As a self-proclaimed top BBC Bake Off fan, a lover of all things sweet and someone that dabbles in baking regularly, you would expect some excitement for seeing Great British Bake Off (GBBO) winner Nadiya Hussain on stage.

But, truthfully, the thought of watching one woman on stage talking about her rise to fame over two years didn’t inspire much enthusiasm.

It seemed an odd concept to me to sit and watch In Conversation with Nadiya Hussain – mother of three from Leeds – talk about baking, at the Oxford Playhouse. Even friends before the show asked ‘will she be cooking on stage?’

But the 90-minute chat between BBC Good Food editor Barney Desmazery and the champion baker flew by, and I too was dragged into the slight fan-girl hysteria seeping from the audience.

Nadiya’s mild manner, brilliant banter and witty response to questions was met with a roar of hollering; one lady near me whispered ‘she’s amazing’ within five minutes of it beginning.

Instead of the expected endless recipes from Nadiya’s British Food Adventure, the interview delved deeper into the 32-year-old’s life – her family’s Bangladeshi heritage, past aspirations to be a social worker and the moment her inspirational Year 7 cookery teacher Mrs Marshall revealed post GBBO that she never really liked baking.

The chat covered it all, so here is a snippet of things I learnt about the lady behind the bake off title.

• To keep Bangladeshi heritage at the heart of family meals, Nadiya’s father would order 5ft fish from overseas and defrost them in the bath.

• Nadiya broke her collar bone at 10 years-old while milking buffalo on her grandfather’s farm.

• During the GBBO she would record CBBC bedtime stories to play an hour early and convince her children it was bedtime in order to grab precious extra practice time.

• The star turned down ITV’s Im a Celeb saysing it would be boring as she would happily eat anything.

Like I said, fascinating stuff.

4/5 NAOMI HERRING