Recently looking through my old Look-In magazines I chanced
upon an article on the pop series, Lift Off!
This early evening series started in November 1969 and continued for eight
series, finishing in December 1974.
Its original presenters were Graham Bonney and Ayshea
Brough. Graham Bonney parted company
with the show halfway through series two which left Ayshea in charge.
Ayshea was born Ayshea
Hague, in Highgate, London on 12th November 1948. As an
actress, she made her film debut at age 9 as an extra in George Pal’s’ Tom
Thumb’, starring Russ Tamblyn. As a singer, she cut her first record, ‘Eeny
Meeny at aged seventeen.
Her big break came with Lift Off! which was later renamed
Lift Off with Ayshea. During each show Ayshea would sing cover versions of
contempory songs in between songs and banter from pop star guests. She released
two albums, imaginably called, Ayshea followed by Lift Off with Ayshea.
Her final single, Farewell was specially written for her by
Wizzard’s, Roy Wood.
During her time on Lift Off! Ayshea also made regular appearances in Gerry
Anderson’s new glossy series, UFO as the
recurring character, Lt. Ayshea Johnson.
She also appeared with UFO’s Mike Billington in a special
photoshoot for the 1970 TV Times Christmas with the Stars edition featuring the
fashions seen in the series.
Following a divorce from her then husband, record producer,
Chris Brough at some point during the seventies , she remarried and later
divorced the late actor Steve Alder who some might remember appeared as Murphy in
‘The Professionals’ TV series.
Moving to Los Angeles, she married CBS President, Michael I
Levy, and started a property development and interior design business. However in 1993, following another divorce
she shut up shop and returned to England.
Ayshea has certainly
had an interesting career, and now she’s back in Britain maybe she’d be up for
an appearance at the odd convention – Andercon springs to mind!
What about giving her
a call, Jamie!
Nice post Mike. I used to love Ayshea and watched Lift Off regularly. She was one of those startlingly beautiful girls UK Sixties and Seventies TV was blessed with. I have an album of hers somewhere. Others were Anita Harris, Emma Peel, Lynsey De Paul and Kate Bush to name a few.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, I'm probably still in love with Kate Bush
DeleteThanks Woodsy. Must say I used to think Anita Harris was a looker too.
ReplyDeleteKate Bush ! Im with you on that one Kev! Kate Bush Live Ep with James and the Cold Gun! Brilliant
ReplyDeleteCrikey! I remember reading that “unbeatable fashion opportunities” article at the time!
ReplyDelete/@
Just to let you know that Ayshea now has a webpage at www.ayshea.me.uk, and a new compilation CD is available from there. There's also a list of APPEARANCES on the site, as she's attending several this year. She did attend an Anderson Convention earlier this year (2015) as well ...
ReplyDeleteHi David, thanks for the comment. I did a Moonbase blog post on Ayshea's appearance at Andercon this year including a few current photos a few weeks back.
DeleteIt's under Moonbase Central. ANDERCON : UFO REUNION
DeleteDo you happen to have Ayshea's albums from the early 70s?
ReplyDelete