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Delia Smith hangs up her (TV) oven gloves

Chef Delia Smith has been most commonly seen at Norwich City football matches in recent years Credit: PA

Delia Smith has called time on her television career and said programme makers were now sacrificing education for entertainment.

The cook, who first appeared on television more than 40 years ago and has sold millions of cookbooks, said she will continue teaching people to cook using online lessons.

She told the Daily Telegraph: "When I started, there was further education in the BBC; now you have to entertain. You have someone telling me I haven't got time to show this or I haven't got time to show that."

Smith said she had turned down a recent approach from the BBC which marked "the end" of "Delia on the telly".