Toyah Willcox I REMEMBER…

Toyah Willcox (63) is an English musician, actress and TV presenter. From fronting a band to releasing solo music, there is little that she hasn't done across a four-decade career

- Sean Egan

MY CHILDHOOD WAS DEFINITELY PRIVILEGED. We always had hot water, heating, food, we had our own home, and I went to a private school.

HAVING A LIMP, DYSLEXIA AND ALSO A LISP. I wasn't even aware of it. I was having a perfectly happy childhood until people pointed out that I had a physical difference to everyone else in the room. Then, when I was sitting my 11-plus exam, people realised that I was not on the same page as everyone else because of my dyslexia. Alan Sugar, Richard Branson—you could name a thousand people who have exactly the same experience as me and we're doing perfectly well. I have such a wonderful life and I have overcome so much.

I wouldn't say that that specifically made me tougher. What made me tougher was being the only woman in the music industry. My way of learning, my way of working, means that I have to just be a little bit ahead of everyone else. And I think any woman in acting or music would say, I feel the same too.

You never just arrive.

HAVING A UNIQUE NAME. My mother, who was a dancer and on the road touring from the age of 12 till she was 18, was keenly aware that she wanted to be different. She wanted to be an artist. She wanted to go to Hollywood. I was her third child, and I got that name. My mother says she read it in a children's book. It was the name of a ballerina. It was wonderful. My name made people remember me.

THE NAME BECOMING FAMOUS. Everywhere I've had success, from Australia to Africa right through to LA, there are now Toyahs. You kind of permeate the culture. The Toyah [Battersby] character in Coronation Street was a really lovely character and they had my blessing for that.