It was November 1975 when PAM AYRES made the first of her appearances on the ITV talent show, Opportunity Knocks, and this proved to be the start of an incredible career for a unique entertainer. There is no other contemporary entertainer whose career was established by writing and performing comic verse.

PAM AYRES always wanted to be a writer. At school she shone brilliantly at English and Art, but was pretty useless at everything else. The youngest of a family of six children, PAM AYRES was born in Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire, during the long cold winter of 1947. After leaving school Pam joined the civil service as a clerical assistant, a job in which she soon lost interest, and which prompted her to join the Women's Royal Air Force. It was while Pam was in the WRAF that she developed her love of singing and acting, and slowly the wild idea emerged that she would like to be an "entertainer".

On leaving the WRAF Pam set out to achieve her ambition. By this time her poems and verses had become a hobby, to be written and performed for the local folk club in Oxfordshire, to where she had returned to live and work as a secretary. In 1974, a friend arranged for her to go to the local radio station, BBC Radio Oxford, to read one of her poems. Pam's first broadcast for Radio Oxford, in 1974, was selected for BBC Radio 4's Pick of the Week, and subsequently repeated on the 1974 Pick of the Year, by which time Radio Oxford had asked Pam to return and recite some more of her poems.

In 1975, after much prodding from friends, Pam decided to audition for television's Opportunity Knocks. Since then PAM AYRES has appeared on virtually every major TV show in the UK, has had her own TV series, and filmed Christmas TV Specials in Hong Kong and Canada. Other highlights include BBCTV televising one of Pam's solo stage shows, and appearing in the Silver Jubilee Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium. In October 1996, Pam performed part of her stage show at a Royal Gala Charity Reception at St. James' Palace, attended by HM The Queen.

PAM AYRES has published six books of poems. Sales of these have exceeded two million worldwide. Her latest book, With These Hands, a collection of poems, monologues, and sketches, was published in paperback in 1998 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, following its hardback publication in 1997, when it spent several weeks in the Sunday Times best-sellers chart. Pam has also written many books for children, of which six have been published in the USA, two have been translated for European countries, and one into Japanese. Pam's book The Works, published by BBC Books in 1992, has now achieved sales of over 100,000.

PAM AYRES has recorded seven record albums, and has silver, gold, and platinum records from sales in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Pam has two recordings currently available on the BBC Radio Collection - the first, The PAM AYRES Poetry Collection, a collection of fifty of her best-known poems, was released in 1997 on cassette and CD, and the second, PAM AYRES Live On Stage, which was released in 1999. A video, PAM AYRES Live In Concert, was released in 2000.

A new audio recording, on CD & cassette, THEY SHOULD HAVE ASKED MY HUSBAND, will be released in October 2004 by Hodder Headline., and Pam is currently working on her next book, scheduled for publication in 2005, when she will celebrate 30 years as an entertainer.

From March 1996 until June 1999 Pam presented a two-hour music and chat show every Sunday afternoon for BBC Radio2. In 2000 and 2001 she presented two series of Pam Ayres' Open Road, also on BBC Radio2, in which Pam visited various parts of the country from Skye in the North to Devon in the South meeting people with interesting stories to tell about their lives and the area where they live. Pam is a regular contributor to BBC Radio4, on such programmes as Just A Minute, Say The Word, and That Reminds Me, and a new series Ayres On The Air, will be on BBC Radio 4 in July 2004.

Pam performs her solo show in theatres throughout the UK, doing about 60 concerts a year. She has taken her one-woman show to Ireland, the Middle East, Hong Kong, France, Kenya, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Last year Pam returned to Australia for her tenth concert tour since she first toured Australia in 1978, and earlier this year she returned to New Zealand for an extensive concert tour there, followed by more shows in Australia.

One of Pam's poems, I Wish I'd Looked After me Teeth, was recently voted into the Top Ten of a BBC poll to find the Nation's "100 Favourite Comic Poems"; Pam was one of the few writers in the Top Ten who is still alive! In the UK Arts Council's report on poetry, Rhyme and Reason (pub.Oct 2000), Pam was identified as the fifth best-selling poet during the previous years 1998 & 1999, following Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy, and Sylvia Plath.

The year 2000 marked the 25th Anniversary since PAM AYRES started her career, and to mark the event a Pam Ayres lupin, a new variety, was launched at the Chelsea Flower Show, to complement the existing Pam Ayres rose! PAM AYRES is married to concert agent & theatre producer Dudley Russell, and they have two sons, William and James, aged 21 and 19. The family lives in the Cotswolds, where they keep cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens, and where Pam is a keen (and knowledgeable) gardener and beekeeper.

In June 2004, Pam Ayres was awarded an MBE for services to Literature and Entertainment in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

June 2004

Pam works her magic with words

EVERYMAN THEATRE, CHELTENHAM Saturday 26th April 2003

PAM AYRES does wonderful things with words. In her unmistakable accent she describes mundane situations in a way that reduces you to tears of laughter that make you laugh until your face aches.

Pam Ayres was born in Stanford-in-the Vale and described her childhood there, imitating her mother's scant explanation of the facts of life and recalling the day she discovered what really happens when she witnessed a sow giving birth to a string of piglets. She talked with beautifully gentle humour about her life and family, describing everyday occurrences that we can all relate to - from a visit to the Well Woman Clinic to her hopelessness at navigating when her husband is in the driving seat. Her recent travels inspired a poem about packing, and she's writing one about bringing up teenagers - it's called Don't Bother, I'll Do It Myself.

With her sincere smile and laughing eyes Pam Ayres delighted a packed theatre with old favourites like I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth, and hilarious new compositions, including They Should Have Asked My Husband.