Mary Berry reveals she had surgery at the Royal Berkshire Hospital
The 86-year-old tripped and fractured her hip at home
Last updated 18th Oct 2021
Dame Mary Berry has revealed she underwent surgery for a broken hip at the Royal Berkshire Hospital after tripping over in her garden.
The former Great British Bake Off host, 86, spent 10 days in hospital after a fall in August.
Dame Mary told the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine she tripped over some bricks while picking sweet peas in her garden.
She said she called husband Paul who did not answer while watching a cricket match before her son-in-law Dan came to the rescue.
Dame Mary - who lives in Henley - said: “He saw me and said, ‘I’ll get an ambulance’. I said, ‘Oh, no, I’m fine’, but he overruled me. He rang for the ambulance and they said, ‘We’re very, very busy’. It was Sunday afternoon and there were lots of football injuries and whatever.
“We waited for three-and-a-half hours, until 6pm, and quite right too! I was perfectly happy.
“There may have been a road accident. I quite understood that they were busy and Dan was caring for me. He kept me chatting.”
Dame Mary said her husband was shocked to see her eventually leave in an ambulance.
She added: “They took me to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and they were so good at explaining. One foot was turning out and they said I’d broken my hip.”
Dame Mary, who had polio as a child, underwent surgery the next morning and revealed doctors repaired her old hip rather than giving her a new one.
She added: “And oh, they were all lovely!”