I'll never forget unflinching Fiona

THOSE of us who know Fiona Phillips are finding her unflinching account of her descent into the vacuum void of Alzheimer's disease a deeply affecting read.

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I remember her best from the week we spent together filming in Cornwall. It was for the BBC's Bargain Hunt, and Fiona — then in her mid-50s — was a hoot. “Are you really going to buy that?” she asked me in a junk shop, as I haggled for some brass ornament or other.

“Why not?” I replied, defensively.

“Because it’s TAT, Richard. You won't even sell it at a loss - because no one is ever going to buy it! You’d best stick with me. Watch and learn.”

Just a handful of years later, at the absurdly early age of 61, Fiona was diagnosed with the same dementia that has dogged her family for generations. Tragically, today, the woman who made her name as a tenacious and popular breakfast television presenter has all but slipped away from us.