The bodyguard who bakes

Jacquie Davis has a job that most of us would recognise as demanding. She travels around the world as a bodyguard and security advisor to the famous, wealthy and powerful. She’s been stabbed, thrown through a plate glass window, shot by Kashmiri snipers… She’s infiltrated a drug cartel, busted a paedophile gang and protected Harry Potter author J K Rowling… And, when she’s not working, she likes to bake.

One of the problems that come with jetting around the world, putting your life on the line, is that your body clock gets confused about which time zone it’s in. So rather than sit down and watch a thriller on late night TV (she finds them a bit too boring), Jacquie bakes, makes soup and enjoys pottering around the kitchen of her Hertfordshire home.

Making cakes for friends and colleagues

She loves nothing more than making wedding cakes and birthday cakes for friends, colleagues and clients. Last year she made three birthday cakes for the three year-old son of a Russian client – one in the shape of a racing car, another of Spider Man and another in the shape of Red Square in Moscow. “I think the mum was home sick.”

She’s currently making a wedding cake for a male colleague. This one will be decorated with fresh flowers and ribbons. (Jacquie can make artificial flowers out of blown sugar but admits this is not her strong point.)

According to Jacquie the secret to a good wedding cake is alcohol. A teetotaller herself, she soaks the fruit overnight in either brandy or port. And when it comes to making a good Royal icing, buy the best quality icing sugar you can afford. “But a lot of young women don’t want Royal icing they want soft icing instead,” she observes. “Instead of standing the cake on columns, you just rest one tier on top of another.”

Started out with the police

Jacquie worked for the Metropolitan Police before becoming a bodyguard in 1980. She’s written a book called The Circuit (Lucky Press) about her experiences. The circuit is the nickname for the bodyguard circuit, an international network of personal protection and security specialists. These bodyguards are a world away from the beefy ‘minders’ often seen escorting publicity-conscious celebrities to and from premieres.

While bodyguards have to be skilled in weaponry and unarmed combat, their primary object is to prevent their client ever getting into danger or, if danger presents itself, getting them away from the scene as soon as possible. The Circuit charts Jacquie’s career up until the Twin Tower attacks of September 11, 2001. Her new book, Jacquie’s Job, which takes us from 9-11 to the present day, will be published by Lucky Press in October.

Cooking passion traces back to mum

Jacquie’s passion for cooking and cake making can be traced back to her mother. “My mum was 46 when she had me and I was the youngest by a long away. I can remember her baking but she lived through the war years so her cooking was also about making a little go along way and a 100 things to do with minced meat.

“I’m a great believer in using up leftovers. When we have a roast dinner on Sunday there’s always home made soup from the leftovers on Monday. I love Shepherd’s pie made with leftovers. But there’s a whole generation out there who just don’t know how to cook economically.”

But Jacquie’s also a passionate believer in using fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch. “I spend my life jetting around the world, sleeping in hotels and eating whatever’s on the menu. I could never buy a ready meal when I’m at home. I want to prepare food from scratch.”

Cooking is a complete break from her ‘day job’. She says it’s important not to dwell on what could go wrong when you’re in a job like hers. Probably her most frightening job was when she went undercover to expose a drugs cartel. “I had to keep that up for a few weeks and there was always the fear they would find out.”

In terms of cakes, well recreating Red Square was pretty daunting. But, as you may have guessed, Jacquie is a woman who rises to a challenge.