“Who is Angela Rippon?” You may ask.
And it’s perfectly fine if you do. I’m ready to go to war on her behalf.
I know who Angela Rippon is mostly because I’m old enough to remember her insurgence on the BBC as its first permanent female journalist on the national television news. And also–not to put too find a point upon it–I remember Dad calling her a “poppet,” one of his favorite words for a woman who deserved recognition not only because of her charming female persona, but also because she had guts, intelligence and presence. If Dad hadn’t thought Angela Rippon worth bothering with, I’m not sure I would have either. But he did. And so here I am.
These days, she’s a national institution.
Angela Rippon will be 79 years old next week. She’s recently appeared irregularly on GBNews (something which takes guts in its own right, the political climate being what it is).
And she’s signed up as the oldest contestant ever on the perennially popular BBC series Strictly Come Dancing (parent of the US series Dancing with the Stars.)
Here’s this week’s entry, in which she dances with her professional partner who’s 50 years younger than she is. If you’re not charmed (starting with the choice of music), I’m not sure I want to know you:
You might not win the trophy, Angela dear, but thank you, from women of a certain age, everywhere.
And she’s still in the hunt! Strictly’s Week 5 featured Angela and Kai in an Argentine Tango:
https://youtu.be/w0eWZoXavos
I love the sense of fun which characterizes these two (who are slightly more than half-a-century apart in age–TBC, it’s Angela who, at 79, is the older), and which shows itself in their enjoyment of the moment, and serves as the ultimate clapback to the ubiquitous trope of the paunchy, balding, elderly man who imagines himself still to be God’s gift to women because he can buy a youthful hooker or (only if he’s very wealthy) snare a trophy wife, after demeaning women of his own age as sexless, joyless scolds and throwing away every age-appropriate heterosexual relationship, no matter how meaningful, whenever his female partner objects to his catting around.
I’m not sure I can outdo the Telegraph reporter, when it comes to the review:
#MeToo, Marianka honey. I’ll be 70 next year, so not far to go…