Interview: Petula Clark talks about advice she received from a Beatle ahead of Birmingham Symphony Hall show

She made around 500 subsequent appearances on shows scheduled to entertain the troops.

Now, after 74 years of singing, more than 60 albums in four different languages and recording one of the most recognisable songs of all time – Downtown – she prepares to embark on a UK headline tour at the ripe age of 83.

We were able to catch up with Petula to chat about her life and career. And, it turns out she has quite a few showbiz anecdotes – including one about receiving a piece of advice from a Beatle. Question is, was it John, Paul, Ringo or George? However, patience before we reveal who it was.

In a life of so many accomplishments you'd think she'd take a moment to enjoy them: "I really don't look back at all. I mean I live very much for today I only look back, well, when I am being interviewed. Of course the life we have behind us is what makes us who we are today but I was a star at nine years old. I wasn't particularly impressed by it and I'm not really impressed by it now. I guess I've been famous for so long I don't even know what it is to be famous."

She started singing publicly at a young age but her voice has taken her to many places in both the figurative sense but also very much literally. "I've had different phases in my career. I'm English and I had a very big career when I was a child and as an adolescent," she says.

With hits such as The Little Shoemaker, Suddenly There's A Valley and With All My Heart she had made a name for herself as an adult star in England.

In this age of stardom and social media, if Justin Bieber falls over on stage in China a teenager in America will likely be reading about it within a minute. But in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the absence of Facebook and Twitter, Petula Clark was able to start out as an unknown singer when she made the short hop across the channel. "I met somebody," she remembers. "I met the guy I married who was French and I found myself living in France. The next thing, suddenly I had a French career which I wasn't expecting and which I certainly hadn't planned. That was great. I had a whole new life in a new country with a different language which was wonderful.

"The perfect thing was that the French knew nothing about my past. They knew nothing about me being a child star," she reflects.

"They didn't know I was 'Little Pet' or the 'First Lady of the British Invasion', they just didn't know anything about that and all the rest of it. They just liked me the way I was which was very refreshing for me."

Unexpected

It was an unexpected but welcome move, she says: "The great thing is that given the choice if I had wanted to leave England I wouldn't have chosen France, I didn't speak a word of French and I had no intention of going. So falling in love with a Frenchman sent me somewhere I wouldn't have gone otherwise. Then I made a record called Downtown."

Petula coyly mentions her hit record from 1964. Undeniably her most famous song, it reached the Top 10 in more than 10 countries and Petula was able to find success even further afield.

"Downtown took me to America which was another important phase in my career but really all of these unplanned 'phases' of my career have all been incredibly important to my personal life as well," she admits.

After the release of Downtown and beginning to find success in America, the record company began releasing albums of her previous work, international work and covers of other British invasion bands to encourage the new US audience. The exposure lead to America trying to claim her as their own as well.

"When Downtown was number one and we had lots of albums coming out, most of the Americans didn't even entertain the notion that I could be English," she reveals.

Her ability to speak French and English lead to the decision in 1969 to perform a bilingual show in the French Canadian city of Montreal. This came at a time when Canada was debating whether their national language should be English or French.

"Well I thought it would be a positive thing. It absolutely wasn't. The French speakers were audibly upset when I was singing in English and the English speakers would want me to go back to singing in English when I sang in French," she remembers. "It was a horrific experience and I was all shaken up. Every night. I was freaking out and I went to look for advice.

"Now, at the time, John and Yoko were doing one of their bed-ins for peace. I thought perfect! He is just the person for advice on this sort of matter.

"It was back in those days when security wasn't quite at the level it is these days and I went to the desk of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal where they were staying. I said I wanted to speak to John Lennon. The hotel clerk recognised me and told me exactly where I needed to go – you wouldn't get that these days," she adds.

"I got into the bedroom where they were sat – I must have looked like a drowned rat. This was the first time I had ever met him. I was upset, burst into tears and I told him about what had happened."

John Lennon from his white throne of peace gave Petula a piece of advice in the most eloquent fashion: "F*** 'em," he told her. "He made me feel a lot better. I stuck around and everyone was drinking and chatting. I started hearing some music. It was a simple track and we all started singing to it. Someone was filming and it turned out we were making Give Peace A Chance."

From volunteering to singing live to the nation at nine to stumbling onto recording the anthem of the 1970s anti-war movement – Petula has taught us to take our chances. We're glad we got the opportunity to speak with Britain's longest reigning sweetheart.

Petula's new album These Are My Songs is out now. She is performing at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Monday at 7.30pm. Tickets cost from £28. Click here or call 0121 780 3333.

By Bram Welch