How my friend inspired many to go dancing in their later years

The wonderful Angela Rippon stepped away from her meeting and threw her arms round me. I had not seen the lady since the start of ‘Strictly’ and the difference was very noticeable. 
“Yes, I have lost weight,” she said predicting what I was about to say.
“Nearly a stone but if you were rehearsing for six hours a day, five days a week for ten weeks, you too would lose weight. It’s a bit like going to boot camp but I have loved every minute of it.”
The Devon born broadcaster, who has just turned 79, became the eighth star to leave Strictly after some incredible performances. But she has left a legacy and flown the flag for the older generation. She has been stopped by so many members of the public congratulating her on her dancing prowess and setting an example.  
“One lady tapped me on the shoulder when I was in a supermarket and said something highly poignant. We become invisible when you reach our age… she was like me, white haired.
“She went on to say that I think you are going to make some headlines for ‘us’! Thank you for doing it, you are inspirational.
“So many people have used that word, inspirational … the show and my efforts have seen a lot of people tempted to start dancing in their later years and have said that it has given them a new lease of life. I am thrilled if that is the case.”
She stresses that age is not a barrier to attempt anything so with that in mind what for the future?
“Can you believe it, a national tour with the stage show of Strictly in the New Year… in my 80th year, dancing at arenas in front of ten, twenty or thirty thousand people.”
She collapses into giggles.
“I finish at the O2 in February, who would have thought... sadly we don’t come down any further south than London, but I am so looking forward to it.”
You had one fellow Devonian come to see you? 
“I know, Tom Daley and I missed him. Nobody told me he was in the audience; I was so sorry that I didn’t have the chance to say hello.”
Angela still has a home in the county and always heads back down to the edge of Dartmoor to see family and friends especially at Christmas.  
“Christmas and the New Year will be spent here in Devon, but it will be back to television very quickly as I start filming with Rip Off Britain again but before that there will be the rehearsals for the final show of Strictly where all fifteen contestants have a dance routine.”
There will be a dozen more television offers coming, I suggest … what about SAS Who Dare Wins? 
She laughs. “Don’t be silly, darling! There are limits to my ability.”
Twenty minutes later I was walking her back to the railway station and two ladies of a similar age stopped her and started the same conversation about later life and ability. She may not have won Strictly but her actions have captured the hearts and minds of so many.