She was the first woman to land a nightly show on Ulster TV and the first to have a daytime show on Radio 2.
She has gone on to front shows as diverse as Sunday, Sunday, Open House, Cash In The Attic and Rip Off Britain, as well as appearing on Loose Women and Strictly Come Dancing.
Gloria lives in Kent with her husband Stephen and has two sons, Paul and Michael.
Her daughter, presenter Caron Keating, died from breast cancer in 2004.
You’ve recently been honoured with an OBE. How did that feel?
Marvellous. I could hardly sleep the night before the ceremony. You don’t know who’s presenting until you turn up at Buckingham Palace. I was hoping it’d be the Queen and it was, so that made me even more excited.
What did Her Majesty say to you?
She knew the OBE was for cancer services. She said, “Just remind me how you got involved.”
I said, “Sadly, I lost my daughter to cancer.” And she said, “Of course you did. I should have remembered.” She was lovely.
In your autobiography, you talk about some of the incredible stars you’ve interviewed…
When I was young, there was nothing to do in our town but go to the pictures. We had three cinemas in Portadown and they changed the programme three times a week.
I was hooked on Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Jimmy Stewart… so to get the opportunity to interview them was beyond expectation.
Who would play you in a movie of your life?
Reese Witherspoon could be me, as she’s blonde and a bit zany.
Who’s the most fanciable man on television?
Rufus Sewell. He was so fanciable as the Queen’s advisor Lord Melbourne in Victoria; I wanted her to marry him!
Who would you like to swap places with for 24 hours?
Graham Norton – so I could do his show on a Friday night.
If you could rewind an interview, which would it be?
Robert Mitchum was the most awkward interviewee. I’d ask a question and he’d go, “Yep,” and there’d be silence.
As far as chat-show guests go, is there one who got away?
I’d have loved to have interviewed Princess Diana and Frank Sinatra. His music is the best. Everybody talks about how charming Princess Diana was and it’s true. I have a photo of us cutting a cake to celebrate a charity campaign. The two of us have our hands on the knife.
I said, “I think we’re married now!” She was so friendly that I could say something like that. You’d never dream of saying that to the Queen!
Gloria Hunniford: My Life (John Blake, £8.99) is out now in paperback.
