Twiggy at 60

Twiggy at 60

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/twiggy-at-60-1786430.html

The super-skinny model who found fame in the Sixties has finally come
of age. Anna Slater lists the triumphs, the tragedies and the trivia

Sunday, 13 September 2009

1 Put on the spot, would you really know she was actually christened
Lesley Hornby? Honestly?

2 Her playground nickname was "Elongated Matchstick". Sexy.

3 Her sister Shirley raised her, as Twiggy's mother suffered from
post-traumatic stress disorder.

4 Her first pay cheque came from working at Woolworths.

5 At 16, when her modelling career kicked off, she weighed just 6st 7lb (41kg).

6 With those big doe eyes she must have known she was beautiful,
right? No. She thought everyone was "stark-raving mad", seeing
herself as "all eyelashes and legs!"

7 Not everyone was a fan. The philosopher Marshall McLuhan said: "She
is an X-ray, not a picture."

8 Even some magazines hated her skinny frame, blaming her for
spawning a generation of anorexics.

9 She preferred playing Monopoly and doing jigsaw puzzles with her
family to painting the town red.

10 A photo of Twiggy is bobbing around space in a time capsule.

11 Which publication dubbed her the "Face of 1966"? Not Vogue, but
actually the Daily Express.

12 As a teenager she had a penchant for older men: Justin de
Villeneuve, her boyfriend for seven years, was 10 years her senior.

13 She later said he ripped her off financially, splashing her cash
on "posh cars and Savile Row suits".

14 She liked singing. Her debut single, "Beautiful Dreams", for Ember
Records, hit the charts in 1966.

15 And dress designing. She launched her first clothing line, Twiggy
Dresses, in 1966. Hard to imagine anyone else fitting into them.

16 Her supersonic rise to fame earned her a place in Madame Tussauds
history: she was the first model to get a wax sculpture.

17 She was the cover girl for both Vogue and Elle magazines within 12
months of becoming a model.

18 When she was only 17, Granada made a documentary about her.

19 Two years later she was the youngest person to be handed the red
book on This is Your Life.

20 In 1968, she posed as icons Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth.

21 Her idol was Fred Astaire. At 20, she got the chance to flutter
her eyelashes at him in the flesh.

22 She says the Sixties was an era when "ordinary people could do
extraordinary things".

23 She came ninth in a 2005 Channel 5 documentary about the all-time
greatest supermodels.

24 In 1969, she starred in ads for Diet Rite Cola and Choco Flakes.

25 She is proud of her wrinkles, referring to botox as "a poison".

26 But she's not averse to a bit of pill-popping. Her natural magic
potion is echinacea, vitamin C and calcium.

27 Not everything she dabbled in was a success: her TV show, Twiggy,
was axed after seven weeks.

28 Her marriage to film actor Michael Witney in 1977 was blighted by
his alcoholism.

29 Their union produced one daughter, Carly.

30 Witney died of a heart attack while treating Carly to a birthday
lunch in McDonald's.

31 Twiggy was nominated for Broadway's 1983 Tony Award for Best
Actress in the musical My One and Only.

32 Her friendship with the actress Fran Drescher later spawned a hit
US sitcom, The Nanny.

33 Her musical career was less successful than her modelling one: two
of her singles failed to make the charts in 1985.

34 Her favourite charities are the Animal Samaritans and Breakthrough
Breast Cancer.

35 She designed a bath-time rubber duck for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

36 Her autobiography, Twiggy in Black and White, was published in
1998 and made the bestseller list.

37 She launched a new clothing line in 2006, for Littlewoods.

38 She is a judge on the reality show America's Next Top Model.

39 Twiggy was at John Lennon's wedding to Cynthia in 1962.

40 She tried to replace Richard and Judy on This Morning but was
sacked for being wooden.

41 She has very dry skin and is addicted to her moisturiser.

42 She won two Golden Globes for The Boy Friend in 1971.

43 She keeps in shape with Pilates.

44 She has jazz dance lessons each week.

45 She's a keen cook.

46 She put the brakes on modelling in 1970, saying: "You can't be a
clothes hanger your entire life."

47 She inspired a Barbie Doll.

48 She is bonkers about her cats, Titania and Oberon.

49 The Beatles turned her down when she suggested collaborating on a
film inspired by William Faulkner's The Hanging Tree.

50 Friends call her "Twiggler" and "Twiggles", although she'd rather
they didn't.

51 She made it into a Spice Girls song, "The Lady is a Vamp".

52 And one by the Manic Street Preachers, "4st 7lbs".

53 She also inspired the song "Twiggy Twiggy", by the Japanese band
Pizzicato Five.

54 She was on the David Bowie album cover, Pin Ups, and in his song
"Drive-In Saturday".

55 It is alleged that her ads for Oil of Olay's Anti-Aging range were
digitally airbrushed.

56 She tested her skincare range for Asda on herself.

57 Her favourite scent is lavender.

58 She always dreamt of becoming a fashion designer.

59 Her birthday present to herself is the album, Gotta Sing, Gotta
Dance, with songs from the Twenties, Thirties and Forties.

60 A rose has been named after Twiggy to mark her 60th birthday. It's
an apricot floribunda.

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