Pan's People founder and dancer Flick Colby dies at 65

(PA )

Felicity "flick" Colby, the choreographer and co-founder of the iconic Top of the Pops dance troupe Pan's People, has died of bronchial pneumonia at 65.

In an age before music videos, the BBC needed something to keep viewers entertained when an artist couldn't appear in person, and settled on some scantily clad female dancers gyrating along to the music.

Pan's People, TOTP's first exclusive group, were born in 1966 when Colby joined dancers Babs Lord, Ruth Pearson and Dee Dee Wilde and recruited Louise Clarke and Andi Rutherford.

The group enjoyed enormous success and became as synonymous with the show as the pounding Led Zeppelin theme tune.

Colby often had little time to choreograph a routine before the live show, resulting in some very literal-minded routines – such as the troupe dancing around some dogs on a bench for Gilbert O'Sullivan's Get Down.

Although she grew up in New York, Colby found fame in the UK with Pan's People and its follow-ups, Ruby Flipper and Legs & Co.

She eventually moved back to her hometown of Clinton, New York, where she married and opened a gift shop.