Apparently my first celebrity crush was on 1960s Irish pop singer Clodagh Rodgers. I say “apparently” because I have no recollection of actually fancying her, but I do remember my mother winding me up whenever she came on the telly, saying things like “ooh look Lee, it’s your girlfriend Clodagh Rodgers!” (or Clodey Rotgut as she called her) so maybe I did. I know I always turned beet red with embarrassment whenever she did this, but any mention of girls was enough to fluster me at that age so that doesn’t really mean anything.

I don’t have any “Clodey” records but here she is singing her 1971 Eurovision Song Contest entry “Jack In The Box” and I have to say she does have rather nice legs (good choice of hot pants) but she isn’t really my type, and with that very blond hair and black eye make-up she looks worryingly like my mother did back then (though I always considered Dusty Springfield to be my mum’s pop doppleganger). Paging Dr. Freud…

As far as I’m concerned my first celebrity crush was on Raquel Welch and I can trace that back to seeing her 1970 television special — brilliantly called “Raquel!” — which had a profound effect on my 8-year-old mind. Have a look at this exceedingly groovy clip from the show and you’ll see why.