I've always known that I have a gift

The nation's favourite medium, who has read for celebrities including George Michael, Uma Thurman and Katie Price, has been on the road for more than four years now, selling out venues up and down the country.

And the 61-year-old one-woman phenomenon shows no sign of stopping, with a gig in Telford just under her belt and ones in Wolverhampton and Birmingham on the horizon.

The tour takes on a familiar format – Sally on stage connecting audience members with their lost loved ones from beyond grave. She says it is a career both fulfilling and emotionally draining but one she would never change.

"I absolutely love life on the road as it has really enabled me to explore my ability in a new way," says Sally, who has now stopped doing one-to-one readings after building up a waiting list of 72,000 people.

"My live shows are completely unpredictable and with so many spirits waiting in the wings, so to speak, you just never know what is going to happen.

"I get a real buzz from being on stage, the atmosphere can be electric and the way the messages move around the audience is fascinating. Obviously at times it can be difficult as with so many messages it is like having 10 radios playing and trying to tune into one of them. It is also hard when a spirit comes through and no one in the audience claims the message. I get countless people contact me either at my signings or through my website saying that a message was for them but they were too scared to stand up and take it. This is such a shame as this opportunity is lost. It would be impossible for me to give an individual message to everyone who comes to see me, could you image? The theatre would lock up and leave us all there.

"Overall, the tour is about sharing the thought of an afterlife and showcasing how these moments of connection can be utterly astounding. My hope is that people can take comfort from just witnessing this if they do not get a message themselves."

A former dental nurse who became a full-time medium in her early 20s following a number of one-to-one readings with her teenage friends growing up in Fulham, Sally Morgan is now the author of three best-selling books and the face of numerous TV shows and documentaries, the most well-known being Living TV's Psychic Sally: On The Road. She was famously Princess Diana's psychic for more than four years and claims to have predicted Diana would die in a car crash a year before her death in August 1997. She points out that she thought it was the Queen at first and then realised it was actually the "Queen of Hearts".

Saying she can communicate with the dead, predict the future and know people's innermost secrets, she has also worked with stars as varied as the cast of The Only Way Is Essex, Britain's Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon and Corrie actress Kym Marsh. She also claims a "top politician" is among her fans and has been to visit her for a look into their future.

But when did she first realise she had this "gift"?

"At a very, very young age. As far as I'm concerned it's something that's always been with me, but it seemed to be random when I was a child. Of course I now realise that when you're young you're not very articulate and you can't always understand what is happening to you. But when you have it from such an early age, it's becomes normal to you. It doesn't faze me, it is just who I am," the mother-of-three says.

"The first 'experience' I remember clearly was when I was four years old. I was at nursery and I asked my teacher why my granddad couldn't be with me. My teacher told me that no one was allowed their granddad in the class with them and then I pointed at a girl in my class and asked why she was allowed. I could see as clear as day an old man dressed in a full length coat stood next to this girl. The teacher asked me where this man was and so I went right up to him and pointed. The man smiled at me and then just disappeared. No one else in the room saw him."

Spooky stuff. So are these ghosts that she's seeing?

"As a medium, I of course believe there to be an afterlife, what I do is all to do with trusting the information I receive in my head from spirit world. It's tricky to put into words but spirit world to me is another dimension, it is an energy form where we move on to for the next stage of our journey. Spirits are, as I would put it "resting". They are in heaven surrounded by love and peace, why would they want to escape from that?

"Firstly I believe that spirits, or what people commonly call ghosts, have right of way so to speak. By that I mean people so often want to rid their houses of spirit when the spirit that is there is harmless. Spirits can appear as a mist or vapour and very occasionally have the ability to use their energy to move objects – I've seen this myself. I always say that everything has to be perfectly lined up, the energy, the time of day etc for you to see a ghost. This is why it is not a regular occurrence for most people and very special if you do spot one.

