The Ladybirds were a British female vocal harmony trio, most famous for their appearances on The Benny Hill Show.

[2] Founding member Margaret Elizabeth "Maggie" Stredder and Jean Ryder, billed as the Two Tones, appeared at United States Air Force bases in Germany, before returning to the UK to join Max Bygraves on stage.

In 1962, following an appearance on the Val Doonican TV Special, Marian Davies had replaced Ryder, plus Gloria George was added, and The Ladybirds were born.

Also in 1966, they were backing singers on the Mood Mosaic track "A Touch of Velvet – A Sting of Brass" – later to become Radio Caroline disc jockey Dave Lee Travis' (DLT) signature tune.

The Ladybirds sang backing vocals on Sandie Shaw's 1967 British number one hit "Puppet on a String", joining Shaw for live performances in Vienna, Austria, when the song won the Eurovision Song Contest,[7] as well as on records by Rolf Harris, Des O'Connor and many other artists.

[9] The Ladybirds also returned to Eurovision, backing Olivia Newton-John, singing on "Long Live Love", in the 1974 contest staged in Brighton, England.

[1] However, by 1978, when they returned to The Benny Hill Show purely as backing vocalists rather than actual performers, they also had stopped appearing on Top of the Pops.

The Ladybirds also sang on several orchestral albums by Benny Hill's Thames TV musical director, Ronnie Aldrich.

[12] The Vernons Girls reformed as a trio after being invited to appear on the Cliff Richard 30th Anniversary Concert at Wembley Stadium, playing over the two evenings to an audience of 144,000.