News Room : Angela Rippon, 81, says she was told to quit television by BBC boss at the age of 50 ‘to make way for the younger women coming up behind you’

Angela Rippon has revealed she was told to quit television by her former BBC boss when she was aged 50 to make ‘way for younger women’.

The beloved presenter, now 81, claims the then Director-General John Birt told her ‘you’ve had your day and it’s time to make way for younger women’. 

In reply, Angela said she listed off her male colleagues at the time, such as Terry Wogan and Michael Parkinson, to prove to Mr Birt he was being ‘sexist’.

The Strictly star explained: ‘I was 50 and I’d had a problem with one of the controllers of one of the departments who had taken me off certain programs I was doing at the time.

‘As I understood from the producers of one of the programmes, he actually didn’t like me on screen, he didn’t rate me on screen so he took me off.’

Angela continued to the White Wine Question Time podcast: ‘I lost two quite important programmes that I was presenting at the time. And I vaguely knew John Birt who was then the Director-General so I went to see him and said “look I’m having these problems, what can you as the director general do about it?”

Angela Rippon has revealed she was told to quit television by her former BBC boss when she was aged 50 to make ‘way for younger women’

‘He said “well I can’t really do anything, but Angela I think you have to accept that you’ve had your day and it’s time to make way for the younger women coming up behind you”.’

Angela, who was speaking to Kate Thornton, added: ‘I remember at the time asking him if he was having the same conversation with Terry Wogan or Michael Parkinson and reeled off men who were a lot older than me, and of course he wasn’t. 

‘It was a very misogynistic thing to say and as it turned out it was a very inaccurate thing to say as I am now 81 and I’m still here.’  

While Angela first rose to fame in the 1970s, and has fronted shows including Top Gear, Antiques Roadshow and the Nine O’Clock News, the star previously has hit out at TV bosses for ‘going woke’ in recent years.

Speaking on GB News, she said: ‘I think the difference was that today we have a plethora of television stations. 

‘We have an incredible variety to an incredible access of different kinds of television programmes being proved by how many channels? 

‘I don’t know, it runs into hundreds now, doesn’t it? And I think we probably all think back with nostalgia to the 70s, when there was only one channel, then two, then three, then four, maybe five.’

Angela continued: ‘It used to be a watercooler moment.

‘That’s how it used to be referred to when people would say, ‘Hey, did you see that on the telly last night?’ and I don’t think it’s that heyday was any different then.

‘It was just that everybody watched the same programmes.

Angela first rose to fame in the 1970s, and has fronted shows including Top Gear, Antiques Roadshow and the Nine O’Clock News (pictured in the 1970s)

‘I think the difference these days is, I hate the word, but we now all think there’s too much examples of wokeism on television.

‘And certainly, the things that if you go on to some of the nostalgic channels and you watch things all of those amazing programmes that there were in the 70s, Fawlty Towers, all of them.

‘We laugh. But there’s a lot of stuff that we were laughing at then that no television producer would put out now.’