been awarded worldwide rights and an exclusive trademark licence agreement to Bernard Tiller, great grandson of John Tiller, founder of the original troupe. The Tiller Girls performed in a Christmas pantomime show at the London Palladium in December, 2021. The Radio City Rockettes connection The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, an American dance troupe, follow and keep alive the Tiller Girls' tradition of high-kicking precision dancing. Russell Markert, founder of The Rockettes, reminisced: "I had seen the Tiller girls in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1922. If I ever got a chance to get a group of American girls who would be taller and have longer legs and could do really complicated tap routines and eye-high kicks, they'd knock your socks off!" The Rockettes first came to life in 1925 as the "Missouri Rockets" and made their show business debut in St. Louis, the realisation of a long-time dream of their creator, Russell Markert. Some of the Tiller Girls and American girls who trained with Mary Read also danced in the Rockettes. Lily Smart, who trained with the Tiller School of Dance in Manchester and was with the 1922 troupe in the Ziegfeld Follies, settled in America and joined the Rockettes after leaving the Tiller Girls, performing with them for many years. She was then involved with the training of new dancers. Lily was in constant contact with Bernard Tiller until her death in 2010, aged 106. Lily explained how Russell Markert added his own style to the Precision Dance routines; this found its way back to the Tiller girls in the United Kingdom. Girls who had visited the United States during the late 1930s and 1940s danced for the troops and liked the American style of dancing and the costumes with headdresses that they saw. American films also featured showgirls and had a big impact on the British audience. From the late 1940s through the 1970s the Tiller girls adopted a lot of American showgirl styles that could trace their roots back to the Folies Bergère in the late 1890s. Former Tiller Girls Betty Boothroyd, Speaker of the House of Commons (1992–2000) Aimée Campton, Anglo-French actress Wendy Clarke (half of the famous 1950s Blackpool Belles photo by Bert Hardy) Gretchen Franklin, EastEnders actress Rosalie Kirkman, Queen Ratling of the Lady Ratlings, 2014 Avril Owton MBE FIH, Honorary Member of the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World Gloria Paul, actress/dancer (Darling