Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer from Northern Ireland. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as Rip Off Britain, and her regular appearances as a panellist on Loose Women. She has been a regular reporter on This Morning and The One Show. She also had a singing career between the 1960s and 1980s.
Early life
Gloria Hunniford was born in Portadown, into a Protestant family. Her father, a magician,[1] was a member of the Orange Order.[2] She had an older sister, Lena and a younger brother, Charles.[3] In her teens, she spent some time in Kingston, Ontario, Canada,[4] a period she considers very important in broadening her outlook.[5]
Career
Television
After starting off as a singer, Hunniford worked as a production assistant for UTV in Belfast then as a local radio broadcaster for the BBC; it was at UTV that she met her first husband Don Keating, a Catholic.[6] In the 1970s and 1980s, she was the presenter of Good Evening Ulster and on the ITV NetworkSunday Sunday and We Love TV. She has also appeared on many programmes over the years including Lily Savage's Blankety Blank[7] and on Call My Bluff. She also appeared on Blankety Blank with Bradley Walsh in 2021.
In 1995, Hunniford became one of the presenters of the long-running BBC chat show series Pebble Mill at One where she also presented a special one-off episode interviewing Doris Day.
Since 2009, Hunniford has co-presented Rip Off Britain, a consumer complaints programme on BBC One with Angela Rippon and, for the first two series, Jennie Bond,[10] and then, for the third series, with Julia Somerville replacing Bond.[11] Together, the trio of Hunniford, Rippon and Somerville also presented Charlie's Consumer Angels.[12]
In 2012, Hunniford presented the BBC One documentary series Doorstep Crime 999.
From 8 September 2014, Hunniford became a regular panellist on ITV chat show Loose Women.[13] She was previously a guest panellist in 2003. She has guest anchored the show on 4 occasions between October 2014 and August 2016.
In 2014, Hunniford presented the first series of BBC One programme Home Away from Home. Gyles Brandreth presented the second series. She has also presented three series of Food: Truth or Scare with Chris Bavin from 2016.
Hunniford had her own daily radio show on BBC Radio 2, starting with the lunchtime show in January 1982[16] before moving to an afternoon slot between 2.00pm and 3.30pm in January 1984, where she remained for 11 years until April 1995, when she was replaced by Debbie Thrower. Hunniford also hosted Sounding Brass, a music phone-in request programme with a live brass band, devised by radio producer Owen Spencer-Thomas.[17]
Other work
Hunniford has made a health and exercise video called Fit for Life. She also has written an Irish recipe book with her sister Lena, Gloria Hunniford's Family Cookbook.
Charity involvements
Hunniford is a Patron of Hope for Tomorrow, a UK charity providing Mobile Cancer Care Units (MCCUs).[18] Hunniford is also a patron of The Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks, a not-for-profit charity and a welcoming community arts venue with a 451 seat theatre, two cinema screens, alternative
performance studio and meeting rooms. Any surplus revenue is reinvested back into the business and building ensuring these facilities are available in the heart of
Sevenoaks Town.[19]
Personal life
Hunniford was married to Don Keating, who was English but had Irish Catholic roots, from 1970 to 1992. They had a daughter, Caron Keating, and two sons, Paul and Michael.[20] Don Keating died in 1997.
On 5 September 1998, she married hairdresser Stephen Way at parish church St Peter's, Hever, Kent. He died, aged 85, on 13 August 2024.[21]
In June 2022, Hunniford suffered a fall at home, breaking a bone under her eye.[23] As a result, she did not take part in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.[24]
Caron Keating
Hunniford's daughter Caron Keating (5 October 1962 – 13 April 2004) died of breast cancer in Kent. Hunniford set up a cancer charity in her daughter's name, the Caron Keating Foundation.[25]
^"No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B12. (“Miss Mary Winifred Gloria HUNNIFORD (Mrs. Way). For services to Cancer charities through Breast Screening Services and Cancer Support.”)
