Gloria Hunniford has told how her heartbreak over the death of her TV presenter daughter Caron Keating still endures after more than two decades. Opening up on her reasons for taking part in this year’s Celebrity Bake Off in aid of Stand Up to Cancer, the broadcasting veteran said that it brought her huge pleasure to raise money to help fight the disease.
Loose Woman favourite Gloria will be seen taking part in this Sunday’s final instalment, competing to be Star Baker alongside Ghosts actor Jim Howick, comedian Jamali Maddix and model Ellie Goldstein. Gloria, 85, said she was still very active in keeping alive the memory of Blue Peter presenter Caron, who died from breast cancer in 2004 when she was just 41.
Asked why she had signed up despite her limited baking skills, Gloria said: “Unfortunately, I lost my daughter to cancer. To lose a child is the worst thing that can happen to you. Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to any woman because you can’t carry a baby for nine months, give birth to that baby, love that baby for whatever length of time without it having the deepest, deepest impact. It’s so tragic when you lose that child.
“So giving something back has a wonderful mending process because you are giving back in the name of the person you loved, who you do love, and have lost. It’s very prevalent in my mind, and in my actions all the time. When you do something positive against something so deeply negative, it’s very healing. She was a very special girl, with a great sense of humour. She was the woman in this world that I loved talking to the most.”
Caron, who had a degree in English and drama from Bristol University, appeared on Blue Peter for four years from 1986 alongside co-hosts including Peter Duncan, Janet Ellis, Mark Curry, Yvette Fielding and John Leslie. She left in 1990, got married and had two sons, but was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997.
After her death, The Caron Keating Foundation was set up in her memory by Gloria and Caron’s brothers Michael and Paul. It is a fund-raising partnership designed to raise money to offer financial support to professional carers, complementary healing practitioners, and support groups dealing with cancer patients, as well as individuals and families who are affected by the disease.
In the show the judges Paul Hollywood and Caroline Waldegrave first task the celebs with making brandy snaps. Gloria repeatedly remarks that she is not a baker and while preparing her biscuits, with an Irish cream filling, she laughs: “When Paul gets this, as they say in Northern Ireland in his gob, he’s going to love it.”
While some of group fare better than others, it’s a similar story in the technical challenge, where they is asked to bake a fruity cheesecake. But they save their more creative skills, as ever, for the showstopper, in which they are tasked with showcasing a “best kept secret”.
Gloria dedicates her cake to her journalist father’s little-known after-hours talent, explaining: “My dad, although he was a newspaper man by day, was a magician by night. He was a member of the magic circle – you’re never, ever supposed to tell how the tricks are done.”
“I’m trying to do my dad justice, I think he’d love to look down and think ‘oh my gosh, you’re doing that in my memory.” But when viewers tune in to see her chocolate Magician’s Dice cake being judged, they will learn that she has vanished herself.
Presenter Alison Hammond explains that Noel Fielding will step in to take her place, telling viewers: “Gloria’s not here, she’s not feeling very well, but she wanted us to continue anyway.” As Noel carries the cake to the judges, he puts the magician’s hat on his head, leaving Paul to quip that he looks like “the child-catcher” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
During the judging Paul comments that the cake, which is made without eggs, is “a little bit dry” and Noel insists “That’s what I was going for.” And he has no idea if the buttercream is just vanilla, asking, “Is that a trick question?” But in the end the judges are impressed, with Caroline calling Gloria’s effort “a wonderful tribute to your father”.
– The Great Celebrity Bake Off: SU2C, Sunday, Channel 4, 7.40pm
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