DIANA ‘BUBBLES’ FISHER TURNS 90!
THE SHOWBIZ VETERAN OPENS UP ABOUT HER INCREDIBLE CAREER
Diana Fisher’s face lights up the room when she’s asked how she’ll be celebrating her milestone 90th birthday on May 30.
“Well, they don’t call me ‘Bubbles’ for nothing … I’ll be celebrating with lovely friends and with lots of good champagne. It promises to be quite the party,” laughs the effervescent TV trouper.
“I don’t refer to it as my 90th – that makes me sound positively ancient – rather, I prefer to say it’s my ‘three times thirty’ celebration.”
London-born Diana, who remains remarkably spry thanks to her upbeat outlook
on life and “buckets of vitality”, says she’s also commemorating 73 years in showbiz.
“I was an only child who never sat still. My dream was to become a performer, and so as a youngster I took dancing lessons. At 17 I landed a job at the BBC, which I hoped might provide a stepping stone into the giddy world of showbiz.”
It was during Diana’s eight-year stint at the BBC that she developed an interest in the royal family.
“I’d been researching for an array of famous UK cricket, tennis and racing experts, and was assigned to research for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953. It was after that I began appearing on camera and commentating on the royal family, which was very exciting.”
Over the decades Diana has reported on a dizzying array of major royal events for media outlets in over 53 countries – from the weddings of Princesses Margaret, Alexandra and Anne, and the marriages of Princes Charles, Andrew, William and Harry.
There’s been the birth of royal babies, the divorces and dramas, to the shocking death of Princess Diana in 1997.
“I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting many royals. The Queen is so charming – we met in 1971 on the Royal Yacht Britannia, and Prince Charles is someone genuinely interested. He never stops asking questions,” Diana recalls.
“After leaving the BBC in 1957 I became a stewardess for BOAC [now British Airways] for several years, which was such fun.”
Following a whirlwind romance with TV producer Humphrey Fisher, which included a proposal via telegram, the two were married at London’s Lambeth Palace in 1959 by Humphrey’s father, the Archbishop of Canterbury – who officiated the marriage between Queen Elizabeth, then princess, and Prince Philip in 1947.
“In 1964 Humphrey was
posted to Australia as an ambassador for the BBC. We settled in Sydney and shortly after I was asked to become a panellist on TV’S original Beauty and the Beast.”
“Over the years I worked with many of the Beasts, from Eric Baume to Clive Robertson. I began appearing on the popular TV talk shows of the day, from Maggie Tabberer’s to Mike Walsh’s.”
In 1991 Diana was a guest on Ray Martin’s Midday show when the infamous slugfest between radio broadcaster Ron Casey and singer Normie Rowe exploded.
“It was outrageous – the Vietnam war came up and the debate became super heated and out of hand. I tried to stop the punch-up, when crew members intervened.” Another of the bubbly media personality’s career highlights was working on The Inventors.
“The show started on the ABC in 1970 and I was with the series for 12 wonderful years. People still come up to me and ask: ‘is it safe?’ and ‘does it come in other colours?’ – my two famous catchcries.” Diana and her husband, Humphrey, separated in 1974, and
‘THE QUEEN IS SO CHARMING AND PRINCE CHARLES NEVER STOPS ASKING QUESTIONS’
wound up living in ‘his and hers’ houses around the corner from one another.
“We never got around to divorcing. We were great friends and were often at one another’s houses for dinner parties. The thing is, Humphrey loved to smoke cigarettes and I hated it. Sadly, he died in 1996.”
Until COVID-19 put a stop to international travel, Diana was regularly flitting around the world. “I’d spend several months a year catching up with friends in England. I love discovering new places.”
Diana says her philosophy in life as she reaches another birthday is to keep smiling, have a laugh and stay busy.
“The secret is to make sure you have a really good laugh every day!”