00:01If you want to know the real sadness about Jill's loss, then just think back through your own lives over
00:07the last 20 years and think of all those happy occasions you've had, because the sorts of things that make
00:14every one of you happy are exactly the sorts of things that would have made Jill happy.
00:23What do I say 20 years on? I think probably the same as I said on the 26th of April
00:3120 years ago.
00:35Jill was admired by those, many of those, who'd never met her. She was respected by those who worked with
00:45her, and she was loved by everyone who knew her.
00:51Sophie has made a point of being with us tonight, even though she shouldn't be here. I know she has
00:56another engagement, and it's a long way away. She has to get across to East London.
01:01She has to be there at half past seven, and she is not going to make it, but at least
01:07she has been with us.
01:08Sophie, I'm really grateful. I think everybody's grateful, but I think, Alan, if you wouldn't mind, I think the Countess
01:13needs to be escorted away from here so she makes her appointment.
01:17Thank you very much indeed, Sophie. Thank you.
01:34It is the truth. It's really hard to think of a negative thing to say about Jill.
01:40Certainly, professionally, it was an incredibly hard thing to find anybody who could step into her shoes.
01:49On Crime Watch, we agonised over it for a time, but actually, it was perfectly clear who the obvious candidate
01:57was, and there was only one candidate.
02:00And it turns out that Jill was a hugely important influence on her. Ladies and gentlemen, Fiona Bruce.
02:11As so many people have already said, she was a fully rounded person on air, as she clearly was in
02:17life, and the audiences loved her for that.
02:20And I think more often than I suspect you might realise, would I be presenting the programmes I love, combining
02:30just recently Question Time and the news with something like the Antilles Roadshow and other programmes I've made over the
02:38years,
02:38because if it wasn't for Jill, if it wasn't for Jill, I don't know for sure, but I know that
02:45she helped make it possible for me.
02:48She broke the mould.
02:51And I would love to talk to her about it, get some advice, and to thank her.
02:55But of course, I was never able to do that.
02:57So, in a small way, I'm doing that now.
03:01So, Jill, I owe you.
03:08Super.
03:09I came here unescorted, but I'm told that a prince is waiting in the wings.
03:15His name is Marcus Salvatore von Habsburg-Lotringen.
03:21It's not! It's not!
03:23It's not!
03:27Jill, I'm so sorry about this.
03:30I mean, poor Prince Marcus, he had no chance.
03:33I nobbled him, I let his tyres down so I could get him.
03:36I have my knight in shining armor!
03:39Thank you, Richard!
03:42And I still very often think of her.
03:45In my deepest, darkest, horrific days, I was surrounded by friends, but there was always one missing.
03:53Jill Dando was beautiful, funny, intelligent, but above all, a genuinely nice, kind, and thoughtful human being.
04:03And I can honestly say, on behalf of all of us, I guess, that we will miss her and always
04:09love her.
04:10Here's to a very special person, Jill Dando.
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