‘I really don't feel MY AGE!'

Gloria Hunniford reveals why working has kept her young.

- JANE ODDY

She may have turned 80 earlier this year, but perennially youthful and elegant TV presenter Gloria Hunniford brushes off her landmark birthday.

She smiles, ‘I don’t feel my age at all – I try not to think about it. I think I am just going to forget the figure eight!

‘I suppose I don’t feel bad about getting older because I’ve always worked and I’m still working.’

A presenter on BBC1’s Rip Off Britain and a Loose Women panelist on ITV, Gloria says, ‘When I was growing up, my parents taught me I could do anything I wanted if I put my mind to it. I’ve lived my life by that. I feel I’ve had many lives and I’ve been so lucky.’

The proud mum and grandmother, along with sons Paul and Michael, and husband Stephen Way, had planned a private birthday dinner at The Langham hotel in London, but she tells us it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She says, ‘It’s been a very unusual time, but throughout it, I just tried to be sensible and responsible. It’s been so hard not to hug my grandchildren.’

Now her 80th birthday celebrations with her family will be on 5 October, on what would have been her late daughter Caron Keating’s 58th birthday.