Gloria Hunniford is arguably one of Sir Cliff Richard’s closest pals – with the journalist even helping him through his sex claim ordeal.
Now, the Loose Women star has revealed that the hitmaker cheered her up amid the coronavirus pandemic which saw the world go into lockdown.
Gloria, 80, has now revealed how the iconic singer delivered the goods and made sure everybody was in top spirits when people were allowed to mix following the easing of the lockdown.
“Cliff invited us to his 80th party last month when it was the ‘rule of six’ before the full second lockdown was imposed,” she said.
Gloria Hunniford has revealed Sir Cliff Richard helped her through the coronavirus lockdown (Image: Mike Marsland/WireImage)
“He was only allowed to have six friends and I was very lucky to be one of them.”
She went on to say: “We went to a friend’s house for dinner and we obviously had a drop or two of Cliff’s own wine from Portugal.
“It was really, really lovely to see him.
The pair often cite one another as the closest of friends (Image: Getty Images Europe)
“He had been forced to cancel all his concerts and planned to have dozens of friends backstage after one of his concerts at the Albert Hall but it wasn’t to be.”
Gloria had entered isolation two weeks prior to the UK going into lockdown after her husband, Stephen, 81, had suffered from cancer.
“At the very beginning of the pandemic I was like a caged animal because I am not used to being locked down anywhere,” she added.
Gloria and Sir Cliff first met back in 1970 in Northern Ireland (Image: WireImage)
“It was a bit tough looking at a diary, seeing everything that was being postponed because of the lockdown, so I found that quite hard as it was so unusual.”
Gloria first met Sir Cliff, 80, in Northern Ireland where she was working as a BBC journalist and Cliff was visiting a Lisburn church to perform at a gospel concert.
Cliff was one of few artists to perform in the Province around the 1970s at the beginning of the troubles in Ireland.
“Cliff is an absolutely wonderful man. We can sit and chat for hours,” she gushed.
“He is a great listener and a good person. It’s one of the many reasons why he is still one of my best friends in the world.”
Lost For Words, a Royal London exhibition in collaboration with Rankin to open up the conversation around death. Join Gloria Hunniford, Konnie Huq and Jeff Brazier for a live digital exhibition with a Q&A on November 25 at lostforwords.royallondon.com
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
