This much I know: Prue Leith, restaurateur, 85

My mother [Margaret Inglis] was South Africa’s Maggie Smith: a top actor who travelled across Africa with a solo show based on Shakespeare’s women. She was creative, energetic, entrepreneurial and inspirational to me without me ever knowing it.

My parents campaigned against apartheid. My mother protested on the town hall steps against black and white actors and audiences not being allowed to mix together. One day she came home with her coat covered in eggs that had been thrown at her.

Neither of my husbands have been intimidated by my success. My first would say when he thought I was making a mistake, like taking on the Serpentine restaurant in the middle of Kensington Gardens. I had visions of Chablis and smoked salmon, but what customers wanted was a burger. We lost money hand over fist. I should have listened.

Business gives me the same buzz as the kitchen. I’ve been asked to join the boards of companies I know nothing about. Once, I had to pluck up the courage to stop a meeting of 20 older men to say I didn’t understand. When we broke for coffee, some of the most important men there told me they didn’t either.

My husband once described our house as sterile. He thinks I’m anally tidy. If he had it his way it would look like a junk shop. There’s some truth to it: when I walk into a room, I scan it to see what I can tidy. Neither of us are going to change. We just suck it up.

Celebrities often complain about people asking for selfies. I love all the attention, honestly. I have the right level of fame to keep my ego satisfied.

I have one homemade child [Conservative MP Danny Kruger] and one child off the shelf [filmmaker Li-Da Kruger]. My adopted daughter was rescued from the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. We raised her in the Cotswolds. She was the only child in her school who wasn’t white, so we sent her somewhere more diverse. She must have had a good experience, because her two children are adopted.

I was once sitting on a park bench when another mum said, “It’s amazing you’ve taken on a child so plain and dark.” I couldn’t believe that was her idea of a compliment.

“Prue’s nap” is on the schedule when we’re filming. I disappear for an hour after lunch. I’m writing a book about ageing: it’s ridiculous to write a manual, but it’s good to talk about the positives, like afternoon kips.

I adore my grandchildren, but I’m not a good granny. I have to be reminded about their birthdays otherwise I’ll forget.

You’re better off a dog than a human in the final stages of a painful disease in England. Frightened they’d kill him, doctors wouldn’t give my brother with bone cancer enough morphine, even though he wanted to die. The government should have no right to stop you from leaving your life if you want to.

My son is totally opposed to assisted dying. I admire his principles and we don’t expect to convert each other. Still, he’s said that if it was legal, he would hand me the drug.

The resurrection of Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth wouldn’t have happened without me. I was chair of the Royal Society of Arts and had the clout to get a committee to agree what to do with it. It shows the world Britain isn’t just about the royal family, Beefeaters and palaces. We’re also rather good at contemporary art.

Wear glasses as a fashion statement. I think I look better with them and have about 20 pairs, all in the most vulgar colours. Some of mine don’t even have prescription lenses in. Give it a try.

Prue Leith will host a banquet at Wilderness Festival, Oxfordshire, 31 July to 3 August (wildernessfestival.com)