Kinkier than Cathy
I'M GLAD IT'S HER, SAYS STEED

TOUGHER, and even kinkier than Cathy Gale - that's Emma Peel.

Emma, who uses every method in the book, from judo and karate to an old-fashioned straight left to the jaw, makes her bow as the new heroine when A.B.C. TV's The Avengers returns in October.

In a battling practice session at A.B.C.'s Teddington studios yesterday Ray Austin, fight arranger for the series, spun her by her auburn hair - then let her go.

The girl who turns men on their heads landed almost on hers.

Emma - played in the series by 26-year old Shakespearean actress Diana Rigg - could have come back with a few hefty kicks, or even a barrage of champagne bottles or cakes.  She uses them all.   Instead, she dumped Mr. Austin and wrestler "Dazzler" Joe Cornelius unceremoniously on the floor.

Her partner-in-counter-espionage, Patrick Macnee, who plays the suave John Steed, said: "I'm glad she's on my side.  I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end."

Miss Rigg will wear the traditional leather outfits with the addition of Zip suits for fighting, and silver leather boots.

She says: "I enjoy the rough stuff.  It's fun knocking people about and getting paid for it."

From The Daily Mail, England, July 1965.

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