Cilla Black

I give 150%. I'm a professional, a pro.

When people ask me do I believe in feminism - well, I didn't even know I was a feminist. I was the top of the bill; I've always been the top of the bill. So I don't know what equality is.

Nothing is a career move. Everything I've done this year has so not been a career move.

I've had a blessed life. I've pulled back from trying to control my destiny and gone back to accepting whatever fate has in store for me. I live for today because I don't know what'll happen tomorrow.

The best advice he gave me was to carry on. It would have been difficult to set foot back inside a TV studio if I hadn't carried on - I don't know if I would have ever gone back in.

Back when I was helping put the swing into the swinging '60s, I used to hang out with Cathy McGowan. We'd be doing 'Ready Steady Go!' on T.V., and Biba used to make our dresses. We'd be in the flat in Cromwell Road on Friday night, just before the live show, and they'd still be sewing.

I was so ordinary, critics couldn't understand it, but looking back, that was the reason for my success. What you see is what you get. People thought, 'I could do that.'

It is when I am on stage that I feel most comfortable. It is my home. It is the only thing I have known since I was a kid.

I never thought I'd be on T.V. For me as a kid in Liverpool, it was a more realistic option to be a singer.

Who wouldn't fancy Brian Epstein? He was tall and handsome and had money and class.

I'm very quiet off stage.

I'm quite subdued, believe it or not. I switch it on for the camera.