Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Elaine Paige: Being short has contributed towards my insecurity

(Ian West/PA)
(Ian West/PA)

Elaine Paige says that being short has contributed to her “terrible shyness” and feelings of “insecurity”.

The radio presenter and musical theatre star, 74, told the Radio Times that her height means some people treat her differently.

“I’m not even five foot tall and I felt – and still do on some occasions – that no one takes any notice of you because you’re living life down here and a lot of the time ‘down here’ you get overlooked, literally,” she said.

“Once” opening Night – London
(Anthony Devlin/PA)

“This is all part and parcel of this insecurity, if you like, and terrible shyness because you’re not the same as everybody else and I was patronised a lot as a young girl.”

She added that a teacher left her “absolutely crushed” while she was at school after telling her she was too small to pursue her ambition of being a tennis player.

“I’ve never forgotten it because in one sentence that woman devastated my dream,” she said.

She also revealed she had a “terrible” experience appearing on Desert Island Discs in 1987 to be interviewed by Michael Parkinson.

The Prince of Egypt musical
(Ian West/PA)

“I was so scared and I knew nothing about anything,” she said.

“I shouldn’t have done it then. I wasn’t ready.”

Reflecting on her career, Paige said she thinks she could have done some things differently.

“I regret a few things but everything that happens to you, whether it’s good or bad is grist to the mill and makes you who you are,” she said.

“How would that little girl in Barnet have imagined this most interesting, fulfilling and exciting life of travelling the world and meeting so many talented people, kings and queens and princes and presidents?”

Read the full interview in the Radio Times.