Skip to main content

Anne Robinson: ‘I’m the oldest woman on TV who’s not judging cakes’

The new presenter of Countdown on bucking TV’s ageism trend, her ‘Queen of Mean’ reputation, and what Fleet Street taught her

Anne Robinson, 76, was born in Crosby, north of Liverpool, to Irish parents. She started out as the first female trainee on the Daily Mail, and developed her trademark caustic style while writing the Daily Mirror’s “Wednesday Witch” column. She began appearing on TV during the 80s, becoming presenter of Points of View and Watchdog. Robinson is best known for the BBC gameshow The Weakest Link, and tomorrow takes over as the new host of Countdown, which airs at 2.10pm every weekday on Channel 4.

How does it feel to be returning to the world of quizshows?
I stopped doing The Weakest Link a decade ago when it moved up to Glasgow – my grandchildren had just been born and I didn’t want to be that far away – but I adored every single episode I did. When Countdown came along, it felt like a brilliant fit. It didn’t take me any time at all to say yes.

Continue reading...

from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3qtrdNm

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Knives Out review – Daniel Craig goes Columbo in Cluedo whodunnit

Craig grills an all-star lineup of suspects when a wealthy novelist is found dead in Rian Johnson’s sharp, country-house murder mystery R ian Johnson unsheathes an entertainingly nasty, if insubstantial detective mystery with his new film, Knives Out. Back in 2005, his debut movie Brick (a high-school thriller) paid tribute to the hardboiled noir genre. Now he does the same thing for cosy crime, although there is nothing that cosy about it. Knives Out has a country house full of frowning suspects, deadpan servants and smirking ne’er-do-wells and an amusing performance from Daniel Craig as Benoît Blanc, the brilliant amateur sleuth from Louisiana who annoys the hell out of one and all by smiling enigmatically, occasionally plinking a jarring high note on the piano during the drawing-room interrogation and pronouncing in his southern burr: “Ah suh-spect far-wuhl play!” Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2L0NKO4

Tracey Emin decorates Regent's Park and a celebration of Islamic creativity – the week in art

Emin and others survey the state of sculpture, Glenn Brown takes his decadent imagination to Newcastle and artists offer northern exposure – all in your weekly dispatch Frieze Sculpture Park Tracey Emin, Barry Flanagan and John Baldessari are among the artists decorating Regent’s Park with a free survey of the state of sculpture. • Regent’s Park, London , 4 July until 7 October. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IDCpPV

When Brooklyn was queer: telling the story of the borough's LGBTQ past

In a new book, Hugh Ryan explores the untold history of queer life in Brooklyn from the 1850s forward, revealing some unlikely truths For five years Hugh Ryan has been hunting queer ghosts through the streets of Brooklyn, amid the racks of New York’s public libraries, among its court records and yellow newspaper clippings to build a picture of their lost world. The result is When Brooklyn Was Queer, a funny, tender and disturbing history of LGBTQ life that starts in an era, the 1850s, when those letters meant nothing and ends before the Stonewall riots started the modern era of gay politics. Continue reading... from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2H9Zexs