ANYTHING can happen in the next half-hour!

The intro to cult children’s TV puppet show Stingray seemed strangely appropriate as I settled down for a chat with Sylvia Anderson, who – along with former husband Gerry – helped create some of the best-loved programmes of the 1960s and ’70s.

Four Feather Falls, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and Space: 1999 all had successive generations of schoolchildren glued to their black-and-white tellies – and fond memories live on for those viewers, now well into middle age and beyond.

Sylvia – who brings her live show to the Regent Centre, Christchurch, next month (February 4) – speaks with a plummy, aristocratic voice.

She sounds, though I dare not mention it, just like Lady Penelope, who would swan around in a pink chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce in Thunderbirds.

I needn’t have worried about making the comparison, though, because Sylvia does it herself: “I’ve noticed that the Daily Echo also publishes Dorset Society magazine.

“That looks very Lady Penelope… I think she’d like that.”

In fact, she provided the voices for many of the female characters in the shows, including Lady Penelope.

Sylvia, a graduate from the London School of Economics, was Gerry Anderson’s second wife.

They met while working on The Adventures of Twizzle in the late 1950s, were married in 1960 and divorced in 1980, following a five-year separation.

She recently released a book called My FAB Years, “the definitive story of my life, from the beginning right up to the present day.

“It’s a coffee table book, with lots of pictures from my private collection, some never seen before.”

After reading extracts from the book at a charity evening, Sylvia noticed the enthusiasm of the audience – and a friend advised her to take the show on the road.

With accompaniment from composer David Courtney, the show revolves around music, photos and Sylvia talking… with David and the audience.

“I didn’t think my book was heavy enough, and a bit dry to repeat live on stage,” says Sylvia, now 72.

“This show covers a lot more, and has atmosphere and music from all the shows I’ve worked on.

“David will refer to the book, but I’m not sitting there reading it. I wanted it to be like you were going to the theatre… there’s something going on the whole time.”

The book’s cover features not just the Andersons’ most famous puppet creations, but celebrity icons from the ’60s and ’70s like Mick Jagger, Roger Moore, Joan Collins, Olivia Newton John, Tom Jones, Tony Curtis… and Lennox Lewis.

The former heavyweight boxing champion’s name crops up frequently in our conversation, and I’m beginning to wonder why.

Sylvia says: “The front cover shows all the various people I’ve worked with, and there’s a link with all of them.

“It was all beginning to happen in the 1960s. It was all exploding, with new people, new voices – and we were part of that.

“We never really intended to make children’s programmes, as we were grown-ups.

“I think puppets have been surpassed now, and technology has caught up.

“You have to change a puppet’s head for every expression, and they can’t go through doors.

“We over-compensated for that with great music and special effects.”

But what about Lennox Lewis?

“Well, when I worked as a talent scout for American cable channel HBO, they wanted me to sign Lennox.

“We had the money to make him a world champion, and I chased him round the world.

“He’s a gentle giant and a lovely guy. Mind you, his mother was seriously tough.”