Shaw-footed Sandie is honoured at last
SHE first dipped her toes into the pop world more than 50 years ago.
Barefoot and bewitching, Sandie Shaw became synonymous with the Sixties, winning our hearts and giving Britain its first Eurovision victory.
Yesterday, 51 years after her triumph with Puppet on a String, Sandie Shaw was belatedly honoured with an MBE at Buckingham Palace.
Not unreasonably Prince Charles had a question for the 70-year-old. ‘He said, ‘‘Why? Why has it taken so long for you to get here?” ’ she said afterwards. ‘I told him the truth. The truth is that women in music haven’t tended to be honoured in the past, certainly not in the Sixties. He said he was glad I was here now. He was a bit stunned it had taken so long,’ she added.
Despite her 1967 victory, she admitted she takes no interest in Eurovision now. Asked if she had seen SuRie’s track Storm being chosen on Wednesday night to represent the UK at this year’s event, she said: ‘No, I watched Silent Witness.’
Thrice-married Mrs Shaw, who quit the music business in 2013, also wore some comfortable shoes on a cold day in London, albeit a lacework pair with open heels and toes.
Her decision to go barefoot in the Sixties was a practical one because she could never find the right size shoes. ‘Over the years going barefoot has become my trademark,’ she once said. ‘I now feel it is more of a mindset... an expression of inner and outer freedom.’