Angela: My 'flexible friends' prove that age is just a number

STRICTLY'S oldest-ever contestant Angela Rippon says keeping her famous pins flexible meant she could high-kick her way back into the headlines.

- Giles Sheldrick

And the former newsreader reckons her dazzling performance on Saturday night's show proves age is just a number.

The presenter, who turns 79 in a fortnight, pulled off a gravitydefying standing split at the end of her routine with Kai Widdrington, 28.

It was almost 50 years on from another big TV moment - when she put in the legwork for a star turn on the Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show in 1976.

In her first newspaper interview since her Strictly performance, Angela said: "I'm feeling absolutely fine. I am reasonably fit for my age - and very flexible. That helps!

"My legs? It's a party trick. I am lucky I am able to touch my nose with my knee."