A typical book review.  Used in

Executary International.
The author, actress Jane Asher,

was kind enough to send me
a note saying: 'it's always quite

a shock to read an interview
where the journalist has actually

written down what I said,
rather than totally invented it...'

*  

Salmon in the
dishwasher

 
If Britain had the same kind of honours system as Japan, then Jane Asher would be declared a national treasure - a top-class actress who made a second career by turning cake-decoration into high art, she is the rare kind of celebrity that everyone likes.

The Express newspaper recently asked her to write a regular column answering readers' everyday household queries - and a collection of her favourites now makes up her fascinating new book, Tricks of the Trade.

If our mothers and grandmothers passed down their gems of practical management by word of mouth, then Jane's contribution to domestic history is in collecting this wisdom together in one book. The hints and tips range from the practical to the almost-unbelieveable - ice-cubes can help remove chewing gum on the carpet, hair spray or even skin cream can get ballpoint pen stains from a leather sofa (not as silly as it sounds, observes Jane - our skin is a kind of leather). Mayonnaise will help cleaned some stained wood, cooking oil is one of several ways to get rid of those annoying stuck-on price tags, while false-teeth cleanser also does very well for your crystal glass. One reader claims that gin is the best way to make diamonds sparkle!

Some readers' tips, however, have been tested and disproved - the 'urban myth' of steaming salmon in a dishwasher apparently makes a mess of both the fish and the machine.

Jane took a few minutes to talk to us about the book, explaining that she consults her own cake-company staff for help on practical problems, and if they are all baffled, then she has a professional researcher on hand for really obscure puzzles.

'We get flooded with questions, and I'm proud to say that we personally answer every single one that doesn't get tackled in print. It's hard work, but some of them are so very trusting and touching, we just can't leave them unanswered. Writing the page has certainly taught me that there's an answer for almost everything, if you just know how to look.'

However, not all problems are of the charming 'granny's remedy' kind.  One lady wrote saying that she was being asked for money by a spiritualist medium who promised to be able to foresee her future, but how could she be sure they were genuine? Jane replied, tersely but kindly, that she herself had received a vision in which the medium was revealed as a fake.

'My reaction to an enquiry like that is of anger towards people so ready to prey on those that are vulnerable,' she told Executary International. 'I had a letter yesterday asking me about very complex religious matters, and whether the reader would go to hell for certain things she had done... I felt extraordinarily sad that she had to write to a complete stranger for help, and a cake-making actress at that. I told her that in my opinion she wouldn't, by the way!'

Jane has fun with the answers on her specialist subject of cakes, and even our editor was intrigued by questions about the re-decoration of wedding cakes to become christening cakes.

' Well now... you're obviously not a cake man, are you?' returned the actress good-naturedly. 'It's a long-standing tradition that the top tier is kept to be used as the christening cake. Wedding cakes can last for many years, and they do indeed improve and mature with age. I'm not sure what the world record is, but when we made a cake of the Albert Memorial in London, six feet tall and accurate in every detail, for the launch of the restoration fund, it was symbolically cut into by Prince Charles, then packed away for five years and cut again (by his mother!) at the opening of the restored monument. It tasted great.'

A more unusual cake to draw questions is HRT cake, which supposedly counteracts effects of the menopause.

'I get loads of letters about it, but it's a pretty silly idea. It stands for "hormone replacement therapy", and you'd have to eat ridiculous amounts to get any benefit - and then it would be unmeasured and unmonitored. Much better to go to your doctor!'

Equally typical of her entertainingly down-to-earth approach is Jane's answer to a request of whether a reader should buy ready-made pastry, or make her own. 'I feel the same way about pastry as I do about long division,' replied the actress. 'Fine to know how it's done, and try it a couple of times... but quicker to buy a calculator!'
 

Tricks of the Trade, by Jane Asher, published Thorsons, £5.99. ISBN 0-7225-3944-4