fanny Cradock as the nation's chef, although there was Delia (Smith), too.'

For three １０年間s, Prue worked hard at becoming one of our most successful businesswomen. She was tempted 支援する on 審査する in 2006 to be a 裁判官 on BBC Two's 広大な／多数の／重要な British Menu ('by then I'd realised I was 井戸／弁護士席 qualified'), which she did for ten years.

In 2017 there were shockwaves when Bake Off moved from the BBC to Channel 4, and Mary Berry decided not to go too. Prue was approached to 取って代わる her as one of the 裁判官s.

She phoned Mary. 'I asked what Paul Hollywood was like, and she said he was so good, and knew so much about baking that he could really do the show on his own, so I'd need to get in there.'

Cooking up a 嵐／襲撃する: Young Prue in her restaurant kitchen

Prue finally has her own cookery show, Prue's Cotswold Kitchen

And not let him take over?

'Yes, 正確に／まさに,' Prue agrees.

She wouldn't みなす Mary a の近くに friend ('I define that by whether you come to each other's houses'), but there is a 限定された 尊敬（する）・点 there, and they are perhaps closer than some would like.?

She tells me that a few years ago they appeared at a 機能（する）／行事, Prue wearing an apron 説 'What would Mary do?' and Mary wearing one 説 'What would Prue do?'

John put it on social マスコミ, 'and the BBC asked him to take it 負かす／撃墜する. They think they own Mary, and didn't want her fraternising with the enemy'.

Prue's 見解（をとる）s on celebrity 'friendships' are 利益／興味ing. She does have famous guests on her new show (her old Bake Off pal Sandi Toksvig 含むd) but has 主張するd 'they are either true friends or have some link to the Cotswolds.

She must know Paul Hollywood 井戸／弁護士席 by now, though? 'We have become closer in the past few years. I do like his new wife and we went to their wedding in Cyprus. And they have come to stay here. Paul 手配中の，お尋ね者 to land his ヘリコプター in the garden ― he is learning to 飛行機で行く ― but the 天候 scuppered that and he had to come by road.'

What glorious hosts John and Prue must be. Although they married in 2016, they kept separate houses ('but we always slept in the same bed,' points out John) until two years ago, when they built their own forever home. 'Our final home, designed to see us into our dotage,' says Prue.

In the garage sits a Harley-Davidson. 'I 運動, but Prue hops on the 支援する,' says John. 'I like to rev the engine when we are in town.'

John and Prue were always 隣人s, but their paths 簡単に never crossed. Home for her was the 11-bedroom mansion just a mile 負かす／撃墜する the road, which she had bought with her first husband, Rayne Kruger, who died in 2002.?

Eighteen years her 上級の, and married to her mother's best friend, Rayne left his wife after he and Prue had 行為／行うd an illicit 事件／事情／状勢 for 13 years. They went on to have two children and today she says Rayne was 'a teacher, 助言者, lover ― a Svengali 人物／姿／数字'.

'I have been incredibly lucky with both my husbands ― the two loves of my life,' she says. 'Rayne was a director of the 商売／仕事, so our work lives were entwined. John 述べるs himself as my 捕らえる、獲得する-運送／保菌者, but he's so much more. He has supported me, encouraged me, given me 信用／信任.

'I've been very lucky because neither husband was resentful of my work. They never 手配中の，お尋ね者 to stop me. What I find disgusting about some men is that they want to stifle the woman. They might be attracted to, say, a woman's bosoms, but as soon as they own them, they want them to cover up.'

Yet Rayne was a difficult man, 特に as he got older and more 始める，決める in his ways. He became やめる reclusive, and while Prue ― juggling different directorships ― would spend part of the week in London, when she （機の）カム home she, too, rarely 投機・賭けるd out.

It meant that when Rayne died, she was 孤立するd. 'She had no friends,' says John. 'She had this 広大な／多数の／重要な long 演説（する）／住所 調書をとる／予約する ― Prue knows everyone ― but she knew no one around here.'

They met in 2011 while walking their dogs. 'We did discover that we'd have taken the same train to London,' he says. How could he not have noticed Prue Leith on a train? Oh yes, she hadn't discovered yellow then.

Prue tells me that knowing John had been in the fashion 貿易（する） unnerved her. For their first date, she tried to dress 'like the elegant Cotswolds lady I thought he 手配中の，お尋ね者, in taupes and beiges'. He took her to a designer 同僚 who made her two 控訴s ― 'one in yellow and one in red'.

