Susanna Reid tweets her joy at meeting Top of the Pops dance troupe Pan's people

SUSANNA Reid looked over the moon earlier today when she got the chance to meet Top of the Pops iconic dance troupe Pan's People.

By: Kelby McNally

Published: Wed, November 27, 2013

Susanna Reid looked over the moon to be interviewing Pan's People earlier today [TWITTER]

The BBC Breakfast presenter took to her Twitter account to air her excitement as she greeted the stars of the 60s on her show's famous sofa.
"I want to join Pan's People! Here with Dee Dee, Babs & Ruth. We could call ourselves Bill's People…" she wrote alongside a snap of herself and three of the women, who are now well into their sixties, and fellow presenter Bill Turner.
The trio, Dee Dee Wilde, Babs Powell and Ruth Pearson, were three of the original members of Pan's People, a group of dancers who were hired to fill in for absent bands on hit music show Top of the Pops.

The Strictly star uploaded a cute snap of her and co-presenter Bill Turner with the ladies [TWITTER]

And in the process, the group became famous in their own right.
"I don't think we were aware of our own stardom at the time, but in retrospect we were quite famous," they said after Strictly star Susanna suggested that they often became better known that the records they danced to.
And speaking about their often literal dance moves, Ruth Pearson explained: "We had to dance to a record going up in the charts and often that changed the day before we recorded the show.
"So often we'd have to adapt very quickly, and it wasn't always the most suitable dance number so I think that's where the literal moves developed from."
The trio also opened up about working so closely with Jimmy Saville.
"We always thought he was a bit weird, we were never very comfortable with being around him," they said.
"But there were a lot of eccentric people in the sixties and seventies, from Gary Glitter to David Bowie, and Jimmy had just created a larger than life, odd, strange character."

Meanwhile, Susanna was told to stop being so mumsy during this weekend's performance [BBC]

Meanwhile, Susanna was told to stop being 'so mummy' during her Strictly performance this weekend.
After proving a big hit with the judges over the past few weeks, her saucy Cha Cha Cha didn't seem to be tasty enough for the judges.
Judge Craig Revel-Horwood described her held-back performance as too "mumsy".
Craig's comment got the crowd booing after many of the audience seemed to enjoy Susanna's performance.
Judge Bruno Tonioli told her: "You always sell, your performances fly off the shelves."
But he added: "You really have to get those hips going."
Len Goodman said: "It's got to be much crisper."

Pan's People dancer Louise Clarke dies aged 63

Pan's People dancer dies aged 63

Press Association – 3 hours ago

• View Photo
  Louise Clarke and Pan's People last appeared on Top Of The Pops in April 1976

Joycelyn Phillips read this

Louise Clarke, one of the founding members of Top Of The Pops dance troupe Pan's People, has died at the age of 63, her publicist said.

Ms Clarke, who formed the group with Flick Colby, Babs Lord, Ruth Pearson, Dee Dee Wilde and Andi Rutherford in 1966, died from heart failure after suffering poor health for two years.

She is the second member of the group to pass away following the death of Ms Colby at the age of 65 in May last year.

The dancer's son Tony, stepson Anthony, stepdaughter Helen and grandsons Paul and Hugo were at her side at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk after she was admitted on Friday, her friend and publicist Philip Day said.

"She was a lovely, lovely lady, she was a real darling," he said.

"Having represented Pan's People as their publicist for more than 40 years, this comes as a tremendous shock, especially as we only lost co-founder and choreographer Flick Colby in May of last year.

"Of all the clients I have had the good fortune to represent during all of those years, they were perhaps the most fun to work with, certainly the easiest to work with, were loyal to a fault and the very best at what they did."

The dance troupe provided the visual entertainment when an artist could not appear on the BBC chart show and became a staple of 1960s and 1970s TOTP.

They last appeared on the programme in April 1976, dancing to Silver Star by The Four Seasons.