Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Question Time' had been on my fantasy bucket list for some time. Of all the jobs in broadcasting that's the job I knew I wanted to do.
As an army marches on its stomach, I vacation on mine. And for that reason, among others, I found myself in holiday heaven in Singapore.
When I started presenting I'd get invited to red carpet events and I went to a few premieres. But pretty soon I thought, 'Life's too short.'
The thing is, if you come on the 'Roadshow' we are not going to humiliate you. The thing about the 'Antiques Roadshow' is not to humiliate people.
I haven't done Botox. Although there are a few women on screen who do, and if you don't do it, which I don't, you look pretty rough by comparison.
I'm all for a passionate debate, and sometimes things can be heated, which is fine, up to a point. As long as we remember that we are human beings.
I'm very fortunate in the things I've done and I've worked really hard at them. It's always ultimately up to the viewers whether they like it or not.
Most visitors to Iceland tend to spend just a few hours in Reykjavik before moving on to the geological wonders beyond. I think they are missing out.
There is a thing about women, in particular, being endlessly grateful for the opportunities in life, rather than saying, 'I'm here because I'm good.'
I'm always disappointed by women who say they prefer working with men. What is that all about? I love working with women, I love the company of women.
My kids once said, 'What would you do if you hadn't got us?' I replied, 'I'd be more successful and I'd have more friends, but I wouldn't be as happy.'
People are more than two-dimensional, and again I think the complexities in life, and in one's makeup, grow as you get older, partly through experience.
They're all good-looking men - I can't think of a male presenter who isn't a good-looking bloke - but, you know, they're not judged by their suits and ties.
Within less than an hour of arriving in Singapore, it was clear we had arrived in a country where eating has been elevated to the status of a national pastime.
There are a million and one things I'd love to get stuck into. Travel, finally getting to spend some time with the family. And I'd love to become a magistrate.
I've been a journalist for too long to stop calling myself a journalist, and also when I'm doing 'Fake or Fortune?' I'm going through a rigorous investigation.
I'm astonished at the freedom with which a depressingly large number of men feel they can just say what they want and write the most hideously misogynistic stuff about women.
After 'Question Time,' I find my mind is racing. So I try to watch something that's a million miles away from all that, like 'Poldark' or 'Call the Midwife' or 'Derry Girls.'
I spend my time on Crimewatch appealing for criminals on the run. Domestic violence is one of the few crimes I can think of where the victim is often forced to go on the run.
Antiques Roadshow' was the first job I had taken since my children were born that took me away from them consistently over a period of time. That was a big adjustment for all of us.
The one good thing about jet lag when you fly to the United States is that you wake up so madly early, you can beat everyone else to the big tourist attractions and miss the queues.
I was at a film premiere that George Clooney was attending and I was very star-struck. We weren't having a long conversation or anything, but I was definitely slightly in awe of him.
To me it's always been a no-brainer. Maybe I'm just simplistic about it, but if you believe in equality of opportunity, and want to champion equality of opportunity, that makes you a feminist.
Age is definitely an issue for women in TV. There comes a point - especially if you're a woman - when your career just falls off a cliff. I'm not being self-pitying. That's just the way it is.
I really like sitting down with my daughter to watch programmes like 'Call the Midwife,' '24 hours in A&E,' 'One Born Every Minute' and 'Our Girl.' It's just the two of us, which is really nice.
I remember my dad saying to me, 'But Fiona don't you want to go and do the dramatic society. You can still do your women's groups as well.' And I said, 'Dad, feminism is a way of life! It's not a hobby!'
My Duke of Edinburgh interview for his 90th in June 2011 was not one of my successes. I knew what to expect: there were some very uncomfortable moments and put-downs, but I think it made for entertaining viewing.
If you're in people's living-rooms, via the television, it's what happens. You're more noticeable. But I'm not aware that anyone has said I pay a lower rate of tax. I don't. I pay my full share of tax, believe you me.
On 'Question Time,' I've noticed great anger from the audience. When we discuss Brexit, emotions range from white-hot fury to cold, grey apathy. As soon as we move off Brexit, debate is much more nuanced and considered.
With two older brothers, I was a tomboy in one sense, but on the other hand I really loved dolls. My brothers weren't very happy when I nicked their Action Men to play with my dolls and they were appalled when I made them kiss my Barbies.
The atmosphere in the newsroom could be pretty poisonous. When I arrived, the people who worked on the 'Six' were sitting there slagging off what had gone out on the 'One.' I thought: 'What is this place? And what are you saying about me?'
I met someone with a title on my first day, Baronet von Something, and I thought: 'Look at me, I've really grafted. Who are these people who have just waltzed into Oxford? I don't want to hang out with those people. They're nothing like me.'
I had done debate programmes before and quite often you go into them thinking: 'I might need to build some energy in the room.' 'On Question Time,' the reverse is true. A lot of the time, I am just trying to not have it turn into a slanging match.
The audience is an absolutely critical part of 'Question Time' and selecting that audience is a big and very important job every week. What we need to do every week without fail is make the audience politically representative of the picture across the nation.
My own valuation moment: When I started 'Antiques Roadshow,' John Benjamin looked at my engagement ring, which is Victorian. I sat there as a visitor would and he dated it, talked me through the stone, which is an opal, and which mine it would have been from.
My mum, who died in 2011, was the most loving mother you could ask for. She was very compassionate, always a good listener, and her love was a constant throughout my life. She was very sympathetic, kind and understanding and I think these values can be underrated.
I collect things called 'samplers' which are Victorian pieces of needlework usually done by children in a workhouse to show that they have a skill which can be used in service, stitching household linen or that kind of thing. I think they're very humble and very beautiful.
When both my parents were unwell I was in that situation that will be very familiar to many women. I had young children in one part of the country, and elderly unwell parents in another. I was in a constant state of guilt. Was I there enough for my mother? Was I there enough for my children?
I learnt a salutary lesson when I was being hired for the 'Six O'Clock News' and others were being fired, people who I thought were great, like Jill Dando. Letting her go was a big mistake, in my view. But that is probably going to be me one day - I'll read about it in the press and that will be that.
The standards by which a woman's appearance is judged on the news are different to men, there's no question about that. Our clothes are different, for starters, they're much more varied, they're commented upon, there's no question about that. But do you have to be really good-looking? I don't think that's true.
Think Oman, and you think desert. But what we found was mile after mile of barren, spiky rubble, cliffs of jutting sharp rocks, unrelieved by a single piece of vegetation or water. We drove for hours across what felt like the surface of the moon. We saw goats foraging but couldn't work out what they could possibly be eating.
Coming to Rajasthan had been my idea, my dream. In the weeks before we arrived, I had tried and failed on numerous occasions to enthuse my family with the joys of travel in India; reading bits from the guidebooks, telling the children about the history of the Mughals, insisting to my daughter that she really would enjoy curry if it was in India.