She’s better known in recent years for her appearances on Strictly Come Dancing, Rip Off Britain and Loose Women.
But Gloria Hunniford, 77, has revealed the serious side to her lengthy broadcasting career when she described the moment she was discovered she was on an IRA hitlist.
The TV and radio presenter received the shocking news after recording various messages for her radio show, Ulster Calling, from families to British troops sent to serve in Northern Ireland during the sectarian violence in the 1970s.
Death threats: Gloria Hunniford, 77, has revealed the serious side to her lengthy broadcasting career when she described the moment she was told she was on an IRA hitlist
Gloria, who went on to have a popular show on Radio 2 where she struck up a close friendship with late star Sir Terry Wogan, described the moment she and her a co-presenter were told the staggering news in her candid new autobiography called My Life, serialised in The Mirror.
She wrote: ‘I was stunned. We just sat there, staring blankly at each other. Then the brigadier said: “We quite understand if you want to stop doing the programme – we don’t want you to be in danger.”‘
Despite having three young children with her then husband, Don Keating, Gloria decided she was in no more danger at that moment than when she first started work on the programme in 1969 – and that if she showed fear she would be giving in to terrorism.
Wanted: Gloria (pictured in 1981) received the shocking news after recording various messages for her radio show, Ulster Calling, from families to British troops sent to serve in Northern Ireland during the sectarian violence in the 1970s
Stellar: Gloria, whose success in broadcasting led to close friendships with Sir Terry Wogan (left) and Sir Cliff Richard (right), described the moment in a candid new autobiography, My Life
She wrote: ‘It was still shocking to hear your name was on a terrorist hit list, but I was determined to carry on. If you let the fear get to you, life would close down. You can’t let terrorists win.’
Gloria survived a car bomb that shook the radio studio she was in and had to learn to check her own car for trip bombs before she drove anywhere.
But she said perhaps her most terrifying scare came after she moved to London, when she had death threats while doing her Radio 2 lunchtime show after the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings of 20 July 1982.
Ballroom fun: In 2005, Hunniford appeared in the third series of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. She was eliminated from the competition with Darren Bennett in the third week
Panelist: Gloria is known in recent years for appearances on Strictly Come Dancing, Rip Off Britain and Loose Women (above, with Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan and Janet Street-Porter)
She wrote: ‘I was live on air and we were linking to hourly news bulletins but then I’d carry on playing music, which felt odd. Unbeknown to me, threats were coming in saying, ‘Get that Irish b***h off the air or we will.”‘
The Loose Women panellist persevered through the Troubles – as well as through the heartbreak of losing her daughter, former Blue Peter presenter Caron Keating, to breast cancer in 2004 – and has been awarded an OBE in recognition of her contribution to the broadcast industry.
Gloria, who is now married to Stephen Way, was born in Portadown, County Amagh, into a Protestant family.
She was the presenter of Good Evening Ulster and on the ITV Network Sunday Sunday before joining Rip Off Britain in 2010.
Gloria (right) persevered through the Troubles – as well as through the heartbreak of losing her daughter, former Blue Peter presenter Caron Keating (left), to breast cancer in 2004