Lady Thatcher’s fave singer dies

Margaret Thatcher will no doubt shed a tear when she reads the obituaries page in the Daily Telegraph. For Lita Roza (pictured), who sang the 1953 novelty hit How Much is That Doggie in the Window?, has died at the age of 82. The former Tory Prime Minister was a great fan of the song and once revealed, in an alarming moment of candour, that it was her favourite tune when she was a girl, prompting the interviewer to muse that she must have been obsessed with free market economics even then.

However, for Roza it did not mark a happy time in her career. Normally a singer of romantic ballads, she recorded the song, which was adapted from an old music-hall number, under duress. She agreed to sing it just once — so it could be recorded — and thereafter refused to perform it again even when it was number one in the hit parade.