Elaine Paige: Being short has contributed towards my insecurity (Ian West/PA) Elaine Paige says that being short has contributed to her “terrible shyness” and feelings of “insecurity”. The radio presenter and musical theatre star, 74, told the Radio Times that her height means some people treat her differently. “I’m not even five foot tall and I felt – and still do on some occasions – that no one takes any notice of you because you’re living life down here and a lot of the time ‘down here’ you get overlooked, literally,” she said. (Anthony Devlin/PA) “This is all part and parcel of this insecurity, if you like, and terrible shyness because you’re not the same as everybody else and I was patronised a lot as a young girl.”