IT sounded like mayhem on the other end of the phone. Either that or the CIA had tapped it.

Through a noise that reminded you of a static storm or a thousand waves crashing on some far distant shore, I could just about make out the cries of Twiggy Lawson.

"Hang on, hang on," she yelled. "Something's going on here. I'll soon fix it."

There was a crash and then silence.

Thirty seconds later her voice returned in perfect calm.

"I'm in another room," she informed me. "Phone seems to be better in here." What state she'd left the other one in I dare not ask, but then the girl's got such an impish laugh, she'd probably get away with blue murder.

Actually Twiggy's not a girl any more. Hasn't been for quite a while. It's just that those of us whose formative years were the 60s still tend to see her as some kind of cute twig insect, pretty but totally unfanciable. More like your little sister. Well, the little sister done good.

While I'm not totally with her on some of her more enthusiastic campaigns, she's a laugh to chat to and obviously has a multi-talent that was well and truly hidden when she was first cajoled into posing for those photos to promote a friend's hair salon back in 1965.

The pictures were supposed to illustrate the hair styles, but it was the face that caught the attention and the rest is history, even though no one knew then, not even herself, that Twiggy could sing, dance and act too.

"I'm not one of those out of Fame Academy," she laughed. "When I was at school I always wanted to be a dress designer. I've done this showbusiness thing ass backwards."

That may be so, but no one can argue with two Golden Globe awards for her performance in The Boy Friend or a Tony nomination for her role in the Gershwin musical My One and Only.

She's also written a best seller and gained two silver discs in her recording career.

You always wondered what Twiggy was going to call herself in later life, because it would sound a bit daft at 60. Just like Sting will have to sort himself out somehow. But fortunately she solved that by marrying actor-director Leigh Lawson in 1988 and is now thankfully styled Twiggy Lawson.

The name will top the bill when Bernard Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession plays Malvern Festival Theatre next week.

Twiggy takes the title role of a bordello Madam looking for a better future for her only daughter. But tempers fray when the girl turns out to be just as tough a cookie as her mother.

"I'm loving it," she laughed. "Something to get my teeth into."

Those pearly white teeth that have smiled from a thousand and more photos and grit and grind when the phone doesn't work.

n Mrs Warren's Profession plays Malvern Festival Theatre from Monday, June 2 until Saturday, June 7. Tickets £20-£12. Contact the box office on 01684 892277.