In 1960, Elizabeth ceased to write for ‘The Sunday Times’ and ‘Vogue’, joining instead ‘The Spectator’, ‘The Sunday Despatch’ and ‘The Sunday Telegraph’, writing weekly for these publications. She enjoyed far more editorial freedom and had become a voice of authority following the publication of ‘French Provincial Cooking’. Her books were now published for the mass market by Penguin Books, who had sold over a million copies by 1985. Derek Cooper considered that Elizabeth’s ‘professional career was at its height. She was hailed not only as Britain’s foremost writer on food and cookery, but as the woman who had transformed the eating habits of middle-class England’. The peak of her success coincided with a number of personal misfortunes. Her affair with Higgins came to an abrupt end in April 1963 when he remarried. Elizabeth was devastated and began drinking excessive amounts of brandy and took sleeping pills on a regular basis. Elizabeth was also tired from her work and took little, if any, exercise and indeed took little care of herself generally. Consequentially, in 1963, Elizabeth suffered a stroke which was kept hidden from her publishers and the public at large. She recovered but her confidence was shaken and, for a period, her sense of taste was affected and she became nauseous at the smell of frying onions.