[On her early modelling career] I hoped my mother would see the photographs and she'd find me and want me [...] That was my dream. - Shirley Anne Field

I began to entertain the other kids, but I don't think they always appreciated it — they thought I was a bit of a show off. I got a good training for being an actress though, because while the people at the children's home didn't approve of dancing — they were very strict Methodists and thought dancing involved too much physical contact — they did approve of drama, and they even used to raise money with end of term shows when visitors would come and see how well we were being looked after.

There was one Sister that I think got sacked because of me [...] There was a system in place at the home if you were very lonely you could take your mattress and sleep in Sister's bedroom.
I was sleeping on the floor one night when she did something to me and I didn't like it, so much that I wet the bed in anger. As a result, she threw me into the bathroom and under a boiling hot geyser and I was screaming in pain. Another Sister came in and stopped it, wrapped me in a towel and sat me on her knee. Two weeks later, [the first] Sister was gone.

There is more to my life than sex, money, fame and a few ­horrific people I have met once or twice. Certainly I've been in love, been loved and had some highly comic adventures. So has your typist and the girl who does your wife's hair and so have most of the sensible swinging girls of ­today I am trying to represent.