13 hours ago
Anthea Turner reveals she may have accidentally once smuggled something illegal into Singapore: 'I could've been in Changi Jail!'
She's been on our TV screens since the 80s, and has fronted everything from Top of the Pops to GMTV.
But it could've been a completely different story for Anthea Turner after getting too friendly with a fellow plane passenger on her first holiday abroad.
'You might not be speaking to me! I could have been in Changi Jail!' Anthea, 65, jokes in an exclusive interview with MailOnline Travel.
Anthea was 18 and gone to visit her cousin who was working for Barclays bank in Singapore.
She recalls: 'I saved up all my pocket money, everything I had, really, working in a pottery factory.
'And I just thought it was utterly and totally amazing to get on a plane. And, of course, I was getting on a plane and going nearly to the other side of the world, on my own, to meet my cousin at the other end.'
'But, looking back, I cannot believe what I did,' she continues. 'I was chit-chatting to this guy on the plane, and he told me he worked on an oil rig.
'He was quite charming and a bit of fun and I was 18.
'I had quite a big suitcase with me - you didn't have suitcases on wheels in those days, so everybody lugged their case around – and we're going through Nothing to Declare at Singapore.
'He said to me, 'Oh, that's a big suitcase. Why don't you take my haversack through and I'll take your suitcase through?'
'And I thought, 'What a nice chap. That's really kind of you, because it's so heavy.'
'And we went through and then swapped over the suitcase and haversack, and I went about my way, and my cousin met me.
'I would never do that now – To this day, I wonder what was in that haversack?!'
Despite the potentially accidental smuggling, that wasn't the last time Anthea travelled solo.
She says: 'I'm quite big and brave about travelling on my own to meet up with TV crew or friends, but I've only been on one holiday on my own.
'There would've been a bloke involved, and I thought 'Oh, I just need to clear my head.''
But, despite recently visiting a solo traveller hotel in Crete for a TV show, and now pushing the idea onto her friends, Anthea confesses she's much more comfortable holidaying with her millionaire fiancé Mark Amstrong.
She says: 'I love traveling with Mark, and he's really useful because he speaks about four languages fluently.
'He's also the person who actually enjoys mapping the journey and sorting things out, so it's like I live with my own rep.'
Anthea and Mark recently went on a TUI River Cruise, exploring the European cities along the Danube – and had a great time onboard the TUI Skyla.
'I had never really thought about going on a river cruise before, and I don't particularly know why,' Anthea says. 'I live by the river, and I look at the Thames every day.
'It's not quite as pretty as the Danube or the Rhine, but it has its moments of gorgeousness, and I do like being by water.
'We loved the river cruise because Mark and I had to plan nothing - and we're not completely used to that.
'From the moment you arrive at the airport, you're scooped up, you get to your location, you get to dinner, then they take you to where the boat is, and from there on, all you have to do is decide what you're going to eat.
'From the moment you arrive at the airport, you're scooped up - and all you have to do is decide what you're going to eat,' she says
'For both of us, it was a joy, and all the excursions, everything, oh my goodness.
'I actually came back really relaxed!'
And Anthea was very happy about being recognised 'quite a lot' on the ship.
'I felt like I had a ship full of friends by the time I left,' she finishes. 'And I think everybody felt like that, because there's only about 150 of you, which is just like a big wedding.
'You speak to people, say hello, all the pleasantries, you'll go on a few trips with them, so after seven days, everybody got to know each other.'
