TONY BARBER’S TV RETURN!
His 80th birthday party may have been cancelled due to the coronavirus, but veteran TV presenter Tony Barber could soon have something else to celebrate.
Speaking exclusively to New Idea, the former Sale of the Century host says he is keen to return to our screens – and he isn’t going to let his age get in the way.
“Of course, I’d love to host another TV quiz show. I might be 80, but I’m certainly not out. In the meantime I love playing quiz games with my Facebook followers,” Tony says happily.
As for his quiet 80th birthday celebrations, Tony says it was a sweet but low-key affair.
“They say 80 is the new 40, and I don’t feel a day over 79,” laughs the former quiz master.
“There was no big party as we’re in coronavirus lockdown – but the occasion was still superb. My darling wife Kisty asked what I’d like for dinner, and quick as a flash, I nominated roast chicken.
“And, as it was my birthday, I got first crack at the parson’s nose. It was a meal from culinary heaven, with all the trimmings: roast potatoes, peas and gravy.
Dessert was mango ice-cream and stewed apples, which we pick from our garden on the Mornington Peninsula.”
Tony says he and Kisty clinked flutes of French bubbly before settling in to watch the TV news on the
ABC, with their beloved and very pampered dog
Maestro by their side.
“We’re old now, so we eat early,” he laughs.
Until recently, Tony was treading the boards in a national tour of the play Senior Moments with showbiz troupers Max Gillies and Normie Rowe.
“We are having a million laughs and the audiences were great. We almost completed the tour, but then along came coronavirus, so we closed down.”
Fit and feeling fabulous, Tony says in his downtime he’s been going through decades of old photos and newspaper and magazine clippings from his 60-year showbiz career.
“It’s hilarious some of the things I’d completely forgotten about.”
Tony says when the pandemic ends, he looks forward to returning to his regular gig as trivia quiz king at Victoria’s Flinders Village Cafe.
“It’s great fun. And now I have the mother lode of questions. Since coronavirus struck, I’ve been watching tapes of my ’70s TV game show, Temptation. I’ve almost finished transcribing every question from all 3460 episodes,” he says.