I'd set out to Oman in search of luxury with culture and family-friendly adventure thrown in. And I found it.

I learnt a salutary lesson when I was being hired for the 'Six O'Clock News' and others were being fired, people who I thought were great, like Jill Dando. Letting her go was a big mistake, in my view. But that is probably going to be me one day - I'll read about it in the press and that will be that.

People are more than two-dimensional, and again I think the complexities in life, and in one's makeup, grow as you get older, partly through experience.

In my twenties, I was virulently opposed to anyone commenting on my appearance, lest it come at the expense of my ability.

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.

The BBC is a huge part of the nation's cultural life.

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 think it's important to rebel a little bit.

I conquered my phobia of camping, although I doubt I'll be pitching my tent at a muddy festival any time soon.

I haven't done Botox. Although there are a few women on screen who do, and if you don't do it, which I don't, you look pretty rough by comparison.

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

I love 'The Master And Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov, which is about repression in Soviet Russia in the 1930s.

Don't ask me the secret to a good long-term relationship - I have no idea! Honestly, I think it's just luck.

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

I collect things called 'samplers' which are Victorian pieces of needlework usually done by children in a workhouse to show that they have a skill which can be used in service, stitching household linen or that kind of thing. I think they're very humble and very beautiful.

If I were to say anything to my 18-year-old self, it would be, 'Loosen up. Chill out.'

My Duke of Edinburgh interview for his 90th in June 2011 was not one of my successes. I knew what to expect: there were some very uncomfortable moments and put-downs, but I think it made for entertaining viewing.

Most visitors to Iceland tend to spend just a few hours in Reykjavik before moving on to the geological wonders beyond. I think they are missing out.

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

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.

Thailand was a revelation to me; the landscapes, the culture, the food and the people.

You can't beat a good millefeuille, which is basically a posh custard slice. Yum!

Pudding is my favourite part of any meal and I always have one if I can manage it.

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.