Great British Bake Off star opens up on rare life-threatening health issue which left her unable to walk

Berry, who was a judge on the popular baking reality show between 2010 and 2016, recalled how she had to be taken to hospital after falling ill with polio, while speaking on the Rosebud podcast with host Gyles Brandreth.

She said: "He came (the doctor) and said 'I think she should go to the isolation hospital, I was put in the car and taken to the isolation hospital where I was put in a room that had glass either side and a bed." The incident occured when Berry, who is now 89, was a teenager.

She added: "I couldn't walk and I was just carried into the bed and I thought 'what's wrong with me?' And then, my parents couldn't come in because I was infectious and I could see mum and dad at the other side of the glass and I couldn't lift my head or anything."

She went on to describe how she discovered that she had polio: "And I had a cup with a spout to drink form and so I asked the nurse 'What is wrong with me? Why can't I move? and she looked at the end of the bed and picked up the clip and said 'you've got infantile paralysis'."

Polio is a serious infection. Most people who get polio do not have symptoms. Some people get mild, flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature, extreme tiredness and headaches, according to the NHS.

Rarely, polio can lead to more serious symptoms that affect the brain and nerves, such as weakness in muscles, usually in the legs. If the paralysis affects the muscles used for breathing, it can be life threatening.

The chance of getting polio in the UK now is extremely low. This is because most people are fully vaccinated. There have been no confirmed cases of paralysis due to polio caught in the UK since 1984.

Berry did manage to recover from the condition, as she said: "I was so blessed, because I got better and better, but not with any drugs or anything."

There is, however, one aspect of the condition that has affected her in the years since: "I've just got a funny hand, if I'm cooking on television now, I get people saying 'this is what you should do for it' thinking that it's arthritis."