From appearing on This is Tom Jones, The Engelbert Humperdinck Show and It’s Tarbuck, and working with the likes of Harry Secombe, Liberace and Eamonn Andrews, Anita Harris has some very happy memories of Borehamwood in the 1960s.

“I was part of so many fabulous shows at the studios there,“ says the 72-year-old singer and actress, who will be sharing some of her stories in An Evening with Anita Harris at the community centre in February.

“Associated Television (ATV) at Borehamwood and Elstree was so highly regarded, it was wonderful to be a part of it.“

Anita has been in showbusiness since the age of 15, when she was spotted by a talent scout figure skating on a London ice rink and whisked away to Las Vegas to join a dance troupe, and where she met Mae West and Frank Sinatra.

She was still in her teens when, on her return to the UK, she joined the Cliff Adams Singers and then worked with the John Barry Seven. She then worked as a solo artist from the 1960s, and had her biggest hit, Just Loving You, in 1967, which was written by Dusty Springfield’s brother Tom, and which Dusty suggested he give to Anita, after the two singers met when filming an episode of Top of the Pops. Anita hasn’t stopped singing since.

As well as her music career, she has appeared in the Carry On films Follow That Camel and Carry on Doctor, and has worked alongside such legendary names in the world of TV entertainment as Harry Secombe, Phil Silvers, Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, magician David Nixon and Clive Dunn.

She has also worked in the theatre – playing Peter Pan in pantomime and starring as Grizabella in Cats in the West End for two years in the 1980s.

“I suppose I’m a bit of an all-rounder,“ she laughs, “I think I’m blessed in that way. I’m a great student, I love to learn new plays and new songs. I find it very exciting to jump from one thing to the other, to challenge myself and keep doing as broad a range of things as possible.“

And Anita is certainly keeping herself busy at the moment, with a number of different projects on the go. As well as an exhaustive nationwide tour of the An Evening with Anita Harris show, she’s currently filming an ITV documentary about magic, in which she’ll be reminiscing about her time as co-host of David Nixon’s magic show in the 1970s; she’s waiting for an episode of Casualty she features in to be broadcast next month; and she’s preparing to appear in a one-night revival of the musical Follies at the Royal Albert Hall in April, for which composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will be present.

Interviews in the press with Anita over the past few years have suggested that her well-publicised financial difficulties – she and her husband, the songwriter Mike Margolis, reportedly lost all their money in the 1980s when their European bank collapsed, then ran into debt in the 1990s and again this year – are the reason she’s still touring and working so hard in her 70s, but Anita says that simply isn’t true.

“A lot of what was written wasn’t right,“ she says. “We put all that to one side and brought the music to the forefront, and I am absolutely doing this because I love what I do, I find it very stimulating and embracing. It’s what drives me.“

  • An Evening with Anita Harris is at 96 Shenley Road, Borehamwood on Thursday, February 12 at 2pm. Details: 01442 454001, hertsmereleisure.co.uk