In 1973, I was a 19-year-old hoofer either busking the streets of London in top hat, tails and tap shoes or being the soda jerk at a Knightsbridge cafe, dressing like Ruby Keeler, keeping boredom at bay by tap dancing on tables to 1930s music.

Jim Sharman, another Aussie, arrived at the cafe with actor Richard O’Brien, whose unfinished rock musical based on Frankenstein, Jim had agreed to direct. Jim was explaining that the script needed two more servants as one was not enough for back-up vocals. On seeing me, he turned to Richard and said: “There’s your servant.”

Nell Campbell (left) played Columbia in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It was my first professional role on the London stage – in the tiny attic of The Royal Court Theatre, the Theatre Upstairs. A three-week rehearsal period to be followed by a three-week run for a play described by O’Brien as a “fun knees-up”. The Rocky Horror Picture........

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