Knighthood and damehood a ‘perfect’ end to skating career for Torvill and Dean

Ice skating champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean said the news of a damehood and knighthood was the “perfect” way to end their careers, as they prepared to hand the mantle on to the next Olympic hopefuls.

The pair, who claimed gold with their Bolero performance at the 1984 Winter Olympics, described the New Year Honours as “wonderful and humbling at the same time”.

But Dame Jayne almost thought it would be an achievement she celebrated without her skating partner, after his letter took a little bit longer to arrive.

The 68-year-old said she “couldn’t believe it” when she opened a confidential letter containing the news on a Saturday morning.

After telling her husband, she rang her fellow Dancing On Ice head judge to share the celebration.

Sir Christopher, 67, said: “I was just getting up, still in the PJs. Jayne said ‘go to the letterbox!’, so I went to the letterbox, opened it up and had a look and… the letterbox was bare, nothing there.”

Dame Jayne added: “I was so elated, but then I was thinking ‘there’s something wrong here’. Everything we’ve achieved, we’ve achieved together.”

After a nervous three-day wait the news reached Sir Christopher of his honour and the pair were able to celebrate together.

He said: “It’s such an amazing award to receive this and we’re really humbled by it.

“We’ve been together 50 years and I think in that time we’ve created this body of work and skated and performed and entertained. We’ve worked with a lot of charities as well, with our skating.

“Just to receive this honour is wonderful and humbling at the same time.”

The duo were made OBEs in 2000 and in the 25 years since there have been calls from fans to see them recognised further.

Sir Christopher said: “It’s been mentioned by fans and supporters, but it’s something that we never realised might happen.

“If it did, that would be wonderful, but if it didn’t, there’s so many other people in the country that are deserving as well.”

This year they performed their final tour and danced on the ice for the last time.

Dame Jayne said the timing of the honours seemed “perfect”.

She said: “We did our final tour this year, and that was a big thing for us.

“We had such a great time, we were so happy with the tour and the fact that we got through it.

“It was a big thing for us to mark our career before retirement, and then receiving this award at the end of the year, it’s just finished everything. It’s perfect.”

Sir Christopher added: “Happy now. Retired.”

Next year Lewis Gibson, who was inspired to start skating after watching Dancing On Ice, and his partner Lilah Fear will be competing at the Winter Olympics with the hope of winning Great Britain’s first medal for figure skating since Dame Jayne and Sir Christopher claimed bronze in Lillehammer in 1994.

“They could be in line for a medal, we don’t know what colour, we hope for the best,” Sir Christopher said.

“To think that they’ve come from watching Dancing On Ice, it is a sort of a legacy that’s passed down.

“The mantle, the flame, is handed over to them now.

“We’re ready to pass the mantle on. It’s their turn.”