Rigg invented Girl Power long before it was fashionable

FOR men of a certain age everywhere, Diana Rigg’s death will have come as a body blow. But millions of us women, too, are reeling from the loss of a superstar we worshipped and emulated.

When I was a young girl in the Sixties watching The Avengers on our black and white TV, my favourite game was playing Emma Peel, kick-boxing my big brother Michael — aka the baddie. My baggy black tracksuit was her shiny, skin-tight black leather catsuit — a garment she later told us it took 45 minutes to squeeze into. Like all of us, she was prepared to suffer for her looks.

Forget feminist icon Germaine Greer, born one year after Rigg. Here was a woman who made girls believe we were born equal to men. She was what we aspired to be, sexy, gorgeous, empowered and deadly.

Unlike Greer, Peel showed us that we didn’t have to burn our bras, we just had to believe in ourselves and have the confidence to take on anyone. When she discovered the cameraman on The Avengers was being paid more than her, she downed tools until she got parity with the crew. Her salary increased from the equivalent today of €3,800 a week to €11,350.

Diana Rigg taught us how to stand our corner. She knew her value and fought for it.

As for the moaning matriarchs of the #MeToo movement, Rigg would never have had truck with them.

Asked how she dealt with predatory executives when she was young, she said she dismissed their advances as though they never happened and treated them with scorn, the ultimate rebuttal. Now that’s how every wronged woman should avenge herself.