'I don't know if she voted...' Queen Camilla enjoyed watching Angela Rippon on Strictly
Former BBC News journalist Angela, 80, made history by becoming the oldest celebrity to take part in the BBC One Latin and ballroom dancing show in 2023, and Angela's appearance with her 29-year-old professional dance partner Kai Widdrington got the royal seal of approval.
Angela - who finished in eighth place on Strictly Come Dancing - told the new issue of Woman's Weekly magazine: "Queen Camilla said we were cool, but I don't know if she voted."
The esteemed broadcaster shot to fame in 1975 when she got a permanent newsreader job on the BBC Nine O'Clock News, after covering for the Richard Baker in February of that year.
She said: "I could never have imagined that I was entering a vintage period in my career, which quickly led to me becoming a household name.
"As far as I was concerned, I was just filling in."
Angela - who was named Newsreader of the Year in 1976, 1977 and 1978 - left BBC News in 1981 and had a very brief stint as a presenter on TV-am's Good Morning Britain news programme in 1983.
Her varied seven-decade spanning career has also seen her work on BBC Radio 2, be a stand-in newsreader on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast, host a series of Sun, Sea and Bargain Spotting for BBC Two and become a presenter on Cash in the Attic.
Rippon is certain she would not be enjoying a "long and rewarding career" if it was not for the BBC giving her a chance in 1975.
She admitted: "It was all such a long time ago now. Yet without it, I might still not be enjoying such a long and rewarding career.
"It's really flattering that people took me to their hearts all those years ago - and they've never forgotten how my career started."
Angela turns 81 on October 12, and she has no plans of retiring.
The TV presenter - who spent 15 years fronting the factual BBC One consumer affairs show Rip Off Britain, with the 77-year-old journalist Julia Somerville and the 85-year-old Loose Women panellist Gloria Hunniford - said: "I'm busy, busy, busy - but it beats the alternative.
"People don't say to me, 'When are you going to retire?' But why would I stop doing something I love and enjoy while people are still asking me to do it?"
Last year, Angela was replaced on Rip Off Britain in 2024 by 56-year-old ex-BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin.
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