'I didn't 押し進める her into colour. It only took a 軽く押す／注意を引く,' he says. He's still 軽く押す／注意を引くing. Just yesterday, Prue says, another pair of epic earrings arrived. Yellow, with fabric bits. 'Like muffs. I said: 'Too big?' He said: 'Oh no.' '

By now, Prue has risen from the kitchen （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to go and have her photo done. John watches her, dazzled. 'I love her in big earrings. She has big ears, やめる apart from anything else. Ears like an elephant. But she has no idea how attractive she is.'

The irony is that the woman who didn't think she was 勇敢に立ち向かう enough for scarlet specs now has her own spectacles 範囲. Ditto a 着せる／賦与するing and jewellery 範囲. 'She doesn't even need the specs now,' John guffaws. 'She had her cataracts done and they 訂正するd her 見通し. The レンズs are just glass.'

The 指名する Prudence never やめる fitted Prue Leith. Indeed, a ro mp through her autobiography 明らかにする／漏らすs that this is a woman who once drugged her first husband. She slipped Valium into Rayne's drink on a flight, because he had a history of 原因（となる）ing scenes with flight attendants.

'It was only once,' she 収容する／認めるs. She also popped a Valium when she had to serve the Queen tea. 'I didn't put it in the Queen's tea. It was for me,' she says, for the avoidance of 疑問.

John says he read her life story, agog, 特に at her candour over 事柄s 性の. 'I got to 一時期／支部 three and thought: 'Oh I'm the first.' Then I got to 一時期／支部 nine and I thought: 'F***! There is a long 列'.'

He 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd, though, that the older Prue had let the fun fade. 'She was all about work,' he says.

早期に in their 関係, she had to go to Brazil for work. She asked if he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to come, too. Three days, all expenses paid. He said no.

'I said if I was going to Brazil I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to spend three weeks there, not 飛行機で行く in, wave her off to work, and 長，率いる to the airport again. So, that's what we did. We 雇うd a car, took off for three weeks. We stayed in a 売春宿 one night.' 容赦? I tell him: 'I can't imagine Prue in a 売春宿'. He says: 'Oh, I can'.

By now we are eating soup ('has everyone been fed?' Prue yells across the kitchen) but appear to be on to the topic of sex.

'Prue is a good 支持する for geriatric sex,' John continues. John! 'Oh Prue won't mind,' he says. 'It's one of those things that people don't talk enough about. Some of our friends have good marriages, but there is no sex. Some of them 港／避難所't had sex for 30 years, which is sad.'

When I check Prue doesn't mind 存在 あられ／賞賛するd a poster girl for geriatric sex, she shoots John a look, but shrugs. 'As long as you don't ask how many times we do it.'

Is thi s a good point to ask for energy tips? At 84 tomorrow, Prue is still working flat out. Turns out there is a secret. 'A patch on my bum,' she says, 明らかにする／漏らすing she is still on the HRT that was first 定める／命ずるd in her late 40s.

This 飛行機で行くs in the 直面する of 医療の advice, which is that HRT should not be seen as a long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 選択 for women. 'They keep 強調する／ストレスing the 増加するd 危険 of breast 癌, but what about the things the patches 保護する you against ― like osteoporosis?' she says.

'Each new doctor I see tries to stop the patches but, no thank you. I have to say I feel very sorry for women who are tired and 哀れな. That isn't just a 明言する／公表する of mind thing. It's a physical thing.'

What of the recipe for longevity in a marriage? That's a trickier one. Prue 特記する／引用するs one of the best marriages she has 証言，証人／目撃するd to be that of her younger brother, Jamie, to the 王室の writer Penny Junor.

They were chalk and cheese ('he was a carnivore who loved his barbecues, she is a vegan'), but were 'perfect' together. Jamie died from prostate 癌 last year, after more than 50 years of marriage, leaving the entire family heartbroken.

'It's such a clich?, but I think what makes a good marriage is when your partner is your best friend,' says Prue. 'So many people are in わずかに empty marriages. They get on perfectly 井戸／弁護士席, but they wouldn't choose their partner as their best friend.'

And is John your best friend? 'Oh 絶対. いつかs I think he's my worst enemy, but mostly he's my best friend.'

Before I leave, John shows me the coat of 武器 Prue had made after she received her damehood. Everyone who gets an honour is 招待するd to have one. When she went to have it done, the people at the College of 武器 asked if she had a motto she lived by.

'Prue 示唆するd 'Just F***ing Do I t',' laughs John. 'There was a silence, before someone said, deadpan: 'Oh I think Nike already have a 見解／翻訳／版 of that.' So we had another think.'

Together they （機の）カム up with the phrase 'Nothing in moderation', which does seem to sum up every 面 of Prue Leith's life, show-stopper spouse 含むd.

Prue Leith's Cotswold Kitchen starts at 11.40am on Saturday, February 24 on ITV1 and ITVX.