After having cancer, every minute is an absolute gift

As Winterwatch presenter Michaela Strachan reflects on four decades in broadcasting, she talks pushing boundaries, learning to let go and the secret to a successful relationship

- ALISON JAMES

THE first question I ask the ever-smiling Michaela Strachan as I interview her over the internet is, who painted the portrait in her attic?

I'm referring to Oscar Wilde’s ever youthful character Dorian Gray, who ceases to age while a portrait in his attic takes on the task.

It wasn't a question I was intending to pose but, apart from a few laughter lines around the eyes, Michaela barely seems to have aged since her Hitman and Her days - the late-night music show she hosted with Pete Waterman from 1988 to 92. Yet she is almost 60!

She said: “What? Look at my sleepy right eye. And I've got wrinkles. But, yes, people tell me all the time that I look the same as I did in the Eighties when I presented Wide Awake Club with Timmy Mallett.”

Michaela added: “I've got good genes.” It is more than that, though. I reckon it is also about attitude and the way you look at life.

“I may be almost 60 but I'll always be 35 in my head. You've got to think like a younger person and keep on moving on - especially as life changes.

“Whether that be through your kids leaving the nest and feeling life has lost some of its purpose, feeling a bit lonely or like you've lost your way. As women, I think we feel these changes particularly keenly.”

She has clear advice on how to do this, saying: “Challenge yourself, look for new stuff to do, meet new people, get involved in a new community, make new friends, take risks.”

And she added: “I adored doing Dancing on Ice earlier this year, for instance [when she was partnered with Mark Hanretty], because it was all about pushing myself and doing something completely new and a bit scary.

“It gave me an enormous amount of joy and a real boost of energy.”

It also gave her a leg injury that took months to heal. She laughed again - more ruefully this time. “The injury taught me that physically, I'm not 35, even if I think I am. Proceed with caution, is what I'd say.