// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Prue Leith: 'You come into your own growing old'
Dame Prue Leith says growing old is "unstressful" as she prepares to discuss ageing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival
"When you're old, you don't give a toss what anyone thinks, really, so you feel very free. You can have a snooze in the afternoon, and nobody thinks that's odd."
Dame Prue Leith is celebrating her perceived joys of the golden years as she prepares to discuss "Growing Old Disgracefully" with fellow authors Gyles Brandreth and Kathy Lette.
The trio will take to the stage at this year's Cheltenham Literature Festival on 15 October to prove to the audience ageing is "not the dreaded thing" it is made out to be, the former Bake Off judge said.
Dame Prue said: "You come into your own, you don't care what people think, you're not going to change. And so the world has to just put up with it."
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At 86, the restaurateur and cookery writer has reflected on her younger years and has decided that growing old is good fun, although she acknowledged it may be different for those who are "old and lonely and ill".
"When I think of my teenage years, I think they were really stressful," Dame Prue said.
"I was always bringing the wrong boys home, and I was quarrelling with my parents, and I didn't know what I wanted to do.
"I was sort of lost and didn't believe in myself at all... I wanted a boyfriend, couldn't get one, you know. Old age is unstressful."