20-year-old singer Shirley Bassey, then known as 'the Tigress of Tiger Bay', a week before she flew off to the United States to fulfill engagements in Las Vegas. She was discovered singing in working men's clubs in Cardiff, where she was born. In November 1957 Shirley was held prisoner in her room at the Cumberland Hotel, London, by a a man with a revolver. Miss Bassey was in the room for nearly two hours and was finally bundled on to the landing after Police had pleaded with the man to release her. She was later said to be uninjured but suffering from severe shock. The siege by armed Police, during which shots were fired from the room, lasted four hours. Later a man was taken to hospital.