carrying the scars of his parents’ divorce. And
yet that didn’t stop him divorcing.
“That’s private,” he says. “But yes,
I definitely know the pain it causes.”
He’s been in Mexico filming a new C4 food
show and soon he’ll start another GBBO series.
“First thing I always do is sit down with my
old mates outside the tent and think, ‘This has
just evolved into an incredible TV institution.’ ”
How long will he do it?
“MasterChef has been going for 25 years
[32 in fact], so why can’t Bake Off last longer?
Having said that, I don’t want to do it for
25 years.”
Hollywood occasionally hosts a pizza night
in the pub. When he retires he’d like to open a
village bakery or maybe a pizzeria, he says.
“Like those ones in France – you never
know when they’re going to open but then
a guy in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flopsambles down the stairs with fresh baked bread
and it’s just great stuff. That’ll be me. I’ll do
100 loaves and leave them out with a bucket
for payment.”
He’ll always be wary of tourists though,
“Hollywood” sightseers, people who just want
a glimpse of him for their Instagram. He even
gets them now. People coming to the pub and
asking for one of the famous handshakes.
“I always say, ‘Where’s your bake?’ ”
When we finish talking, he offers to drive
me to the station. On the way we pass his
house. It’s a lovely old beamed pile and I can
see the garage, which is full of his lockdown
Lego models. I can also see his new iron gates
and strategic shrubs – they are to keep the
paparazzi at bay.
“You know, even the Amazon delivery guy
saw what they do. He said to me, ‘How do you
stand it?’ ”
A little further on we pass Headcorn
airfield – there are several Second World War
Spitfires lined up on the grass. Hollywood tells
me that for around £3,000 you can go up in
one and fly over the farmland where the Battle
of Britain took place.
“I’ve done it about seven times already. It’s
incredible,” he enthuses.
In fact, the experience led him to a new
hobby, albeit another one involving high speed
and solitude. He’s studying for his private
pilot’s licence. Two more hours’ instruction
and he’ll fly solo for the first time.
“Of course I’m a bit nervous,” he says.
“But up there you’ve got total freedom. It’s
just you, a machine, and you’re away from
all the madness.” nThe Times Magazine 45It’s 2010. He’s making the GBBO pilot. Mary
Berry is ironing his shirt and they discuss
the chances of success for the new show.
Pretty soon their doubts are confirmed. GBBO
gets cancelled. What would he be doing now?
“I’d be baking for Harrods and Waitrose.
I loved it. Having my name on a product just
drove me to strive.”
Would he still be married?
“What?”
Did fame cost you your marriage?
“Possibly. Maybe. Yes, that was definitely
part of it. My life just started moving so
quickly. I struggle with it and I still struggle.”
He has a new book called Bake. It’s his
greatest hits or, rather, an album of remixes. It’s
full of classic recipes that have been updated
because the world of baking has moved on in
the 12 years he’s been doing GBBO.
“People want less sugar and less salt,” he
says. “I’m really pushing the lemon and honey.”
It’s also a homage to his northern roots.
There are “barm cakes” and “bin lids”- a bun the size of a human face that you
put a full English breakfast in. And when
Hollywood talks about a baked good he
truly loves he speaks in a low rumble that
is faintly arousing.
For example, when he’s describing how
his granny used to make a pavlova and then
serve it with cream, my mouth is so full of
saliva I can’t even say, “Mmm, yummy,” or,
“That sounds delicious, Paul,’’ so I just nod.
Bake is also a very nostalgic book. He
mentions his father, John, and mother, Gill,
quite a lot: her nonpareil ginger biscuits; his
unassailable sausage rolls.
“You never forget the food you grew up
with, do you?” he says.
John Hollywood was a baker and Gill was
an artist. They divorced when Paul was ten
and he and his brothers, Lee and Jason, lived
with their mum. Paul took the split very
badly. He was withdrawn and started skipping
school. The family were religious and when
he was 12 years old, Hollywood was sent to
Christian camp. He was so homesick, he looks
pretty stricken talking about it now.
“I missed home in a way I can’t even
explain,” he says. “I think that’s to do with
the divorce. Your home becomes everything.”
What upset him most, though, was
knowing that while his dad was “doing his
own thing” and running a chain of 12 bakeries
known as Breadwinner throughout the
northwest, his mum was struggling for money.
“It was rough. On a Saturday I’d ask for a
quarter of sherbet lemons and of course she’d
say yes. Then I’d go to her purse and she’d
only have a few coins. She still let me have
them. But you’re a kid – that affects you.”
After his exams, Hollywood followed in his
mum’s footsteps and went to art school. But
when he was 17, his dad offered him £500 to
join the firm as a trainee baker. He said yes,
starting right at the bottom, cleaning the
toilets. Eventually he was allowed to inject the
doughnuts with jam and then learnt to bake
loaves. It was obvious he had talent. Not only
that, there was real ambition and drive.
“I thought, you have to push yourself
and do things that feel uncomfortable.
Eventually I made myself go to London
even though I hated it.”
He tells me about being appointed head
baker at the Dorchester hotel. He was getting
up at 2am, going to bed at 8pm, 6 days a
week. He didn’t really know anyone, but he
stuck it out. On a visit home he decided to tell
his grandmother, thinking she’d be proud.
“But this was a woman who’d run a
launderette for 40 years,” he says. “She just
said, ‘Your dad, though, he’s a proper baker.’ ”
After the Dorchester, Hollywood went tobake at Cliveden House and then to a five-star
hotel in Cyprus where he met future wife,
Alex. GBBO was a complete fluke though. It
was Sue Perkins who suggested him, setting
him on the road to becoming probably the
most famous baker in the world.
His father must have been proud?
“No,” he says. “The truth is, until fairly
recently I hadn’t spoken to him for ten years.
Pretty much as soon as Bake Off happened,
I stopped speaking to him. There were a lot
of unresolved issues from the divorce, which
I should have addressed before but I didn’t.”
John Hollywood lives on the Costa Blanca
in Spain. In 2019, his second wife, Sandy, died
of cancer. That proved a turning point.
“One of my brothers called and said, ‘It’s
dad – his wife has died and he’s in a really bad
way,’ ” recounts Hollywood. “They convinced
me to go to the funeral, so I flew out and I’m
so glad I did. When I saw him I didn’t really
have to say anything. We just hugged. All that
pain, we just hugged it out. It reminded me of
being a child again.”
There was more. John Hollywood had
obviously been following his son’s extraordinary
career from a distance. He finally admitted he
was proud of him.
“I grew up trying to tell myself I was good,
trying to create self-esteem for myself,” says
Hollywood. “When you’re alone, that’s what
you do, otherwise you just spiral, don’t you?
So when Dad said that he was proud of me,
it changed me psychologically. It sounds weird,
but I don’t feel so alone any more.”
They’re now back in touch regularly. But
it begs a question. Paul Hollywood grew upDid fame cost him his marriage? ‘That was definitely
part of it. My life just started moving so quickly’
STYLING: HANNAH SKELLEY. GROOMING: JULIA WREN AT CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT USING SKINCEUTICALS
Paul Hollywood Continued from page 33