Born Petula Sally Olwen Clark to an English father and Welsh mother in Surrey, England, Clark began singing in the local church choir at the age of three. Her first public appearances were in a suburban [[London]] department store, where she performed with an orchestra in the entrance foyer for tins of toffee and a [[wrist watch]]. She came to the public's attention in 1942 when, in order to calm the others, she sang in a [[BBC]] bomb shelter during an air raid that interrupted a broadcast designed to allow people to send messages to loved ones fighting in [[World War II]]. An executive was so impressed by her performance he put her on the air as soon as the all-clear sounded. It proved to be the first of more than 500 radio appearances throughout the war. Clark also joined [[Julie Andrews]] for a series of performances at [[Army]] and [[RAF]] bases throughout the UK. | Born Petula Sally Olwen Clark to an English father and Welsh mother in Surrey, England, Clark began singing in the local church choir at the age of three. Her first public appearances were in a suburban [[London]] department store, where she performed with an orchestra in the entrance foyer for tins of toffee and a [[wrist watch]]. She came to the public's attention in 1942 when, in order to calm the others, she sang in a [[BBC]] bomb shelter during an air raid that interrupted a broadcast designed to allow people to send messages to loved ones fighting in [[World War II]]. An executive was so impressed by her performance he put her on the air as soon as the all-clear sounded. It proved to be the first of more than 500 radio appearances throughout the war. Clark also joined [[Julie Andrews]] for a series of performances at [[Army]] and [[RAF]] bases throughout the UK. |