Pam Ayres



Pam Ayres MBE (born 14 March 1947) is an English poet, songwriter and presenter of radio and television programmes. Her 1975 appearance on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks led to a variety of appearances on TV and radio shows, a one woman touring stage show and performing before the Queen.

Early life
Pam Ayres was born at Stanford in the Vale in the English county of Berkshire, now in Oxfordshire. After leaving Faringdon Secondary School at the age of 15, she joined the Civil Service as a clerical assistant and worked at the Army (RAOC) Central Ordnance Depot in Bicester. She soon left and signed up for the Women's Royal Air Force, where she worked in a drawing office dealing with operational maps, and it was there that she chose her career as an entertainer. She began reading her verses at the local folk club in Oxfordshire, and this led to an invitation to read on the local BBC Radio station in 1974. Her reading was re-broadcast nationally, and then broadcast again as one of the BBC's Pick of the Year.

In September 2006, the BBC website stated that Bob Dylan inspired Ayres to write poetry, although in an interview (aired on Radio New Zealand's Nine To Noon programme, 24 October 2006) she stated that the Lonnie Donegan records her brother played were her inspiration.

Career
In 1975 Ayres appeared on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks. This led to a wide variety of guest appearances on TV and radio shows. In February 1976 she was paid £600 to star in a cream cheese commercial. Since then she has published six books of poems, toured in a one woman stage show, briefly hosted her own TV show and performed her stage show for the Queen.

Her poetry has a simple style and deals with everyday subject matter. Her poem Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth, was voted into the Top 10 of a BBC poll to find the Nation's 100 Favourite Comic Poems. In the UK Arts Council's report on poetry Ayres was identified as the fifth best-selling poet in Britain during 1998 and 1999. However, in 2000 her TV show was ranked at number 64 in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Moments from TV Hell.

Ayres is married to theatre producer Dudley Russell, and they have two sons, William and James. They live in the Cotswolds, and keep some rare breeds of cattle, as well as some sheep, pigs, chickens, and guinea fowl. Ayres is a keen gardener and beekeeper. She is a patron of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust.

In June 2004 she was awarded the MBE for services to literature and entertainment.

Ayres continues to actively perform her work, the humorous quality of which is enhanced by her idiosyncratic delivery and 'country bumpkin' accent. Starting in September 2006 to coincide with the release of her latest book and audio CD, Ayres gave dozens of performances in various locations in the United Kingdom and Australia, with additional dates scheduled for the UK and New Zealand in 2007.

From 1996, Ayres has appeared frequently on BBC Radio: from 1996 until 1999 Ayres presented a two-hour music and chat show every Sunday afternoon on BBC Radio 2; this was followed by two series of Pam Ayres’ Open Road, in which she visited various parts of the United Kingdom, interviewing people with interesting stories to tell about their lives and local areas. More recently Ayres has become a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4, appearing in programmes such as Just a Minute, Say The Word, That Reminds Me, and two series of her own show, Ayres On The Air, a radio show of her poetry and sketches.

In mid-2007, Ayres started work acting in a new radio sitcom, Potting On for BBC Radio 4, in which she co-stars with actor Geoffrey Whitehead. She wrote and recorded three series of her BBC Radio 4 programme Ayres On The Air, the latest of which was broadcast in the late summer of 2009.

Since 2002 Ayres has appeared a number of times on Channel 4 in Countdown's Dictionary Corner alongside Susie Dent.

On 16 January 2009, she made her first appearance on BBC TV programme, QI. In September 2011 she said in a Daily Telegraph magazine interview that she was "about to go on my 14th tour of Australia". Ayres is well known for her comedy songs. One of these is "They Should Have Asked My Husband".

Her biography, The Necessary Aptitude: A Memoir, was published 15 September 2011. It traces her life and career from growing as the youngest of six children in a council cottage in the Vale of White Horse, Berkshire. It covers her time in the Women's Royal Air Force and the string of events that lead up to her winning  Opportunity Knocks. The title refers to the number of times she was told in her life she "did not have the necessary aptitude".

Select bibliography and discography

 * 1976: Some of Me Poetry. London: Galaxy Records ISBN 0-950-47740-0
 * 1976: Some More of Me Poetry. London: Galaxy Records ISBN 0-950-47741-9
 * 1978: Thoughts of a Late-Night Knitter. London: Arrow Books ISBN 0091343801
 * 1978: All of Pam's Poetry; illustrated by Roy Garnham Elmore. London: Hutchinson ISBN 0091343801 (including the contents of her first three books)
 * 1985: Dear Mum: Poems for Mums and their Babies. London: Severn House Publishers ISBN 0-727-82066-4
 * 1992: Pam Ayres: the Works, London: BBC Books, Sep 1992 ISBN 0-563-36751-2
 * 1998: With These Hands: a collection, London: Orion, Feb 1998 ISBN 0-752-81553-9
 * 2006: Surgically Enhanced. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Sep 2006 ISBN 0-340-92278-8

Audio CDs

 * 2006: Pam Ayres: Ancient and Modern. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Nov 2006 ISBN 1-844-56318-9

DVDs

 * 2006: Pam Ayres: In Her Own Words, (Acorn Media, March 2006); recorded live at The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham in September 2005
 * 2011: Pam Ayres, Word Perfect, a new DVD has been filmed at the Theatre Royal in Windsor and will be released by Acorn Media in late 2011

Biography

 * 2011: The Necessary Aptitude: A Memoir, Ebury Press, September 2011 ISBN 0-091-94048-6