Who is Angela Rippon on BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2023?

Strictly Come Dancing is back with months of glitzy ballroom displays and nerve-wracking dance-offs to dominate our screen.

A total of 15 new celebrities will partner up with a professional dancer in the hope of winning the famous Glitterball Trophy.

Among the first announced for this year's series was broadcaster Angela Rippon. At 78 Angela will be Strictly’s oldest ever contestant - the previous being Johnny Ball, who took part in 2012 when he was 74.

Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features

Angela became the first regular female news anchor on the BBC in 1975. She went on to host shows including Top Gear, Antiques Roadshow, Children In Need and the original Come Dancing.

She is also known for her appearance in a Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1976 where she appeared behind a BBC newsdesk before performing a high-kicking dance routine.

Her appearance was so popular she made a cameo appearance in the following year's show, in which she was revealed to be one of a chorus line.

Angela, who received an OBE in 2004, was married to engineer Christopher Dare from 1967 to 1989.

Her appearance on Strictly was announced on The One Show in August. Speaking on the BBC show she said: "The serious reason behind doing it is because I’ve been advocating ever since I did a series called How To Stay Young with Chris van Tulleken where we demonstrated as part of the programme that dance is the complete full mind and body exercise for everybody, regardless of your age, but particularly for people as they get older.

“And as I’m now 78, and will be 79 when we’re actually doing the programme… it would be wonderful if I could last long enough, a few weeks, and demonstrate that