'It almost ruined me'

Anne Robinson is known to millions as the acerbic host of quiz show The Weakest Link.

But as a young journalist, she nearly threw away a promising career on a national newspaper because of drink.

Robinson, 59, admitted: "It was ruining my life. It probably would have dug me into the ground if I'd continued." Most of the Seventies, Robinson concedes, passed by in a haze. "I would do anything for a drink," she said. When I couldn't get to an off-licence I would raid the

medicine cabinet for cough mixture or aftershave."

By 28 her marriage had fallen apart, she had lost custody of her daughter and her career was in tatters.

Her success today is due, in part, to her own determination, but mostly to Alcoholics Anonymous. She quit drink in December 1978. She said: "If it wasn't for AA I'd be six feet under."