Daily Mail interview from May 1998. Barbara is speaking to Lester Middlehurst.
SELF IMAGE
"Although I do believe in my heart of hearts that anything is possible, I have always been unsure of my ability. Conseqently I am a rather scared person, although I cover it up by appearing very confident.
I try to give myself the courage to realise my own potential. As a child I was very shy and my parents never really pushed me to be an achiever. They had ambitions for themselves but felt it was better to keep children in their place. I was never hurt or damaged by my childhood and my parents definitely wanted the best for me and my younger brother, but they were very nice, ordinary, respectable people and didn't really know how to help us achieve our potential.
At school a teacher once told me that I may not have been the best singer in the school but I was certainly the loudest, and that really hurt me. But I knew that I was good and I always had an underlying feeling that I had to make it and that if I didn't I would always regret it. Most of my confidence in my ability is fed into me from other sources - friends and family, although as I've grown older I have got better at relying on myself.
I used to worry about everything and about what people thought of me, but now I think: 'To hell with it, if people don't like me they don't like me, and there's nothing I can do about it.'
I can't believe performers who say they don't suffer from stage fright - I'm witless with nerves before I go on stage. The feeling that you must be good all the time is quite exhausting. It is a conflict within most performers. We're shy and yet we go out there demanding praise and approval. Let's face it, if we were totally well-adjusted, why would we ask for approval from hundreds of people every night?
Last year I turned 50 and was amazed by how little that affected me - nothing dropped off and I didn't look any different from how I normally perceive myself. Sometimes I wish I was still 18 years old but really I think I look better now than ever.
I'm boney and angular and have a fat tummy but I'm quite laid back about the way I look. I'm not a great one for glamour. I can turn it on when I need to but I wouldn't want to have to be eternally glamorous. I salute Joan Collins from the bottom of my slingbacks, but I honestly don't think I have the energy to look as glamorous as she does all the time.
I have a country house, a career, a husband, three children and a life to run, and I just haven't got the time to put on that amount of make-up every day. I like the fact that I don't have to worry about putting my make-up on before I go out to the supemarket.
But the depressing thing is that when I am in the supermarket, looking my very worst with no make-up on and my hair standing on end, someone usually comes up to me and says: 'Aren't you Barbara Dickson?'
I try to look after myself - I eat reasonably well, never smoke and don't drink too much. About ten years ago I started dabbling with food combinations. It's not quite the Hay diet but it's similar, and I find it a marvellous way to eat. I haven't eaten meat or chicken for 26 years. I eat a bit of fish and dairy
produce but, generally, I eat very simple food - a lot of fruit, a lot of salads and lots of water.
Health-wise I go through phases of trying things out. I have a dodgy shoulder and my head doesn't turn very well to the left, so occasionally I will go and see a cranial ostepath for treatment. I pulled a ligament in my arm about six months ago and went to see an acupuncturist for the first time. The acupuncture worked at the time, although the problem has come back so I will probably go for another session. Generally, I tend to prefer alternative therapies. I don't like to take drugs of any kind. I hate antibiotics and I'm a firm believer that you take them only when you desperately need them.
