'I've Finally Learnt Not To Say 'Yes' To Everything...'

TV presenter Fiona Bruce talks to Charlotte Williamson about conquering her nerves, collecting antiques – and being a festival virgin at 53

- Victoria Young

FIONA BRUCE’S voice – deep, authoritative – enters the room before she does. You can hear her distinctive tones as she climbs the stairs to the studio. She appears unaffected by the midsummer heat in head-to-toe white, her brows impeccably arched, her hair perfect.

It’s instantly clear why the 53-year old has so many male fans – and why she was originally deemed ‘too sexy’ to present Antiques Roadshow (Michael Aspel was her predecessor). Returning to South African TV screens later this year, the much-loved BBC show has just celebrated its 40th anniversary – as well as Fiona’s 10th as a presenter; and she loves roaming the country looking at antiques. “I’m professionally nosy, and the show gives me a unique opportunity to peer into people’s lives and to hear their stories.”

The shoot quickly turns into a Bruce family affair as Neil, one of Fiona’s two brothers, arrives with her son, Sam. Hers is a close family, partly because there was so much moving around when they were kids. Fiona was born in Singapore where her dad worked for Unilever. The family moved around a lot when she was a girl, before they settled in London. She studied French and Italian at Oxford University, and worked in management consultancy and in advertising until a chance encounter at a party led to her first job in journalism. She’s worked at the BBC since 1989, as a news reader, but is best known in SA as the presenter of TV’s beloved Antiques Roadshow.

Fiona lives with her advertising executive husband Nigel, and their kids, Sam, 19, and 16-year-old Mia, in London.

ON PRESENTING TV’S ANTIQUES ROADSHOW