Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Strictly 2018 age gap is smallest in show’s history

The Strictly Come Dancing trophy
The Strictly Come Dancing trophy

This year’s Strictly Come Dancing has the narrowest age range of contestants in the show’s history.

The youngest – Paralympic athlete Lauren Steadman – is 25, while the oldest – actor Danny John-Jules – is 57.

The gap between them is 32 years: the smallest since Strictly began in 2004.

(PA Graphics)

Last year’s series spanned a range of 34 years, from Paralympic athlete Jonnie Peacock, then aged 24, to TV and radio presenter Debbie McGee (58).

The largest ever gap between the youngest and oldest contestants was in 2016, which spanned 52 years from 18-year-old Olympic gymnast Claudia Fragapane to 70-year-old actor Lesley Joseph.

This year’s Strictly will set another age-related record.

At 57, Danny John-Jules is the youngest person in any series to hold the status of oldest contestant.

It is also only the third time in the show’s history that no contestants are aged 60 or over.

(PA Graphics)

Previous years have seen the likes of Anita Dobson (aged 62), Felicity Kendal (64), Paul Daniels (72) and Johnny Ball (74) take their turn on the dancefloor.

Pamela Stephenson became the oldest ever Strictly finalist when she finished third in 2010, aged 61.

The three series without any contestants aged 60-plus have all been in recent years: 2015, 2017 and now 2018.