Gail McKenna is one smart cookie. Anyone expecting a dizzy, disco- dolly who doesn’t know her Arsenal from her Alania Vladikavkaz is in for a surprise when they catch the former topless model girl’s daily sport show on cable channel L!ve TV. Ask her about vital statistics and Gail’s more likely to reel off odds for the Coca Cola Cup than the figure that made her name.

She had just finished her O-levels at a Liverpool convent school when she was catapulted on to the glamour pages. “I wanted to go to drama school but they wouldn’t accept me until I was 18. I then planned to take just a year off from studies before starting my A-levels but a friend who was a model suggested I should contact her agent and have some pictures taken.”

By the time the year was up Gail had a flat in London, a successful career as a glamour model and absolutely no intention of going back to school.

Although she enjoyed the high living for a while, Gail soon got bored with the constant chatter about nail varnish and boyfriends. “Modelling is fun when you’re young but after a while your brains begin to rot.

“After three years I began to resent the job and most of the people involved in that world.”

Her big break came when Gail was signed up for the role of fairy godmother in a panto. “It wasn’t the most challenging part ever but it got me my Equity card and led to some fringe theatre and a stint in Brookside as Barry Grant’s girlfriend.”