After Dinner Speakers: Gloria Hunniford, Rachel de Thame, Esther Rantzen

Gloria Hunniford left her native Ireland in 1982 to become the first woman to have her own daily radio show on BBC Radio 2, which she presented continuously for 13 years until May 1995.She started singing at the age of 9 in Northern Ireland and subsequently starred on the three television networks there with a couple of records to her credit.In 1969, broadcasting became her top priority. She cut her teeth on news and current affairs in Northern Ireland and went on to have her own 2 ½ hour daily radio programme, a weekly World Service programme on Irish music, television programmes like “Songs of Praise”, “Big Band Specials” and eventually ending up with a daily hour-long television programme for Ulster Television.Gloria was one of the first female broadcasters to host her own highly successful chat show “Sunday, Sunday” which ran for many years and was in “That’s Showbusiness” with the late Kenny Everett co-hosting. Gloria has also been seen Monday to Friday on BBC 1 in three series of “Gloria Live”, and stood in for Terry Wogan on the “Wogan” programme. She has also hosted a number of programmes for the BBC – “Cashwise”, “Good Fortune”, she has co-hosted the series “Family Affairs” with her daughter, Caron Keating, reported for “Holiday” and helped with “Children in Need”. Since 1994, Gloria hosted ITV’s flagship Sunday morning religious magazine programme “Sunday” and “Sunday Live” and could also be seen on BBC1 with her “Time Off With….” series interviewing a number of leading personalities. Her most recent success, “Open House With Gloria Hunniford”, is a daily lifestyles programme for Channel 5, which began in April 1998 and gave the channel it’s highest ever daytime ratings and will be on screen through until December 2001. Gloria has continued her relationship with Irish Television, fronting “Something for the Weekend” for BBC Northern Ireland. Her popularity with public, press and production people means she has constantly appeared on TV and Radio as a regular guest including – Through the Keyhole, Celebrity Ready, Steady, Cook Today’s The Day, Shooting Stars, Going Going Gone, Call My Bluff, Kilroy, Light Lunch, Esther, GMTV, It’s Only TV & I Like It, Countdown and This Morning to name a few. Gloria appeared as the Fairy Godmother in the pantomime “Cinderella” at Southampton for the Christmas Season 1993 and for the Christmas season 1995 she appeared as the Genie of the Lamp in pantomime “Aladdin” at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley. She has had an autobiography published called “Gloria” and made a health and exercise video called “Fit For Life”. “Gloria Hunniford’s Family Cookbook” of traditional recipes was published in September 1995. Gloria has fronted many successful promotional campaigns and is in great demand for corporate work. She has won many prestigious awards during her 30-year career including TV Personality of the Year, Radio Personality of the Year and Best Dressed Female. She is a patron of a number of deserving charities and dedicates much time to the good causes she supports. Gloria was President of the Television & Radio Industries Club 1999-2000. 1999 saw another exciting year for Gloria, with the start of her own weekly radio show for RTE in Ireland, a “Desert Island Discs” lifestyles programme called “VIP Suite” where Gloria chats to well known celebrity guests including Sir Cliff Richard, Lorna Luft, Neil Diamond, Joan Collins and Des Lynam. Open House is successfully returning to our screens, for the fourth series, airing daily throughout the year from January until December 2001. She has also released her highly praised informative book “Feel Fabulous Over Fifty” with leading health expert Jan de Vries. Gloria has also previously deputised on This Morning.