Thanks to the internet, Rakie Ayola can pinpoint the exact moment that she knew she wanted a career in showbusiness: 8.15pm on 19 December 1976. That was when, as confirmed by the BBC listings archive, Hello Dolly!, starring Barbra Streisand, was first broadcast in the UK, watched by a viewing audience that included an eight-year-old Ayola.
“When I saw this woman singing and dancing in a big hat, I thought: ‘I want to do what she is doing – sing and dance in the street and for it to be OK,’” Ayola says. She has loved Streisand ever since, even writing to Jim’ll Fix It asking Jimmy Savile to arrange a meeting. “I got no response, which is probably a good thing.”
