Oprah's final show

Chat host bids a tearful farewell after 25 years...

09:00 27 May 2011

Oprah Winfrey has said a tearful goodbye to her chat show after 25 years, telling her viewers to "make the world a better place".

The television host announced that she was quitting the popular talk show back in November 2009.

Her final show, which was recorded in the US on 24 May and broadcast on 25 May, was described as a "love letter to her fans":

"Something in me connected with each of you in a way that allowed me to see myself in you and you in me.

"I listened, and I grew, and you grew along with me."

During the hour-long special, she looked back at the last 25 years, showing clips of some of her most memorable guests.

Winfrey, 57, stopped short of saying goodbye, preferring instead to "just say, until we meet again".

The final shot was of Oprah walking away with her cocker spaniel, Sadie.

This show came just one week after 13,000 fans and celebrities, including Tom Cruise, Beyonc, Stevie Wonder and Madonna, all bid farewell to the talk show legend in a special double episode recorded at Chicago's United Centre.

The Oprah Winfrey show was first broadcast in 1986.

She will now be based in Los Angeles where she is expected to focus on her cable channel OWN, which launched earlier this year.