"It's interesting as animals often sense spirits/ghosts first, you may find your dog or cat staring at what you believe to be thin air but often this would be spirit. My dogs at home have occasionally started barking at thin air and I believe they were barking at a spirit."

As well as being able to see ghosts, Sally believe animals can come back as them too, something that brings comfort to her tens of thousands of fans who have lost a pet.

"I believe that animals are like a part of the family and that they of course go on to spirit world in the same way that we would," she explains.

"We share an unconditional love with our pets and therefore it's natural to want to know where they have gone on to as well. I have seen animals in spirit from a young age and often even see them on stage with me. When they pass they go on to be with our friends and family who have passed so that they are not alone."

Away from her day job, Sally is enjoying a much healthier lifestyle after undergoing weight loss surgery a few years ago and losing 14 stone. She was once the typical cuddly, mum-like character but these days it's all about sequins, shimmer and embracing her streamline new look.

"Since my gastric bypass surgery, I decided to get a personal trainer with my friend. It's hard work but so worth it to make sure I'm as healthy as possible.

"My biggest vice to be honest now would have to be shopping. When I'm on tour, we usually have time during the day to do what we want. I therefore usually end up on the local high street.

"Due to the hectic schedule of my tour, it's hard to get time to do too much these days outside of work. I try to see my daughters and grandchildren as much as I can though, our grandchildren are growing up so fast."

She is also hot on the heels of a Celebrity Come Dine With Me victory that saw her triumph over fellow contestants Alex Reid (AKA Jordan's ex), Nicola McClean (AKA footie Wag) and Robert Englund (AKA Freddie Krueger).

But with so many commitments overflowing from her diary and the demands of being on tour constantly, why doesn't she just pack it all in for a quiet life?

"Meeting the amount of people that I do on a daily basis that are so interested in my work inspires me to continue.

"Everyday people tell me that I have changed their lives and that means the world to me. Being able to speak to the spirit world and pass on messages to people from their loved ones is an amazing gift. I also like to continue as my ability continues to grow all the time – even after all this time and experience I am still learning. Since being on tour I have learnt so much about how spirit and their energy interacts with us."

This interaction, she says, includes signs left over by loved ones from the other side.

"I am always asked by people whether or not they will receive a sign from their loved ones in spirit but we have to be in tune with ourselves in order to notice them. In my experience signs come in many forms such as a smell that reminds you of your loved one like a favoured perfume, a white feather or even a visit from a loved one in a dream."

For some, "tuning in" to themselves seems like an alien concept but for Sally, it comes naturally.

"The easiest way to explain it would be to say that it is just like a thought process, I trust the thoughts that are coming into my head and then pass them on in sentence form. When I was younger my mum used to call this my "knowings". Luckily people can understand what I am talking about. The ability never stops amazing me; it's very rewarding to see people receiving comfort from what I do."

And it was that comfort that inspired her to take the plunge and become a medium full-time four decades ago.

"Throughout my teenage years I began giving readings to a few friends here and there and eventually through word of mouth my client base grew. I cannot pinpoint a specific time but my one-to-one readings become more frequent at the age of about 22. I originally worked as a dental nurse but eventually started to work full-time giving readings in my front room. My daughter started to take my bookings and before long I had a diary jam-packed full of appointments. I converted my garage into an office and gave readings from there, this became my life for many years.

"I never did any advertising for my services, my bookings grew through word of mouth, which was very humbling. I loved the feeling of being able to help others on such a personal basis. Although my work can obviously at times be extremely emotional, the fact that I could talk to people who were in spirit world amazed and fascinated me.

"I knew that I had been given this gift for a reason and felt that I needed to use it in a positive way."

Since then, it has been the proverbial snowball effect, with her "gift" taking her from a swivel chair in her garage to the luxurious drawing room of Kensington Palace.

And now her career sees her pack out huge concert halls with thousands of fans, all of whom have come with an open mind and willingness to believe the unbelievable – not to mention eyes peeled for white feathers.

By Elizabeth Joyce