Angela Rippon can't wait for Strictly - but her high-kicking days are long gone
Strictly star Angela Rippon’s love for dance is very much alive and kicking – although at 78 her mind and body sometimes disagree on what she’s capable of.
The former BBC newsreader, who trained as a classical dancer as a teenager, has signed up for the 21st series of the hit show this year.
And Angela, who will be Strictly’s oldest contestant yet, admits that her high kicks – made famous in the 1976 Morecambe and Wise Christmas special – are over, as these days she can only reach waist height.
However, rivals underestimate the star at their peril, because she does regular ballet to stay fit and healthy.
Angela, who hosted the original Come Dancing show between 1988 and 1991, reveals: “I still do a ballet class as often as I can. I worked on a documentary which found that dance is the best way of staying fit, supple and strong.
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Angela and colleagues on Children in Need in 2011 (PA)“I studied classical ballet until I was 17 and you never forget the basics. Can I still hold the positions? Well, yes.
“Put it this way – the mind is willing, the body sometimes says, ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
“I used to be able to do 10-to-six high-kicks but I can probably do to about [waist height] now.”
This year, the broadcasting stalwart celebrates her 56th year in the TV and radio industry.
And the Rip-Off Britain host reveals her top tip for surviving in showbiz is “choosing the right challenges and doing them well”.
She says: “What’s the most important thing I’ve learned? How to survive, I think. Esther Rantzen always says I’ve kept reinventing myself, more than anyone else she knows.
Dancing with comic Ernie Wise in 1976 (bbc)“Because I’ve been in the industry such a long time, I’ve been privileged to have been given so many different things to do in television.
“It’s always trying to accept the right challenges and doing them as well as you possibly can.
“I have been uniquely privileged because I’ve done everything from current affairs and news to light entertainment – it’s been superb and I’ve loved it.”
Plymouth-born Angela began her career in 1966, reading the TV and radio news in South West England before joining the BBC’s Nine O’Clock news as a regular presenter in 1975.
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She went on to become the first woman to permanently present the Beeb’s national television news.
And Angela believes equality has come on in leaps and bounds since she started out in the industry. She says: “When I started, if I walked into any news studio it would be predominantly men. The only women were secretaries or personal assistants.
High-kicking at Royal Variety in 1982 (Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock)
On Come Dancing in 1991 (BBC)“Now if you walk into any studio you’ll see brilliant men and brilliant women working alongside each other.
“If you look at any area – politics, industry, science, sport – there are women alongside men doing the job as well as them and in some cases better.
“[Women] are proving their value and worth. Charlotte Moore is head of the BBC, for goodness sake. Men are appreciating the women and the women appreciating the men.
“There’s much more synergy and support, and young women now are brilliant and wonderful.
“They know what they want to say, they are aware of their place in the world and what they want to be – that has changed the face of broadcasting.”
Earlier this year, Angela revealed how her career was nearly cut short in the 1990s – when she was in her late 40s and early 50s – when the then BBC Director General told her to “make way” for younger women coming up. But she stood her ground and went on to front Top Gear, present coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding and appear in a Children in Need Strictly special alongside fellow broadcasters Sian Williams, Sophie Rayworth, Susanna Reid and Emily Maitlis, among other high-profile gigs.
Angela made history on BBC news (Press Association)Angela insists her confidence has not waned with age, although she does worry about doing her best.
The star adds: “My argument has always been that there is room for all of us in the industry. Am I comfortable in my own skin as I get older? Yes. I suppose I do have that niggle professionally that what I do in front of the camera is the best I can do.
“But that comes down to self-respect and recognising that the public pay my wages – I think they should get value for money.”
More than half a century on, she is certainly earning her keep.
Angela adds: “I’ve been around so long. The other day, I was listening to the radio and that wonderful song This Is Me from The Greatest Showman came on. And I thought, ‘Yes! This is who I am’.”
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