'People's poet' awarded MBE

People’s poet Pam Ayres has been awarded the MBE for her services to literature and entertainment.

The writer and broadcaster, who has penned poems about such diverse subjects as the Wonderbra and rotting teeth, has wowed audiences across the globe for almost 30 years with her unique brand of comic verse.

Her humorous take on the mundane and her distinctive voice have seen her perform her one-woman show in theatres in Hong Kong, Kenya, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

The simple style and everyday subject matter of her poems have made them a hit. Her poem I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth, was voted into the Top Ten of a BBC poll to find the Nation’s “100 Favourite Comic Poems” in 1998.

It was back in 1975 that the former member of the Women’s Royal Air Force, who is now a keen gardener and bee keeper, rose to fame after an appearance on the hit television talent show Opportunity Knocks.

Since then, she has published six books of poems selling more than two and a half million copies worldwide.

The 57-year-old, who lives in the Cotswolds with her husband and sons, 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.

Hearing of her MBE, Pam, who is currently working on her next book of verse, stories and articles, due to come out in 2006, said: “When I heard I was really pleased. It’s very nice to have a pat on the back from the people of your own country. No-one in my family has ever had one before.”

She said she had invested in a “posh suit” with “nice jolly polka dots” for the occasion and was hoping to get a hat “festooned with feathers”.

The youngest of a family of six children, Pam Ayres was born in Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), during the long cold winter of 1947.

After leaving school, she joined the civil service as a clerical assistant, but soon got bored and signed up for the Women’s Royal Air Force.

It was within the ranks of the WRAF that she developed her love of singing and acting, and on leaving, decided to fulfil her ambition to become a performer.

Writing poems and verses to be performed for her local folk club in Oxfordshire in 1974, she got her first taste of fame when a friend arranged for her to go to the local radio station, BBC Radio Oxford, to read one of her poems.

Her talent was spotted and it went on to be selected for BBC Radio 4’s Pick of the Week, and subsequently repeated on the 1974 Pick of the Year.

On the back of her radio success, Pam decided to audition for television’s Opportunity Knocks and her performance saw her to achieve worldwide success.

Her poems now feature in school textbooks across the globe, including Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Poland, Scandinavia, the USA, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

She has been a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4, on such programmes as Just A Minute, Say The Word, and That Reminds Me. A new series of Ayres On The Air, will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2004.

As well as her writing and broadcasting, Pam continues to perform her solo show in theatres throughout the UK and abroad, doing about 60 concerts a year.

She is married to concert agent and theatre producer Dudley Russell, and they have two sons, William and James, aged 21 and 19.

The family lives near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, where they keep cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens, and where Pam keeps bees and enjoys gardening.