Taunton beautician Rhona Gillmore recalls working on Cilla Black’s Blind Date

Cilla fully established herself as a national treasure through her rapport with everyday people, developing a comfortable bond with her viewer-ship and eventually elevating to legend status – although I’m sure she would have cringed at being referred to as such. She developed a repertoire of catchphrases, including “What’s your name and where d’ya come from?” and “Do I need to buy a new hat?”

On her husband’s career: “I knew that Bobby wouldn’t be any good on stage…”

She was married to her manager Bobby Willis for more than 30 years until his death from lung cancer in 1999.

Black’s death is not being treated as suspicious but post-mortem results were “inconclusive”, according to reports quoting Spanish police.

Black may have walked from an air-conditioned room into midday heat, with the change in temperature causing her to become dizzy, The Sun newspaper has reported.

Surprise! and was the first woman to have her own prime-time chat show on BBC1.

She scored two number ones in 1964 – Anyone Who Had A Heart and You’re My World – as well as enjoying many other hits, before going on to concentrate on TV.

Singer Cliff Richard said he would miss her dearly.

The former Beatle Paul McCartney, that state Black’s unveiling sole, Love of this very Loved, in addition to John Lennon, said: “Such a amaze to heed about Cilla’s passing”.

1967: Only days before his premature death, Brian had engineered Cilla’s switch to television, where her girl-next-door image found great appeal.

However, it’s Black’s time as a TV presenter – and catchphrases such as “lorra, lorra laughs” – that many will best remember her for.

Bruce Forsyth expressed his shock to the BBC, saying he still thought of Black as “just a kid” and that “72 is no age to leave us all”.

Of seeing the illustrate, Cilla, she let it be known: “It’s a unusual past experience watching…”

2001: She performed as the ageing stripper from the musical Gypsy at the Royal Variety Performance, with pals Paul O’Grady and Barbara Windsor. Cilla’s pop career continued until the end of the 1960s, by which time she was an internationally-acclaimed star. She landed a job as a typist at a construction company – but also got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles regularly played.

She told the BBC: “I was only with her a couple of weeks ago”.

2005: Her autobiography What’s It All About? became a best-seller. “She was nothing like me in personality at all, but she was a good, good all-round performer”.