Fiona Bruce

“I'm quite famously frugal.”

“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.”

“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 was born in Singapore, but I left at four so memories are hazy.”

“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 don't particularly like being told what to do.”

“I still remember watching 'Antiques Roadshow' as a child with my parents, on a Sunday night, sitting in our 1970s living room.”

“No matter how beautiful a spot I find myself in, if the food ain't up to much, I won't enjoy myself.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Antiques Roadshow' is a public service. It reflects the nation back to itself, as does 'Question Time.'”

“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!'”

“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.”

“My parents' set-up was very traditional, whereas that's not the life I've chosen to lead.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I've worked hard, but I've been lucky too.”

“If you crave a bit of adventure and the unknown, Singapore is not for you.”

“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 on camels before, lumbering slowly through the desert - not hugely exciting, but I enjoyed the 'Lawrence of Arabia' vibe.”