Starford Upon Avon Journal, June, 2003

So which one is Mrs Lawson's real profession? 
SHE acts, she sings, she hosts chat shows, she's had her own TV show and she still hangs around looking fab while people photograph her.

And after a career branching into its fifth decade, Twiggy sure seems whippy enough to know how to bend in the wind without snapping.

Yes, last time we heard of her in Britain, Twiggy Lawson was getting a bit of a panning as one of the ill-fated replacements for Richard and Judy. But she says she's long powered on past that small hiccup and counts her blessings for an unbelievable career.

And quite a stunning career it has been. "I don't know how you can plan your career in this business, you don't go and get a job, you need to be asked," she said.

Obviously, no-one's asked most of us but someone noticed something in the face of a willowy teenager pictured in the window of a hairdresser's shop in the 1960s.

Then the whole nation noticed her as a model - she became The Face of `66 and a new look was born.

Ken Russell noticed her and offered her a part in his film The Boyfriend and for her first acting job she won two Golden Globe Awards.

Tommy Tune took her to Broadway to star in My One and Only, which won a Tony Award, and since then she's had her own BBC series called Twiggy, won acclaim for a TV portrayal of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion and starred in numerous television dramas. Film credits, with top actors, have also stacked up and among other appearances, she lists The Blues Brothers, The Doctor and the Devils, with Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole, and Madame Sousatzka with Shirley Maclaine and Peggy Ashcroft on her CV.

She has also recorded several albums and has two silver discs to add to her awards cabinet (fans will be glad to hear there's a new CD out in July called Midnight Blue which includes some previously unreleased 60s songs). She has also hosted her own series of television chat shows called Twiggy's People, has written two best-selling autobiographies and, now in her 50s, she was called in to model with Kate Moss for the cover of a special supplement in The Times for January 1, 2000.

Not bad for a north London girl who had no ambition to perform. "I was incredibly insecure and shy just like any other teenage kid," she said. "I loved fashion and clothes and was thinking about going to art college to study fashion design."

She has kept her famous nickname - given to her by a friend in pre-modelling days because of her skinny legs. She said if she gave it up now, she would only spend the rest of her life being called `Lesley Lawson, formerly known as Twiggy'.

She is currently touring (coming to Malvern soon) in the title role of George Bernard Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession, which is produced and directed by Peter Hall.

The story revolves around the collision of two worlds, when Mrs Warren's Cambridge-educated, high principled daughter realises that her mother supports her privileged lifestyle through a chain of brothels.

"It says things about class, sex and society of the day and it's very funny. It also looks beautiful," said Twiggy.

Mrs Warren's Profession is at Malvern's Festival Theatre from June 2-7. Box office 01684 892277.