Formation from Beat Girls The origins of Pan's People lie in
the Dance Centre-based Katy-Dids, a six-girl jazz dance group formed in May 1964 comprising Linda Bywaters, Linda Lawrence, Jenny Ferle, Lyn Wolseley, Diane South and Ann Chapman. This group, renamed the Beat Girls following the commencement of their residence on
The Beat Room in July 1964, subsequently appeared on many music and
light entertainment TV programmes in the UK and Netherlands. Following numerous line-up changes, by December 1966 only
two members were left who had appeared in The Beat Room, which ended in January 1965: •
Barbara (Babs) Lord, (1946–2011) – recruited in January 1966, though she already had a Dutch TV special, featuring the Beat Girls, built around her. •
Patricia (Dee Dee) Wilde •
Lorelly Harris – joined around May 1966 •
Penelope (Penny) Fergusson – joined around May 1966; a former member of the
Royal Ballet School Following an
Equity-backed dispute with their management over pay rates for Dutch shows, three members, Colby, Lord and Wilde, walked out and formed a new group on 8 December 1966 in London. After considering other names, including ''Dionysus's Darlings
they agreed on the name Pan's People'', named after the Greek god
Pan as the "god of dance, music and debauchery". that group continued their Dutch engagements from January 1967, finally ceasing to perform in May 1968. By Christmas 1966 Pan's People recruited
Felicity Balfour (sometimes called Felicity Balfour Smith), who had briefly been in the Beat Girls, and had been a schoolfriend of Dee Dee Wilde. Thus they formed a
sextet, with Colby also acting as choreographer. Press accounts during the lifetime of the group omit the Beat Girls involvement from Pan's People's history; however, modern-day recollections include this time though sometimes incorrectly as a continuation of the previous group.
Early work and line-up changes Their first TV appearance was in the Belgian TV programme
Vibrato in January 1967, with the initial line-up. In February/March 1967, Felicity Balfour's contract was terminated, due to her being unsettled in the group. After Pan's People, amongst other subsequent activities she performed with the Denise Shaune dancers, and worked in musical theatre, notably forming part of the original London cast of
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Following an audition, Balfour was replaced by
Ruth Pearson (1946–2017). Like Lord, Pearson was an original Beat Girls member, performing in the group until early 1966, then in a prior Beat Girls breakaway group,
Tomorrow's People. Pearson also did some of the group choreography over the first two years in the group. The group were to appear in a ballet performed with
the Yardbirds in December 1967, but it was cancelled shortly before it was to be performed. Also in December 1967, Penny Fergusson left to do other work, and was replaced by
Louise Clarke (1949–2012). In February 1968 three of Pan's People (Lord, Colby and Wilde) appeared on the West German show
Beat Beat Beat with
Tom Jones. This series was unique in that Ruth Pearson got sole choreography credit. In the final change before the
Top of the Pops era, Lorelly Harris chose to leave in March 1968, ultimately going into the
Bluebell Girls. She was replaced by
Andrea (Andi) Rutherford Early management Colby's future husband, James Ramble, was manager, initially in partnership with promoter
Rik Gunnell, but solo by the time of his marriage to Colby in 1967. He retained this role into 1970, the year of his divorce from Colby. In 1970 he claimed to have created two rules; one that the dancers must wear their hair down, and another that they must get married rather than have partners; however, the second rule was also reported later the same year as saying that marriage was not allowed until the end of 1971. Following the end of his management, the troupe members managed themselves; later accounts of the history of Pan's People focus on this second structural phase. ==Early
Top of the Pops (April 1968 to early 1972) and the 'Original' line-up==