She may be 75 this month, but Angela Rippon has no plans to stop the dance. Fiona Adams meets the veteran broadcaster and promoter of the Silver Swans ballet scheme...
There is one piece of advice that Angela Rippon would always give to up-and-coming broadcasters: ‘Never believe your own publicity; never believe that you’re a legend in your own lifetime.’ It’s counsel that has stood the veteran reporter herself in good stead over the course of half a century in the media, right from her early days as a trainee photojournalist fresh from school at her local newspaper in Plymouth.
Having moved to BBC South West as a newsreader, Angela went on to become one of the best-known faces on television, presenting programmes as diverse as Top Gear, Come Dancing and Rip Off Britain. She has commentated on five royal weddings and Princess Diana’s funeral, directed documentaries, worked on both sides of the Atlantic and, of course, danced on that famous 1976 Christmas special with “the boys” – Morecambe and Wise, to you and me.
As she enters the room at the University of Roehampton, where we meet in July, I am acutely aware that here – her emphasis on self-deprecation notwithstanding – is a living TV legend, a national treasure if you will, who has experienced more journalistic triumphs than I’ve had hot dinners. She is perfectly made-up, coiffured and beautifully attired in a silk blouse and tailored trousers. Yet she remains faithful to her own advice, charming and gracious in manner, though not without occasional acerbity.
Belying her 75 years (her birthday is this month), Angela exudes elegance, her early classical ballet training still very much in evidence. In my mind, she is the embodiment of a silver swan – appropriately enough, as this is the name adopted by the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) for its ongoing initiative in encouraging older people to try ballet. Angela herself is an ambassador, and it is for this reason that she has taken time out from a RAD event focused on Silver Swans teaching – and the benefits of engaging in ballet as you age – to talk to me. Her passion for the programme, and for the wonders of dance in general, is transparent.
“When you’re dancing, you’re using all your muscles and improving your core strength, your balance and your spatial awareness,” she explains. “You’re also doing something very sociable! You’re interacting, and if you’re having to remember steps, you’re using your brain as well. There’s scientific proof that dance is the perfect way for anyone of any age – and certainly for people of 50+ – to exercise. Our teachers know that you can adapt the exercises for any age group, gearing them to personal flexibility and general standard.”
When time allows, Angela – who also practises pilates, plays tennis and power walks – attends a weekly class at the Royal Academy. And despite her own evident ability – she shows me a number of ballet moves and positions during the interview – she is adamant that all comers, even complete ballet beginners, are welcome.
“You don’t have to be Carlos Acosta and go leaping across the stage!” she declares. “You’re essentially doing all of the barre exercises that every ballet dancer does every day. Silver Swans is centred around those basic things, and you gradually improve because you’re not straining anything.
“You don’t have to take exams, but there are a lot of levels. We have people who’ve never danced in their lives and can’t stand on one leg for more than a second. The Duchess of Cornwall came to see one of our classes, and one of the ladies wanted to meet her so she could tell her: ‘I can now put my knickers on without sitting down!’”
The appeal of Silver Swans is global: more than 300 new teachers have been trained across five countries this summer alone. After our chat, we watch a training session together and Angela is a keen observer, popular with the teachers who all crowd around for a picture.
Such affection is the fruit of a long, eventful journey from her early years in Plymouth, where Angela lived as an only child to John, an engineer and Royal Marine, and Edna, a seamstress and employee at Lawleys, a fine china company. She had a happy childhood with parents who wholeheartedly encouraged her to follow her dreams.
Her father, a keen amateur snapper while travelling the world with the Marines, gave her her first camera – a Box Brownie – when she was still a young child. For Angela photography was to prove an enduring love and, eschewing university, she settled on a newspaper apprenticeship as a photojournalist before changing direction with the move to BBC South West.
“I remember saying to my parents: ‘I can go back to newspapers at any time, but I may never get a chance to work in television again. That was 52 years ago. It was very narrow in the regions in those days and very few people got that opportunity. I’ve been in telly ever since.”
Even now, Angela makes 60 to 70 programmes a year for the BBC, including Rip Off Britain – now in its 11th year – Health: Truth or Scare, How to Stay Young, the odd One Show film and documentaries which interest her.
She claims never to have faced any prejudice due to age.
“I’m still working flat out and people employ me, presumably because they like what I do, like working with me and know I’m going to do a professional job.
“I’ll do anything that might be fun and a challenge. There are things I turn down, but I’m a broadcaster – it’s what I do for a living, and yes, I’m still passionate about it. I wouldn’t do it if not. There are some days when you have to be up at half four in the morning for a 12-hour day, and if you didn’t love it you simply wouldn’t do it.”
Despite a career chock-full of weighty news reporting, for many households, Angela Rippon will forever be associated with the 1976 Morecambe and Wise Christmas special when she emerged straight-faced from behind a news desk to reveal long, shapely legs and an array of eye-popping high kicks. It sent shock waves across dour 70s Britain, a nation in dire need of cheering up. And while surprised by the public reaction at the time, Angela gives short shrift to my question about whether she feared it would harm her reputation as a serious journalist.
“No, no! Come off it!” she exclaims. “I always say you should give the British public more credit for their intelligence and their tolerance. Perhaps if I’d gone back to reading the news in sequins and glitter, people would have thought it had gone to my head, that I’d gone a bit showbiz. But they’re not daft; they knew it was me letting my hair down. I was just having a bit of fun.”
With talent and professionalism intact – still seasoned by that vital ingredient of humility – Angela has no plans to retire.
“I’ve had a terrific life, uniquely privileged,” she says. “And as long as people keep bringing me new and exciting things to do, I shall keep on doing them.”
What a legend.
For more information about Silver Swans and classes near you visit: royalacademyofdance.org/silverswans
