Five things you might not know about… Pam Ayres

Her first job was as a clerk in the Civil Service, before joining the Air Force, where she was posted to Singapore. It was there that Ayres first started performing poetry for her mates and when she came home she kept her schtick up by doing shows in folk clubs and old people's homes.
Despite her dad saying she had a 'snowball's chance in hell' of winning, she auditioned for ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks and duly left victorious, scooping herself a 13-week series in 1975. The pressure of that became too much for her and before she suffered a SuBo, Ayres left the showbiz glare to start again.
Though generally seen as quaint creator of mild comedy verse, she did once write a poem entitled 'Please will you take your children home before I do them in'.
In the 1990s, a barn conversion nearly bankrupted her when interest rates went through the roof and she had to take on 90-date tours to help keep her family afloat, often going on stage with a migraine from the stress.
Apparently she is often mistaken in public for Victoria Wood and vice versa.