Portal:South East England/Selected biography/9

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Pam Ayres MBE (born 14 March 1947) is a British writer of humorous poetry.

Pam Ayres was born at Stanford in the Vale in the English county of Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). After leaving school at the age of 15, she joined the Civil Service as a clerical assistant. It has recently been revealed that she was working for MI5, the Security Service. She soon left there to sign up to the Women's Royal Air Force, and it was there that she decided she wanted to be 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 1975 Ayres appeared on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks. This led to a wide variety of guest appearances on TV and radio shows. 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. In September 2006, a BBC website stated that Bob Dylan inspired Pam Ayres to write poetry,[1] although in an interview (aired on Radio New Zealand's Nine To Noon programme, 24 October 2006) Pam stated that the Lonnie Donegan records her brother played were her inspiration.