London - Of all the glorious meals Delia Smith has cooked down the decades, there is one missing - dinner with her children around the table.
And the country’s most popular television cook has admitted that, despite her highly-successful career, not being a mother remains a source of heartache.
The 70-year-old multi-millionaire, who has been married for 40 years but was unable to have children, said: “Yes, I would have loved to have had children.
“It wasn’t to be, but I have loved what I’ve been able to do by not having children. Maybe one of the reasons I’ve been so successful in my career is down to the fact I haven’t had any children.
“I think if I’d had a family, I would have gone wholeheartedly into being a mother.”
Smith, a devout Roman Catholic, told Yours magazine: “I don’t think it ‘s possible to ‘have it all’, even now.
“When I see babies being taken to nurseries for day care - eeugh, no. I don’t think I could have done that. So, you make the best of what there is.”
Smith has become Britain’s best-selling cookery book author, having sold more than 21million copies of her work.
She began her career writing a newspaper column in 1969 before becoming a household name thanks to her BBC cookery show, Family Fare, which ran between 1973 and 1975 and became a huge hit with the public because of her easily-understandable recipes and relaxed, stress-free approach.
She announced her retirement in 2003, but returned with a new show, How to Cheat at Cooking, in 2008 and is estimated to have amassed a fortune of almost £30-million. - Daily Mail