Prue Leith says she should have called her autobiography Winging It, because that’s how she’s got on through life.

But in reality this trailblazing woman has been a hardworking entrepreneur in both the food and business worlds. And by launching her first-ever theatre tour at the age of 83-next-week she’s showing there are no plans to take it easy.

Wearing her trademark bright colours and chunky jewellery, Prue started her cosy, understated show with the premise that all the audience knows her for is her TV work as a judge on Great British Menu for 11 series and, more famously, stepping into Mary Berry’s shoes when The Great British Bake Off moved to Channel 4.

But there must have been an equal number of foodie fans who knew about the great influence she has had on this country’s cuisine since the 1960s with three successful businesses running a restaurant, catering business and cookery schools.

There were plenty of stories in the first half about those days – how the young South African Prue discovered the joy of great food while working as an au pair in France, how she started a catering business in her London bedsit after taking a short Cordon Bleu cookery course, and opened her high-end restaurant in 1969 when her only previous restaurant experience had been as washer-up.

Prue has a bucketful of names to drop. Her neighbours The Hollies kept their marijuana among her dried herbs, she cooked a full English on request for the Beatles one evening, a half-dressed David Bailey caused a scene, and Princess Margaret turned up for pheasant casserole late one night after the chef had gone home, leaving only Prue in the kitchen.

Disasters as well as triumphs were shared – how when writing a cookery column for the Daily Mail a misprint in her Oxford marmalade recipe called for two pounds of black treacle instead of two tablespoons and the editor made her answer the irate phonecalls from readers left with marmalade toffee. And she regrets making a less-than-perfect cup of tea for the Queen.

The second half was devoted to answering questions from the audience and it was here that things could have been a little slicker. The questions were posed by the show’s producer Clive Tulloh who, unlike Prue, isn’t a natural on stage and didn’t introduce himself when he wandered on to take the spare seat.

The audience - which included Poole’s own 2021 Bake Off contestant, retired midwife Maggie Richardson – came up with questions which gave Prue a chance to talk about her most embarrassing moment, tweeting the winner of the 2017 series before the final while on holiday, and her love of bright fashion and glasses – she has 75 pairs.

And being a lifelong entrepreneur – ‘a trader’ as she puts it – she has her own range of spectacles, as well as cookware and eight novels.

What’s left to achieve for this high-achiever who’s always been her own boss? Prue told us the last thing on her list is to see one of her books adapted for film or TV. I’m sure she’ll achieve that too.