Angela Rippon

It's always great to meet fans who want to chat as I push my trolley around the supermarket aisles, and I always have a catch-up with the girls on the checkout.

I love to be in control of the car, to feel the physical exhilaration that comes from floating the gear stick through the gears in response to the song from the engine. In other words, I like to drive my cars.

In my first job as a junior reporter on the local newspaper I had to have a car, so my dad loaned me 35 to buy a black Austin 7.

Ever since I passed my driving test when I was 17, I've had a special bond with my vehicles.

I've been around dancers a lot in my career, working on the fringes as an observer, but actually being part of it is heaven.

Body maintenance is high on my list of priorities, and I have a pretty healthy diet anyway.

I'm very lucky to work with young people all the time in my profession.

Well, if you don't like fresh air, clotted cream or Devon fudge, Tavistock might not be your cup of tea but I suspect you'll be in a minority.

I was born in Devon and I often visit Tavistock, my spiritual bolt-hole.

When I was four-years-old, my mother took me to the family doctor to sort out my knock knees. His suggestion was either wearing built-up shoes, or dance lessons. Fortunately, my mother chose the latter.

The convention in royal interviews where two broadcasters are involved is for the presenters to toss a coin to see who should have the first, or last question.

The fact that I can raise my leg vertically is entirely down to being naturally flexible. It's not dancing.

Professional dancers make it look so easy and elegant to perform the 'rumba walk.' Frankly it makes me feel like I'm impersonating a chicken.

I stopped dancing when I was 17, but like all little girls I wanted to be a ballerina.

Whenever there's a speciality dance, such as the Charleston or the Argentine Tango, 'Strictly' enlists expert choreographers to work with the professional dancers.

The thought of dancing in some of the biggest arenas in the country, including the O2 in London, is pretty awesome. In my 80th year.

My 'Strictly' experience has taken my admiration for the skill and stamina of dancers to a whole new level. They really are exceptional artists and I never tire of watching them perform what I class as an exquisite art form.

If your hair looks a mess, you feel a mess. And that's the one thing guaranteed to sap a woman's self-confidence. No matter how much care you've taken over your skin, your make-up and your clothes, if your hair isn't right, you feel a frump.

Television isn't brain surgery.

I've promised my godchildren that I'll grow old disgracefully.

When I was holidaying in Greece as a young girl, I burnt my legs so badly that I could hardly walk for a week.

I don't own a yacht or a flashy car. I've always had safe cars because I do so much driving. I don't think I've ever been really profligate with my money, but at the same time I do enjoy spending it.

One thing I've always been sensible about is recognising that as a freelance I always have a tax bill to pay at the end of the year. So I've always made sure there's money put aside for that.

Television is quite a fickle business - you don't know when you'll go out of fashion, so I have to save for that rainy day when people stop asking me to present television programmes.

I didn't get the chance to go to university, even though I'd have liked to. I was expected to go straight to work because that's how we afforded things.

A good female broadcast journalist is worth her weight in gold.

As women get older we learn a lot more about men. We understand them better.

I shall wear what I feel good in and frankly that's my choice and nobody else's business.

When I go to a pilates class there are lots of ladies there in their 60s and 70s who are wonderfully supple and can do all sorts of things. It isn't that unusual.

Ballet is great for spatial awareness. It does wonders for your core and your flexibility and, of course, you have to exercise your brain to remember the steps.

What the heck is the point of doing an hour's exercise in a gym if all you end up with is a bucketload of sweat and aches, when you can go to a dance class and actually have fun, use every bit of your body and meet people?

Dance is not just good for you physically, but emotionally and psychologically.

I've never grown up.

When people ask: where are all the mature women on TV? I say look at the daytime schedules - we're all there working our butts off.

If you never take a risk at anything, how much of life stays closed to you!

I look around me and see lots of women and men who have a supportive spouse, children, and a successful TV career. It's just that the nature of TV means everything you do in your life has a higher profile.

I actually think the BBC and, to a lesser extent, ITV have recognised for quite a while that age and experience count for quite a lot.

I have to have my curling tong with me at all times.

I'll never be rich because I've never been in that 3m contract league, but I am financially secure. If one door closes, even if another door doesn't open, I go knocking on doors to make them open. I just roll up my sleeves and get on with it.

Top Gear' existed before Jeremy Clarkson. The programme I did was a motoring magazine. We did things about road safety, pedestrians, anything to do with motoring; not cars. It's a mark of its longevity that it's never stuck in a rut; it's always pushing new boundaries.

I have a reputation for being a fast driver, but I like to think I'm a safe driver.

Life is for living and we should all aspire to grow old disgracefully.

There are lots of us mature people out there, learning to ski or travelling or salsa dancing, and quite right too.

I do a lot of daytime television presenting and think if you're rude about it, then you're being rude about people who watch it and enjoy it and get something from it.

I would never cast aspersions about another broadcaster, and I do agree that prime time television is ageist, of course it is. But the only way to counter that isn't to complain, but to take on new roles and do them with such consummate professionalism that the naysayers who think there's no place for us are proved categorically wrong.

Yes, it has been harder for women, particularly those over a certain age, to keep going careers in certain areas of the BBC like news and current affairs.

I enjoy male company and I am very lucky to have many friends - men, women, straight and gay.

I've been around dance all my life, which means I know what it's supposed to look like.

On the BBC programme I did with Dr Chris van Tulleken, 'How to Stay Young,' we proved scientifically that dance is the exercise that ticks all the boxes, to give you the full mind and body workout.

I socialise, I have my freedom, I absolute adore my work and frankly it would take someone utterly remarkable to turn my head.